Monkey Bulb

In October of 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System was born in the US–I was three. And I was hooked immediately. With a youthful generation that has been surrounded by 3D worlds, avatars, second lives, xboxes, buttons, and joysticks becoming money earning consumers it’s no wonder the the advertising world is jumping on the band wagon. The billion dollar a year industry–or at least will be by 2010 if predictions are correct, is about to be completely invaded by brands and your brand should be there. I think it can be a lot higher, especially with the booming emergence of online game play, interactive games like the Nintendo Wii, and it’s presence and influence in pop culture.

Here’s a cool campaign for the Wii with a little retro influence, both appealing to the retro gamers, current Wii fans, and an invasion of space that can’t be ignored.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, consumers spent $9.5 billion dollars on video and computer games last year. Now, game developers are getting younger, faster and smarter. With rising prices, the young indie developers are taking the internet by storm. I’m talking young, like high-school age and younger–producing, creating, and designed they’re own games, then posting them for the world to play–FREE. Facebook is littered with them, and flash based games are everywhere. Hell, some sort of video game is on almost every youthful brand’s website. All in attempt to bring in traffic for one reason or another. For the developers, it’s a chance to show off their skills. For the brand, it’s a chance to have a little face-to-face time with the consumer.

EA noticed the rise in user-generated games and has taken full advantage of it. Shankar Gupta reports on EA’s new program called ‘Blueprint’, here’s an excerpt: “The big idea for Blueprint seems to be finding and supporting independent developers, supplying them with funding and project management (cash and managers, two things EA has a nearly endless supply of), to produce games based on EA intellectual properties for Facebook and other social networks.” Beautiful. Brilliant. Great idea. These kids are going to be doing this anyway, why not brand them, hire the, and get them on your side. Let them do the work. Let them be as creative as they want. Reep the benefits.

Video games are one of the most adaptable mediums for advertising. The best thing is you have your audience’s attention–they’re to busy trying to win, shoot, score, out run, or even save the world to peel their corneas from the screen for a crucial split second. Creating a presence by using product placement, playing your band’s fresh single, sponsoring fights, races, worlds, buildings, and materials anything and everything–eventually anyways. The beautiful thing about the virtual world is the mirror to our natural consumer state of mind. Buy. Buy. Buy. Racing games have branded cars, tires, oil changes, signs on the road, customizable parts, paints and interiors are all available for purchase from the funds you’ve spent hours acquiring.

We are surrounded by brands and the virtual ability to buy. You can order Pizza Hut from World of Warcraft. Pepsi vending machines in Sim worlds. Walk out with the Burger King in Fight Night Round 3, as he takes the place of a trainer that ironically boosts your heart. And pretty much every video game involving a character is completely customizable all the way down to eye color just to personalize your relationship within the game, and as a result you get a brand experience too.

Online video gaming is exploding right now. It’s only a matter of time before brands are completely integrated and you are just a click away from an online store with out even pausing your game. That’s one of the hopes of Second Life, the completely virtual world that launched back in 2003. Businesses have moved in a made a presence, stores are up to buy clothes for your avatar, and you can even watch the news, go to news conferences, and listen to lectures and speakers. Brands are everywhere and have created entire sub-worlds in this vast virtual space. Business entrepreneurs have been born from this imaginary world just by creating products for other avatars to use, wear, and even drive. And with the spawn of commerce comes banks. Virtual banks. Crazy.

In-game advertising should be an easy sell, with the average gamer spending at least seven hours a week playing games, with how much video games influence pop culture, and a personal brand experience to influence brand familiarity–which to me is the most important part of advertising. No one will buy or use your product if they don’t know your brand, and we are constantly influencing each other just on popularity of the brands we use. When groups of gamer buddies are having a cold one talking about games they play, are wanting to play, games to try, shopping online for games, visiting and forwarding websites that feature games, and now even making their own games, where will your brand be?