THE FUTURE IS HERE: ADVERGAMING AND REALITY TV” Essay Example

Introduction

Reality Television advertising is basically the practice of advertising products by placing them within movies and TV programs, which act as mediums of carrying brands of products services and even organizations within the context of entertainment programming (Jason, 2005). On the other hand, advergaming is the mirror side of Television networking. Advertisement within the television medium acts as a source of information as to how the same could work within the context of digital games. The growth in the numbers of advertisements placed in one of these mediums in the current world of advergaming and reality TV will therefore be a determinant on the placement within the rest. This paper seeks to examine the practice and look into the future possibilities of these tools of product marketing. It does not take sides as to whether they are good or bad but rather looks into the medium with a careful and reasonable examination.

Among the first cases of in-game advertising occurred in 1997 was Sony’s invention of the game “Jet ski racing — Jet moto 2”, which came with an advertisement for a beverage called mountain dew. This advert opened doors to what has been defined as an oncoming storm in in-game advertising. This paper will look at where marketing is presently in advertising within the amusement spheres of gaming and reality TV. What began as a casual practice of using real products in movies has turned into billion dollar projects (Jason, 2005).

The Traditional Media

Advertising audiences that once used to gather in front of television sets has become divided and advertisers have even shifted their attention from the television advertising (Jason, 2005) For instance, in the year 2003, coca cola management gave a hint that the traditional television advertising industry as the main medium of advertising in homes and that the company was transferring over $300 million of its annual advertising budget money to placements in the context of movie, television shows and video games. There is a particular observable antipathy among consumers towards television commercials (Jason, 2005)

Examples of Advergames

One example of a modern advergame is “Red vs. Green”, a type of checkers game produced by M&M in the advertisement of their candy (M&M’s, n.d) when playing the game, the player controls either color- “red or green” and they are required to convert the opponent side into their own color by enclosing them and placing their pieces. The shape of M&M allows for effortless assimilation of the product into the game (M&M. (n.d)) Red bull is another such product that uses the advergaming platform through the Red Bull Soapbox Racer where the players control a car in the shape of a red bull can and compete with each other (Red Bull, 2010) The players drive along a path that has obstacles that can harm their cars. To jump start ones car once its involved in such accidents, and to increase speed eats into ones energy bar in which one has to collect cans of red bull to refill it. The features that characterize this game and act as a channel for advertising are; branded characters with a product connection in it. These games are targeted at children and men as the nature of game shows.

According to Mediamark, a research company attests to this fact; 78.1% of children between ages 6 and 11 who were online three months before the research was carried out played one online game or another (Lee, Choi, Quilliam, & Cole, 2009). Another research by NPD showed that about 50% of children aged between 2years of age and 17 years play games for utmost 5 hours every week. Video games are played mainly by men and therefore most advergames are targeted at men as opposed to women even though women players are also in the rise. So their market segment comprises of men predominantly and the features that are incorporated are those that the players are perceived to want such as sports, shooters and stratagem games that are real timed. 70% of men aged 18-34 play video games. Most of the “advergames” use what is referred to as “in your face strategy”. This is in an effort to put pressure on the players to notice and purchase their products.

Reality TV Shows

In Australia Reality TV influences about 94% of those that have watched one advert or another features in them and 60 percent have bought a product based on watching a reality TV. Some have visited a restaurant or made dish while a number of others have visited a destination that they saw featured in a reality TV show. A sample of a brand that uses reality and one of the most talked about cases in reality TV show advertising is the placements of CBS IN Survivor. Survivor which is aimed at middle aged people at age 18-34 years old with disposable incomes together with big brother did a lot to reverse the grow old of CBS

Sample Brands

The following are examples ofbrands that can benefit immensely from advergames and reality TV shows placements

Advergames

— These products and brands that make them can benefit from advergames considering that the largest populations that play digital games are children; breads and pastries, breakfast cereals, candy and gum, cookies and crackers, fruit juices and non- carbonated drinks, ice cream and any frozen products, jelly and peanut butter, precooked foods, restaurants, snacks that are salty, soft drinks that are carbonated and other snacks such as yoghurt (Dahl, et al 2006)

• Reality TV shows — brands that produce other products that are bought mainly by older people can benefit highly from reality shows, e.g. Magazines, clothes, jewellery, automobile products, etc.

Conclusion

This paper demonstrates that advertisement is dimensional in the sense that it is increasingly becoming a form of advertisement as well as a source of entertainment

References

Dahl, S., Eagle, L., & Fernandez, C. (2006). Analyzing Advergames. Slovenia: Ljubljana.

Jason, C. (2005). The Sponsored Avatar: Examining the Present Reality and Future Possibilities of Advertising in Digital Games. Vancouver: DiGRA.

Lee, M., Choi, Y., Quilliam, T., & Cole, T. (2009). Playing with food: Content analysis of food advergames. The Journal of consumer affairs , 118-150.

M&M. (n.d). (n.d.). Red vs. Green. Retrieved April 27, 2012, from http://www.m-ms.com/us/fungames/games/redvsgreen/

Red Bull. (2010, April 6th). Red Bull soap box racer. Red Bull. Retrieved April 27, 2012, from www.redbull.com: <http://www.redbull.com.au/cs/Satellite/en_AU/Game/Red-Bull-Soap-