Monthly Matters is a monthly review of marketing news in the world of entertainment. The October 2006 issue largely focuses on the evolution of in-game advertising; however, of note was the 2006 October Mixer of the San Diego Chapter of the International Game Developers Association, obstacles in the development of serious games, and High Moon Studios’ Hallowe’en costumes.

• Closing in on two business degrees, this semester I was required to enroll in Introduction to Business. The textbook describes brands as tangible items, such as names and logos. Since this is an introductory course, I realized that most people probably accept this common refrain. I argue that brands are products of perception. They are cultivated in the human mind. Names and logos are merely elements of the overall identity. Brands consist of far more than what you see.
• On the prowl, in-game advertising migrators are extending their reach into mobile, casual, and sports games as well as gambling.
• Early this month, Double Fusion was contracted to provide services for massively multiplayer online games PowerFootball and ManagerZone. Double Fusion also contracted with Playwize to advertise in the online PC game Pokerwize.
• Greystripe received US$1.2 million Series A funding for development of the AdWRAP technology used in conjunction with GameJump.com, part of the Greystripe ad network.
• Exent partnered with developer and publisher Alawar to provide services and received worldwide rights to advertise using Alawar’s extensive catalog of casual games.
• Controversy arised in regards to IGA Worldwide’s technology used for popular title Battlefield 2142. Gamers speculated about the possibility of spyware. This resulted in quick reaction from IGA Worldwide CEO Justin Townsend who was interviewed by Gamasutra. Justin outlines the why, what, and how of the data captured to support ad performance analyses.
• October Mixer 2006 — a social gathering of industry professionals organized by the San Diego Chapter of the International Game Developers Association — was an incredible success. Of the 25 people who registered to attend, 92% were in attendance at Pizza Port in Carlsbad, nearly double the attendees we received in August. Noel Llopis and I spoke at length about his experiences as an author and the effort necessary to write a book. Becoming an author has long been an aspiration of mine.
• Serious games are growing in popularity with more support from various industries. A recent article published by Gamasutra, Inside the Army Game, details the extent of the United States Department of Defense’s involvement in this sector. Being a strong supporter of serious games, I’m always on the lookout for people who want to talk about serious games as part of a lecture or panel organized by the San Diego Chapter of the International Game Developers Association.
• Since today’s Hallowe’en, I might as well mention that High Moon Studios announced in mid-October the design and manufacturing of high-quality costumes based on the vampire-western video game, Darkwatch. That’s one way to infiltrate the public consciousness. I’m curious about the possibility of a movie deal now.

Monthly Matters is a monthly review of marketing news in the world of entertainment. The November 2006 issue is largely focused on the evolution of in-game advertising.

• Exent Technologies ranked 12th on the 2006 Deloitte Israel Fast 50 ladder as one of Israel’s fastest growing companies. With the European Union recently selecting Exent for the Sixth Framework Program Games@Large initiative, and Portugal Telecom announcing a partnership to launch free-ad supported games with the Sapo.pt Games-on-Demand portal, this powerhouse company shows no signs of weakening.
• Phoenix Marketing International published a study that suggests Coke, Pepsi, Nike, and Adidas are the top advertisers that adult gamers most actively recall from their state of play. Managing the frequency and saliency of advertising are important and difficult tasks, particularly in the entertainment environment. Stepping over the line of memory recall and invading the immersion of players could yield disastrous results. Advertisers, tread lightly. Or not. It’s your money.
• Microsoft has in the meantime opened a somewhat new avenue for reaching consumers. The Xbox Live service now provides Xbox 360 console owners access to television shows and movies. It’s only a matter of time until the rebirth of television advertising, and that’s where the real money will be made. Advertising has traditionally suffered from being a one-way mouthpiece. Through digital content delivery services, advertising has a window of an opportunity to make a comeback as interactive, entertaining, and perhaps even fun media.
• Speaking of interactive advertising, Atrativa Latin America contracted with Eyeblaster to leverage an in-game advertising platform for casual games. Atrativa is the leading casual games distributor in Latin America with partners such as NET, the largest cable television and telecom company in Brazil, and Yahoo! Brasil. Atrativa is offering streaming video ad inventory on twelve best-selling games including Super Collapse 3, Mah Jong Medley, and Sudoku by GameHouse. More Eyeblaster-enabled games are expected to be distributed by Atrativa.
• Intriguing statistics flood into the sea of green every month from market researchers, but the Keller Fay Group published a report that is extremely relevant to the business of branding. According to Keller Fay, 15% of consumers account for one-third of word of mouth exchanged in the United States. These brand champions are involved in 1.5 times more word-of-mouth conversations than average consumers. Women are more likely to engage in word of mouth than men — that’s a no-brainer according to a recent study lending credibility to the notion that women engage in more conversations than men. Women are also more likely to act on word of mouth. But don’t get too excited. It’s still a coin toss.
• The Keller Fay report also identifies baby boomers as relevant to word-of-mouth campaigns; influential people as power listeners and power talkers; and the Internet as a resource for brand champions rather than as a primary channel for communication. Entertainment and media are the popular areas of concern; however, these industries are closely followed by the beverage, public affairs, food and dining, retail, travel, and automotive industries.
• David Edery, fellow blogger and the new Worldwide Games Portfolio Manager for Xbox Live at Microsoft, recently published an article in Harvard Business Review titled Reverse Product Placement in Virtual Worlds. David has talked about this subject before, but he can’t reprint this particular article. You can download the article for a couple bucks from Harvard Business Online, but if you’re a student you can probably get a free copy from your college library.

Monthly Matters is a monthly review of marketing news in the world of entertainment. The September 2006 issue is largely focused on the evolution of in-game advertising; however, of note are convergent devices on the prowl, a presentation on Table Tennis by Rockstar luminary Wolfgang Engel, and business lessons from leeches.

