Should you advertise in video games?

Advertising Age recently posted a video about the difficulty of advertising within video games. Game designer Kevin Slavin of Area/Code essentially says that the normal rules of advertising do not apply to games: traditional advertising wants its message out immediately, whereas games keep an idea just out of reach—otherwise there would be no incentive to play.

With this in mind, I present the top five ways to advertise in games:

5. Brand an item players use repeatedly

Most games require players use various tools to complete objectives, so why not claim one for yourself ? Use a real world product or something unique to the game (which you can bring into the real world if demand is high). The item should also be fun and integral to a player’s success. You don’t want just any “McDonald’s Big McClaymore,” but an item believable within the game that still conveys the messaging of your brand. Cell phone sponsorship in games is one simple example.

4. Create an extended portion of the game at your location

This could be great fun in games that employ advanced physics engines. Wouldn’t it be cool to stealthily break into Harrods to nab (or prevent the nabbing of) the Queen’s newly made jewelry? Augmented reality could be filled with interactive experiences of this kind: want to be like Sponge Bob and polish your grill skills at Burger King? How about doing a barrel roll over Niagara Falls without the hassle? Players will gain a sense of ownership with the location and may take a trip to show their friends where they blasted through your display window.

3. Sponsor a game

Take an existing game and add your own content to it. The latest example of this is Beatles Rock Band, though one of the best is the Def Jam fighting series, which took a great fighting engine and put popular hip-hop acts in to fight with. Be sure the game engine is good, or else you’ll end up with “A Boy and His Jell-O Mold.”

2. Make your own game

Sponsored games have always been littered with bombs like Yo! Noid and McDonald’s Kids. But even if they are bad, they still increase exposure to a fast growing market of game players. The Burger King value-priced games were poorly received but still helped increase profits 40%. The key is creating a user experience people will want to return to because they like the game and not have your copy smashed into their heads. Keep dangling those patties just out of reach and tease them with a ketchup packet after every mission.

1. Do it like Seinfeld

The greatest example of product placement has to be Seinfeld. Entire episodes were written with brands in mind yet were so well-written you don’t think of them as advertising. Pez, Junior Mints, the New York Yankees, Gore-Tex, PBS, Rudy Giuliani, Jon Voight, Bosco, Frogger and more were featured in episodes and made the action more believable. The episodes weren’t about the brands, but about the foibles of Jerry and his cohorts, who happened to do something hilarious while interacting with the brand. It made the brand fun. A character’s personality decided how a product was used—not the other way around. Put something in the game and let the player decide how to have fun with it. (See Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle for similar ideas.)

Advertising in games is a fairly new phenomenon with lots of great ideas waiting for implementation. Do you think mine work? What ideas do you have? Give some of your in-game advertising ideas in the comments section below.