The Concept of Advergaming Compulsory project in Communication Research and Dissemination Project

1. Eva The Concept of AdvergamingCompulsory project in Communication Research and Dissemination Project 1st semester Group no. 5 ►Denis ►Eva ►Sergej ►Fan ►Khalid

2. Eva CONTENTS: • The concept of advergame • Genre and categories of games in general • Games in the process of advertisement • The Cost of Producing Advergames • What kind of game could be relevant to add to mmd’s website www.mmd‑odense.dk ?! • Description of the advergame • Learning log for the group • Conclusions • References

3. Khalid Advergame - the concept : • An integration of advertising messages in online games; • Is to promote goods and services to potential consumers; • The strategy is to transform the consumer from a passive observer to an active player in the marketing process, to hold and reward him for his attention.

4. Khalid Some of the added values are as follows • It’s more interactive than the annoying pop up ads, illegal spam and offline adverts. • It’s fun, and interesting to play ad games than look at the banners. • It’s a game that combines advertising campaign with high tech online games for stress relief and entertainment. • Most major companies invested millions of dollars to develop ad games to be played for free. • An opportunity for Companies to cleverly gather customer information as most games request registration of e-mail address and /or inviting friends for contest, including prize awards or a high score table to encourage re-visit of game site.

5. Sergej Genre and categories of games in general: • 1) Action and sport games • 2) Adventure games • 3) Strategy games • 4) Simulation games • 5) Educational / learning games • 6) Casino games

6. Sergej Games in the process of advertisement • Today all kind of games are used for advertising products or services. • As an example on www.pepsi.com you can play racing games, baseball games, football or soccer games, all with the same motive - advertising for Pepsi products. • More examples of companies/brands that use advergaming we have: Mc Donald’s, Burger King, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Diesel, Nike, Puma Sports, Disney • However; the gaming industry continue to grow more in the past five years than any other form of entertainment. • Online gaming sites attracted for example more than 28 million visitors in the US during one month (2004).

7. Sergej The Cost of Producing Advergames: • Creating an advergame is very expensive. Advertisers spend an average of $100,000 to $500,000 for a custom-designed game for use in an advergaming campaign. Advergaming is useful for the company who is trying to sell more and also for the user /customer because he is able to get games for free. • On the other hand companies have the opportunity to know about their customers during the game, which would further help the company to invest in the right products and services. • The owner of the product or service is looking for the confidence and trust of their customers through distribution of free gifts including prize awards.

8. What kind of game could be relevant to add to mmd-odense.dk!? Denis • The target group for mmd-Odense is mostly young people, people who is searching for an education in the Multimedia Design. • The “messenger” is Odense Tekniske Skole in Denmark, in company with Tietgen Skolen in Odense. • The site has to deal with information from OTS, the way to the place and it should invite you to apply online.It should have e-mail contacts, location and a simple map to find the way to the school. A picture of the building and of the staff. The site is supposed to be seen on search engines like Google. • We would like the receiver to be well informed, we want to surprise him with a visual game and leading through the application process as well.

9. Description of the game: Denis • The game begins with the player entering the door of the mmd building. Here he is asked for his name and gets the access to continue. He has three characters he can play with (the Painter, the Web Designer and the Virtual Gamer), each will take him to three separate games.

10. Denis • Playing as the Painter you will access a graphical environment where using the colours and some graphic tools you’ll be asked to make a paint. You can save the picture to the mmd’s gallery and monthly we will reward the best painter with mmd T-shirts, key hangers and peaked caps.

11. Denis • Choosing the Web Designer the player will be allowed to customise his own web portfolio in a simple version. He can add his own picture, some contact details, his hobbies, customize the background colour etc. The portfolio will be saved in mmd’s database and you, as a user, can view all other users web page. mmd staff can use this database to find few things about the future students, about their educational background and have an idea about what “kind” of people enter the game/site. This is an example of “added value” or the impact of using game to get to know the users!

12. Denis • Playing as the Virtual Gamer you will have to accomplish some tasks in a virtual game. You are in the mmd building and you’ll have to follow the instructions which are given in the beginning of the game (ex: go meet your group, go and work in computer’s room, have a good time at the Friday’s Bar). By accomplishing these tasks you’ll get points and the opportunity to be added to the high score list. You’ll have a time limit and an inside map of mmd to help you find your way.

13. Denis • In the end you are invited to visit OTS and the player is told that the game he was playing was made of the students of mmd-program in Odense Tekniske Skole. When he knows that, he is probably more interested in this special program and therefore he is more likely to apply and join. That is an “added value” to the institution or the department.

14. Work schedule Research Brain storming Dissemination Auto evaluation Fan Learning log for the group • During the project we have tried to do our best in using our communication skills. • First of all, we created a common work environment, modern and efficient: a) we chose our headquarters in the mmd building – a desk with internet connection, printers and copying service; b) we create a virtual space – yahoo group – as an 24/24 hours a day common workplace where group members can easily communicate one with another, check the latest group work or upload group files.

15. Conclusions: Eva&Denis • An advergame is a way of selling your products or services trough the internet and its main target is the public. • Working as a group we managed to define the concept of advergame. We realised that advertisement through online games involves not only the creative way of designing a product but also some marketing and management skills. • If is to consider our group as an advergame maker, we think that we managed to conceive a product which fits the mmd image. It has real market and management qualities for advertising the mmd-program in Odense Tekniske Skole.

16. References: • Buckner K, Fang H & Qiao S (feb 2002): “Advergaming: A New Genre in Internet Advertising” • Taken from the URL(16/10 2004): http://www.dcs.napier.ac.uk/~mm/socbytes/feb2002_i/9.html • Charlyn Keating Chisholm(2001), “Advergaming Enters the I-Marketing Olympics” • Taken from the URL(15/10 2004): • http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/12452.html • http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/13452.html • http://www.mmd-odense.dk • Michael Solomon (2002), “What is Consumerspace?” • Taken from the URL(15/10 2004): http://www.amanet.org/books/catalog/0814407412_whatis.htm • Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia on the Internet. Information taken from the URL (18/10 2004): • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page • www.nielsennetratings.com