• I’m currently working on several articles for this weblog that cover a range of topics. Branding Convergence will discuss four convergent devices in terms of branding and why technology businesses should not be quick to embrace convergence as strategy. Design: A Different Perspective will discuss how I think about and apply design to branding. This article is really a spinoff from a conversation with Raph Koster. Following a conversation with Terri Perkins, Beyond In-game Advertising will discuss the current state of in-game advertising and what I think the future holds for participants in this business.
• Double Fusion, an in-game advertising migrator, began implementing advertising ROI metrics through Interpret’s Gameasure service. Growing competition in this market now includes the “Big Three” migrators Double Fusion, IGA Worldwide, and Massive Incorporated. In addition, Adscape Media and Exent Technologies have entered the race. The marketing challenge these businesses are facing is that of establishing a strong, nontechnology-based competitive advantage. In-game advertising ROI measurements will add value to the middleman offering over the short term, but these metrics are not the white knight. They’re simply an expectation.
• Greystripe is also an in-game advertising migrator with a twist. Instead of focusing on the desktop gaming market, Greystripe is after games in the mobile arena. Greystripe chief executive Michael Chang was interviewed by Gamasutra and Modojo.com. Michael believes that mobile in-game advertising is a catalyst for “free ad-supported” mobile games. He also believes that mobile in-game advertising is “personal” because mobile phones are what Gamasutra describes as “more personal than TV or websites” and “personal extensions of their owner”. Are brochures and flyers personal simply because the viewer possesses these materials with their hands? Of course not. Advertising is impersonal regardless of where the ads are displayed.
• Nintendo will debut its Wii to retail four days after Microsoft’s scheduled release of the Zune in November. Convergent devices such as Apple’s iPod, Sony’s PlayStation Portable, Nintendo’s Wii, and Microsoft’s Zune are hot commodities for gearheads and technology fanatics; yet, all convergent devices are destined for short product lifecycles because convergence not only eats its young, convergence eats its dead too. San Diego-based Mercora unveiled at DEMOfall 2006 the availability of the Mercora “M” service three days ago. Mercora’s “M” service transforms Windows Mobile 5.0-based Smartphones and Pocket PC phones into handheld high-fidelity music players. Enjoy the iPod’s triple-digit growth while it lasts, Apple. It’ll be a short ride.
• The San Diego Chapter of the International Game Developers Association organized an event on September 28 featuring ShaderX series editor Wolfgang Engel of Rockstar San Diego. Wolfgang discussed the shaders and graphics algorithms that were used for Rockstar’s Xbox 360-exclusive title Table Tennis. We will also be organizing an October Mixer at Pizza Port in Carlsbad as well as a major gaming press panel to be held sometime between November 2006 and February 2007. Traffic to the chapter website, which is sponsored by my company Heretic and Real Pro Hosting, also exhibited 375% growth during September.
• Business Lessons from Leeches: “The medicinal leech has regained some of its lost popularity by its present use in microsurgery,” the authors write in the British Medical Journal. “Sometimes, however, the leeches refuse to cooperate properly. To overcome this problem doctors in the nineteenth century used to immerse leeches in strong beer before applying them to the patient.” German doctors ”renowned at the time as the world’s best” also recommended garlic and sour cream as alternatives to beer.

  Anders Baerheim and Hogne Sandvik of the University of Bergen in Norway “realized that no one had ever actually tested whether beer, garlic, or sour cream really does stimulate the appetite of a leech. So they ran a simple experiment and discovered that the old advice didn’t hold up. Sour cream didn’t make leeches hungry for blood. Garlic killed them. And beer apparently made them drunk.” (Harvard Business Review 84)

Monthly Matters is a monthly review of marketing news in the world of entertainment. The August 2006 issue is largely focused on innovation in entertainment marketing; however, of note are designing games for lifestyle marketing, and John Smedley’s views on parenting gamers.

• Among the people with whom I’ve worked, I must have been the only person not using LinkedIn…
• Parks Associates recently suggested stronger market segmentation for interactive entertainment. “The market is not black and white anymore, and game marketers need to understand these finer nuances,” said Yuanzhe Cai, director of broadband and gaming, who was subsequently interviewed. These proposed segments are only the first step. We eventually need to move beyond traditional market segmentation into the realm of strategic segmentation.
• Tadhg Kelly, Lionhead and Climax game design veteran, wrote a letter to the editor of Gamasutra that game worlds attract players, not game characters. This perspective is aligned with the changing marketplace in which “Web 2.0 thinking” is becoming increasingly dominant. Kelly’s perspective has an important implication for marketers: an emphasis on lifestyles.
• Three major in-game advertising deals today! Electronic Arts contracted both Massive and IGA Worldwide to provide advertising opportunities across select franchises, including Need for Speed: Carbon via Massive and Battlefield 2142 via IGA. Enlight Software also contracted Double Fusion to provide advertising opportunities across Bad Day L.A. and Hotel Empire.
• John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, talked about parenting issues related to online games on his blog as well as participating in a discussion on the website of the San Diego Chapter of the International Game Developers Association. Gamasutra columnist Jim Rossignol wrote about the kids, vigilance, and online worlds conversation too. I’m thinking about organizing an event in San Diego related to parenting issues for parents of gamers.
• Harvard Business Review published an article in the September 2006 issue concerning entertainment marketing in an unpredictable world written by Duncan Watts, a professor of sociology at Columbia University. In the article, Watts recommends five strategies that basically promote the episodic model and Web 2.0 thinking. Before that article was published, I’ve been writing a lengthy treatise on three strategies that I recommend to entertainment marketers to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to the changing marketplace; however, this “Marketing 2.0″ whitepaper will be published through my corporate website.