What Are Advergames? Uses & Examples

Discover the world of advergames, an interactive and exciting form of video games designed to promote products, services, and brands. Created by advertising agencies, these games aim to boost brand awareness and engagement while providing an immersive experience. Gamification is already being used to increase customer-brand interactions through fun and memorable experiences, like within customer loyalty and rewards programs, and advergames are another strategy growing in use among consumer brand and advedrtising agencies. 

Advergames come in various forms, including mobile games, browser games, and console games. They are easily accessible online, through social media platforms or a brand's website, and the best part is—they're free to play!

While traditional advertising, which can be easily ignored, advergames capture user attention and keep players entertained for extended periods. This unique engagement is shown to help improve a user's ability to remember a product later, increase a customer's purchase intent, and overall foster greater brand affinity. Advedrgames can also aid marketers by increasing site visits and driving traffic to other brand content or channels by including call-to-action buttons that incentivize players with in-game bonuses or rewards. Because players can actually receive a benefit for clicking a link, they're more likely to complete the action.  

What Are The Benefits of Advergames?

One of the most appealing benefits of advergames is how they bring advertising to life in an interactive and captivating manner. Rather than just passively viewing ads, advergames allows users fully engage and interact with the media they're consuming. This empowers brands to connect with consumers on a deeper level by delivering a memorable experiences that lingers even after the game is over.

Additional advantages of advergames include: 

• Increasing time spent on a brand’s mobile app, website, or social channels, which leads to more brand interactions and opportunities to nurture relationships.
  
  
• Driving brand awareness because they interact with consumers far longer than traditional advertising and are easily shareable.
  
  
• Collect customers registrations that help brands market to customers or drive interest in new products or future games.

Advergames are not just effective at promoting brands, they also educate and inform. Imagine playing a game that teaches you about the benefits of a new car or explains the features of a financial service in a captivating and interactive way. It's advertising that makes learning an enjoyable experience!

In addition, advergames can be powerful tools for driving site traffic and increasing sales. By offering enticing incentives, these games can inspire users to explore a brand's website and connect with their products or services. And oftentimes this user activity pays off: studies indicate that these incentivized call-to-action buttons can have click-through rates as high as 43%!

How To Make A Successful Advergame

Interested in running an advergame for your own brand? Here are a few challenges to keep in mind when creating an advergame that makes an impact.

Prioritize Entertaining Over Functional: To succeed, your advergame must be genuinely engaging and fun for players. Remember one of the key purposes of an advergame is to engage with your players, not just to push a product or agenda. The game won't keep user attention for long if it's prioritizing making a sale over the player's enjoyment.

Design With Your Audience In Mind: Tailoring your game to your target audience is crucial. People of all ages and genders enjoy playing games on mobile devices and tablets, and different demographics have different preferences for specific game types or formats. As such, consider what type of games or game genres are enjoyed the most by your target audience(s). This can help you create the right type of advergame to attract your desired players.

Market & Promote Your Advergame: Like with loyalty programs and other digital promotions, simply building and launching an advergame is not enough for it to be successful. You need to market and promote the game to your desired audiences in order for the advergame to deliver results. Promote your game to in your email marketing to customers and across social media to ensure your game reaches more users and gains organic growth.

Measure Performance & Effectiveness: Evaluating the performance and effectiveness of your advergame is vital not only for your existing campaign but for potential campaigns in the future. Be sure to implement the right tracking and analytics tools so you can measure consumer engagement, brand awareness, and sales impact, both while the advergame is live and after it comes to an end.

What Are The Advantages of Advergames Compared To Traditional Marketing?

When it comes to game marketing, advergames have several advantages over other methods:

Complete Brand Control: Advergames allow brands to maintain total control over their content and messaging. This ensures brand safety and consistency, unlike programmatic advertising or sponsored esports teams.

Immersive Engagement: Advergames inherently provide an interactive and immersive experience for players. This boosts consumer engagement, fosters positive associations, and cultivates long-term brand affinity.

Educational Opportunities: Advergames can be an effective tool for educating consumers about brands and products. By incorporating informative elements, they increase awareness and understanding.

Valuable Data Insights: Advergames provide a treasure trove of data. With ownership over the game, brands can measure impressions, click-through rates, and product attention, gaining valuable insights.

Want to see more ideas for advergames? View our Progressive Banner Hunt Instant Win Game Case Study

Why Are Advergames Growing In Popularity?

Mobile advergames are poised for success, thanks to the latest advancements in low-code technology. This cutting-edge technology has revolutionized the development process, significantly reducing the costs and effort required for creating and deploying these interactive games.

With low code technology, brands can now easily create complex advergames without the need for extensive coding or development resources. This accessibility and affordability make it an attractive option for brands looking to engage their audience through fun and interactive experiences.

Advergames are also thriving in the mobile app marketplace. The Apple App Store and Google Play Store attract a massive amount of daily traffic, providing a vast pool of potential players for brands' advergames. The high numbers of users and downloads on these platforms makes them an ideal distribution channel; brands can effortlessly reach a large, engaged audience with minimal cost and effort.

Furthermore, advergames are a perfect fit for the on-the-go nature of the mobile platform. As mobile devices become the primary means of gaming, advergames can provide users with a fun and engaging experience during their daily activities.

Consider How Your Brand Can Utilize An Advergame In Your Marketing Campaign

In today's digital landscape, consumers are growing tired of traditional programmatic game ads. They crave a more genuine experience. Ad agencies need to recognize this demand and activate campaigns where their consumers are - in the world of mobile advergames.

Is your brand looking towards games and advergames as a way to build customer engagement and increase interactions? Contact Us Today!