Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marketing. Show all posts

Friday, October 15, 2010

Viral Marketing With Online Games


Viral marketing is the latest trend in online marketing tools, also known as "pass-along," "friend-tell-a-friend" and "evangelism" marketing. Consumers tell one another about a product, service or Web site. The so called ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing phenomenon saves companies of huge costs on advertising.

The promotional effort in viral marketing is designed to encourage visitors to an online site and makes them pass along a marketing message for a product, with an attractive incentive. The incentives vary from a free product to a discount coupon. One of the most effective ways to spread enthusiasm about a product is, though, games. Games are not only fun, they are powerful viral products used for traffic generation, training and education.

Viral marketing games are fast gaining popularity. Such online game contests allow the user to play a game online with a free product as the prize. At the end of the game, the user is re-directed to your product site. This ensures a constant stream of visitors to your site and also encourages repeat visits – the two goals of viral marketing.

There are award winning viral games. Original and addictive games have been played by millions and have massively increased brand awareness and customer acquisition for brand owners. A good example are the very popular Simpson games that are made for the new Simpsons movie and Extreme Pamplona, a game made for Rexona, which has been played millions of times. MTV is going to spend millions of dollars on online games for promotion. The range of these campaigns proves that viral is not limited to entertainment brands or games for teenagers and adults. Big brands – from Levi Strauss and Fox Television to traditional warhorses, such as The New York Times, Sports Illustrated or Lucky – are popping up everywhere in the blogosphere and on message boards.

Viral advertising bounces like crazy on the Internet. Yes, it’s 2007 in the viral marketing world and Internet users aren’t so easily impressed with just any game, contest or video clip. As technology evolved, the online games also went forward for the better. Since the earliest invention of games in computers there has been advancements in leaps and bounds in terms of the technology and programming software's used to develop games.

New games [http://www.gamenode.com/flashnewgames.html] appear on the viral market every day. These online games cover all categories and needs of the consumers. Any demographic can be targeted - moms, dads, teachers, primetime TV loyals, city dwellers, rural folk etc. Just name the game and you can find action games, action games, arcade games, board & card games, classic games, fighting games, puzzle & word games, car & racing games, shooting games, skill games, sports games and strategy games.

Most of us, who use computers for different purposes at present, would admit that playing games was the first reason of attraction towards computers. Almost everyone would admit that his or her first interaction with computers was through playing a game on it. Even now among millions of individuals, who sit in front of a computer, a vast majority would acknowledge that they are still addicted to gaming experiences on computers for long hours at a stretch.

Recent high-speed Internet connections make downloading a faster process and one can easily enjoy a full range of levels and degree of difficulty for the game. No experience can be more entertaining than of playing a flash computer game.








Welcome to the Games site, offering a variety of free online games. Free online games site: http://www.gamenode.com/


Friday, October 1, 2010

Online Gaming and Marketing


The commercial potential hidden in the ever growing online gaming market has been known to marketers for a long time. It is known that millions of people around the world are playing different types of online games. The wide range of available games - from single player trivia, puzzle, sports and casino games to classic multi player games such as backgammon and chess to massive role playing and strategy games like World of Warcraft and Lineage - attracts diverse variety of players.

Recent surveys show that online gaming is not an exclusive territory of 25-35 males. More than 50% of women at the same age are playing online games on a regular basis, plus a decent percentage of older (and of course, younger) men and women are also preoccupied in the internet gaming world. For marketers, these numbers mean unique opportunity to expose all kinds of products to millions of potential customers.

Marketers use variety of online marketing techniques to approach the massive crowd of online gamers including traditional advertisements and more creative and advanced types of online marketing tools. From chewing gums to automobiles through anti-depression drugs, it seems like everyone is after the online gamers' attention.

One of the most common ways to promote a brand is by online games. For example, the Chrysler Group, the owner of the Dodge brand, has an exclusive game website dedicated to racing games, in which the player can drive the company latest models, and if played well, the players are rewarded with a HEMI® Power Bonus!

Online Pool as a Test Case

Let's say that you want to shoot some pool online. By clicking "online pool" on one of the biggest internet search engines, you will find two major food manufacturers battling for the opportunity to promote their brands on your virtual pool table.

The giant chewing gum company Wrigley's is the sponsor of the popular gaming portal, mostly known for its online billiard games. Once you've entered Candystand virtual pool room, you will be asked to customize your playing able from a selection of three designs, each one represents a different chewing gum brand, which its logo is spread all over the pool table. Will you consider chewing an Ice Breakers later?

You will be facing the same dilemma if you choose to play at Nabisco World. However, if you go for the most popular choice today, Yahoo! Pool, you won't be able to escape advertisements as well; right after you've registered and before entering the desired game room, you'll be hit by Yahoo! Games' sponsors' messages.

As you can see, today's marketers have learned how to take advantage

(not necessarily in the negative meaning) of the increasing interest in online games. From industries tycoons to small, local businesses, most of them came to the conclusion that online gaming marketing is far more affective and profitable than advertisement campaigns.








Saul Rivers is a new media expert who covers the online gaming industry and related topics. Rivers contributes articles to various skill gaming websites including online billiard, chess and backgammon sites such as [http://www.play89.com], for example.