What Are Advergames? Types, Examples and How to Use Them

An advergame is a video game built to promote a brand, product or message, played on the web, in an app or inside an ad, where the game itself carries the marketing rather than ads shown around it.

The appeal is simple: people choose to play a game, while they often skip an ad. A good advergame can earn sustained attention, teaches something about the product and, when it offers prizes or rewards, can collect opt-ins and contact details. A poor one is an ad with controls attached, and a prize-based one without proper rules can create legal risk. This guide covers the main types of advergame, what each is good for, examples, how to build one, what to do after people play, the prize and privacy rules that apply, how to measure results, what they cost and when another format is the better choice.

Key Takeaways

What types of advergames are there?

Four main types: a branded web or app game, a game inside an ad, a prize game such as an instant win, and a game inside a loyalty program.

Many campaigns combine types. A game inside an ad can lead to a prize game, and a loyalty program can run a seasonal gameboard. The guide to promotion types compares advergames with sweepstakes, contests and other formats.

What are advergames used for?

Brands use them to win attention, teach product benefits, drive site traffic, collect opt-ins and contact details, and keep customers or members engaged between purchases.

• Attention and recall. A game asks for active play rather than passive viewing and can build the product into play, such as choosing ingredients or matching features.
• Product education. A game can show how a product works, which suits products with benefits that are hard to explain in a short ad.
• Traffic and clicks. A playable ad or a reward for clicking through can move people to a site or offer.
• Registrations and first-party data. Prize games commonly ask for contact details and marketing consent before a player can claim a prize.
• Repeat engagement. Games inside loyalty programs give members something to do between purchases. The guide to gamification in loyalty programs covers that use in depth.

How do you build an advergame that works?

Set one goal, make it fun before it sells, design for one audience, keep the brand's role clear, plan distribution, limit data and build in fraud controls.

1. Set one goal. Pick attention, education, traffic, data or repeat engagement, and design the game around it. A game that tries to do all five usually does none well.

2. Make it fun first. If the game is not enjoyable in the first few seconds, players leave. Short sessions, clear controls and a reason to replay matter more than graphics.

3. Design for the audience. Age, device and the time people have to play shape the right game. A two-minute mobile game suits commuters; a longer browser game suits a different audience.

4. Keep the brand role clear. The product should be part of the play, not a banner beside it, and players should be able to tell that the game is marketing.

5. Plan distribution. A game no one finds does nothing. Budget for ads, email, social posts and placement on the brand's own site and app.

6. Decide on data and consent. Collect only what the goal needs, explain why, and get marketing consent separately from entry.

7. Build in fraud controls. Prize games attract bots and repeat entries. Limit entries, verify eligibility and screen winners before fulfillment.

Platforms such as Brandmovers' BLOYL™ include gamification modules, including scratch-offs, gameboards, instant wins, challenges and quizzes, alongside a promotions builder and built-in fraud protection, so a game can run inside an existing program rather than as a one-off build.

What should happen after someone plays?

Follow up by segment: welcome new opt-ins, thank non-winners with a next step, deliver prizes promptly and send play data to the customer record so later messages reflect it.

The game is the start of a relationship, not the end. Players fall into groups that need different follow-up:

• New registrants who opted in: a short welcome series that explains the brand and the next offer, sent while the game is fresh.
• Non-winners: a thank-you and a reason to stay, such as a small offer, a newsletter or a chance to play again, so losing does not end the relationship.
• Winners: fast verification and fulfillment, because a slow prize turns a good experience into a complaint.
• Existing customers or members: points or recognition in the loyalty program, so the game adds to an account they already value.

This depends on the data reaching the right place. Plan how entries, consents and play activity flow into the CRM or customer data platform, how players who are already customers are matched to their records and how quickly that happens. A game that collects 30,000 opt-ins into a spreadsheet no one imports has wasted much of its value. Check that the game loads quickly on phones and works with keyboards and screen readers, since a game few people can play reaches few people.

