Games and product placement~

[Schmung]

That 7 up sponsored game? Cool Spot or something?

It's getting everywhere, so no suprise to see it turn up in games. The only thing that suprises me is that it's not there more. Considering the vast revenue and captive audience I'm kinda suprised you don't get shit like 'Nike Trainers purchased + 1 appearance +1 speed" or whatever.

[-Stratesiz-]

I suppose "branded entertainment" was fairly popular back at the time (NES) when production costs were much lower. There wasn't really any room for product placements due to the limited graphics. I expect product placement to grow exponentially, especially when games of today are becoming so expensive to deliver without the help of sponsors.

But I would like to get a professional game developer's view on this.

[Minos]

I'm not sure, advertising tends to fuck up everything they are put in... Hope games don't get as visualy polluted as Sao Paulo, where everywhere you look there are like 20 billboards, posters on walls, ads on bus stops etc

btw, the best advergame ever is pepsiman! (psx)

http://www.gamespot.com/ps/action/pepsi ... q=pepsiman

[The Postman]

The latest Tony Hawk game is just awful with branding. Not to mention it's fucking broken as all hell and the clipping in it is so miserable that in some maps you can fall out of the world in numerous spots, or get stuck in a ludicrous amount of areas.

[Minos]

it always was like that

[-Stratesiz-]

I suppose fps games haven't gotten into product placement as have games like the Sims and sport games. No one really wants to sponsor a game that has violence and graphic content.

A research article by Nelson et al. (2004) discussed that while real brands maintained immersion inside the game world, fake brands might offer a chance for imagination (on the part of developers and players) and could add to the humor and entertainment value of a game.

Previous research has also shown that gamers have a rather general view on product placement. Fairly sophisticated views of how the persuasion attemps work (subliminally or explicitly) and the perceived effectiveness of subtle, realistic, placements over blatant, out-of-context hyped commercialism have been witnessed.

Some future research questions:

- Do real brands allow greater immersion or telepresence over fake brands?

- Are fake brands - if clever spoofs - considered more entertaining than real brands?

- Do spoof ads activate their real brand counterparts?

[ReNo]

Do real brands allow greater immersion or telepresence over fake brands?

If they are set in the modern day real world, then commonly yes. If I'm racing around Edinburgh in Project Gotham Racing 2, it's more immersive due to the accuracy and presence of real shops at the sides of the roads (even if they couldn't get permission to use all that many) than it would be with some random fake things plastered in their place. When I'm snowboarding down some mountain in Amped, it's more immersive when I see the Forum logo on the base of my board than some made up thing. Football or other sports games benefit from featuring real world teams and players (both are brands in their own way), and part of that involves getting strips/stadiums looking correct which leads to more direct advertising for true authenticity. The popularity of racing games with real world vehicles and aftermarket parts rather than fictional ones is another example. Obviously these are, to an extent, core gameplay elements rather than superfluous advertising, but it still plays a part.

Are fake brands - if clever spoofs - considered more entertaining than real brands?

Done well, yes. Sadly enough though, I can't think of any off the top of my head. Also, if the brand is to appear in something that isn't contextually correct for it (ie. some modern day company featured in a futuristic game), then a suitably modified advert also works out far better. I, Robot is a good (bad) example of doing this - while it's advertising was over done, it was far better handled than it could have been thanks to "modernising" the existing brand products.

Do spoof ads activate their real brand counterparts?

By activate you mean make people think of them? If so then yes, for better or worse. Obviously it isn't as direct and requires prior knowledge of the real brand to draw the associations however.