What rules apply to advergames with prizes?

A game that awards prizes by chance is a sweepstakes: entry cannot require payment or purchase, official rules are needed and some states require registration for larger prize pools.

Sweepstakes offer a free way to enter because state laws restrict requiring payment or purchase. Florida, for example, makes it unlawful for an operator "To require an entry fee, payment, or proof of purchase as a condition of entering a game promotion," and requires the operator of a game promotion "in which the total announced value of the prizes offered is greater than $5,000" to file its rules and prize list with the state "at least 7 days before the commencement of the game promotion" (Fla. Stat. 849.094). Florida also requires a trust account or surety bond covering the prize value for those promotions. The same logic applies inside loyalty programs: a gameboard whose plays are earned only through purchases needs a free way to play as well. New York requires a filing "at least thirty days prior to the commencement" of a chance promotion where the total announced value of the prizes is "in excess of five thousand dollars" (N.Y. GBL 369-e). Games decided by skill rather than chance are treated differently in many states, but the line between skill and chance is a legal question. The legal guide to digital promotions and contests covers official rules, registration and bonding in more depth.

Games can also attract children. The FTC's COPPA rule "imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age" (FTC). A cartoon-style game for a snack brand may count as directed to children even if the brand's customers are adults, since the FTC's factors include "the use of animated characters or child-oriented activities and incentives." A game directed to children generally "must treat all visitors as children," so age screening is not a workaround; only games that target children but not as their primary audience may age-screen, under the rule's conditions (FTC COPPA FAQ). This is general information, not legal advice.

How do you measure an advergame?

Track plays, completion, time played and actions after the game, then compare business results with a baseline so the game is credited only with the change it caused.

• Reach and play: unique players, plays per player and completion rate. A low completion rate usually means the game is too long or too hard.
• Attention: average time played, set against the cost of the same attention in paid media.
• Actions: clicks to the site, registrations, opt-ins and, where purchases can be linked, purchases by players.
• Data quality: the share of registrations that are valid and the share that opt in to marketing.
• Incremental effect: where the audience allows, hold back a comparable group that does not see the game, or compare regions or periods, before crediting sales to it.

As an illustrative example, a prize game that costs $60,000 in build, prizes, media and administration and collects 30,000 valid opt-ins costs $2 per opt-in. That figure only means something next to the cost of an opt-in from other channels and the later value of those contacts. Use your own costs and results.

What do advergames cost, and when are they the wrong choice?

Costs cover build, prizes, fraud controls, legal review, media and analytics; a game is the wrong choice when a simpler promotion meets the goal or the audience will not play.

The game build is often the visible cost, but prizes, distribution, official rules, winner verification and fulfillment can add substantially to the total. Skip the game when:

• The goal is a quick sales lift. A coupon, rebate or instant win tied to purchase may do more for less.
• The audience will not play. If the target buyers are unlikely to spend time on a game, test interest with a small pilot before building.
• The game cannot carry the product. If the brand is only a logo on a generic game, recall and education gains are unlikely.
• There is no plan to use the data. Collecting registrations with no follow-up program wastes the main return.
• The audience includes children and the brand is not prepared to meet COPPA's requirements.

Conclusion

An advergame works when the game itself carries the message: fun enough to play, clear about the brand's role and built around one goal. Choose the type by goal, plan how players will find it, collect only the data the goal needs, follow sweepstakes and children's privacy rules when prizes or young players are involved, and measure the result against a baseline and the full cost. Which of your goals would a game serve better than an ad?

Sources

• Florida Statutes section 849.094, game promotion in connection with sale of consumer products or services
• New York General Business Law section 369-e
• Federal Trade Commission, Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA)
• Federal Trade Commission, Complying with COPPA: Frequently Asked Questions
• Brandmovers, 31 Days of DiGiorno case study
• Brandmovers, Progressive Banner Hunt case study