A shorter version of this column originally appeared in Ian Fenwick’s digimarketing column in the Bangkok Post, February 10, 2010.

In several columns I’ve stressed the key digimarketing theme of participation. Whereas most traditional marketing focused on passive, lean back, targets, successful digimarketing deals with lean forward, engaged participants. Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of digital games, often called video or computer games.

Mainstream

Although many think of video games as being played by teenage nerds slewing beasts, racing cars and generally wasting time, in fact games have become mainstream entertainment. By 2007, Comscore (a major digital market research company) reported that over a quarter of the global internet population visited a game site (excluding gambling sites) in a single month. The digital gaming industry globally is thought to have exceeded $(US) 50 billion in 2009. Some sources place more than a quarter of all game hardware and software sales as being in the Asia/Pacific region.

Maturing

The Entertainment Software Association (a U.S. organization serving the needs of the video game industry) conducts annual in-depth surveys of gamers (pdf). These are US stats, but are probably reflective of the global situation. As of 2009, the average (US) gamer was 35 years old and had been playing for 12 years; 25% of players were over 50 years old; 34% were females over 18 years old: males under 17 years are by now only 18% of gamers.

Mobile

As with all things digital, mobile is moving fastest. Gartner Research report worldwide mobile game revenues reached $4.5 billion in 2008,[1] with just over half of that coming from the Asia-Pacific region.

The impact of locationally-driven mobile games is only just starting to be felt. Four Square is one of the fastest growing (and, yes, it works here in Thailand). You download the (free) application for your choice of mobile (iPhone, Android or Windows Mobile) and turn on your GPS.

When you want to you can “check in” at a location, which can be either a location someone else has already entered, or a new location you enter. For every check-in you earn points (new location earn more). If you want you can twitter your check-ins. If you want to can friend people and see where your friends are: if they have chosen to report their position.

If you check-in to a location more than often than anyone else, you become Mayor of that location. As you earn points, and mayorships, you get badges. In the US many locations give the mayor a special deal with a free drink or something (hint! hint!): after all they are proven regular customers.

What’s the point? There is no point: what’s the point of any game? Some consider it fun, and the ease of attaining mayorships in Thailand is sure to make your US friends very jealous. Four Square hit 1.2 million check-ins in the last week (ending February 5, 2010): that’s twice as many as a month ago! Interestingly enough, although traffic (the number of people visiting the website) is also up, check-ins—participation—is rising faster! A healthy sign indeed.

Marketing in Games

Games are a marketers dream. First, they are one of the few media where users welcome marketers! Particularly for sports-oriented games, players like to see ads around the virtual soccer fields and race tracks. It makes it look more realistic!

Second, games are usually extremely absorbing and immersive. You may watch a TV commercial out of a corner of an eye while talking on the phone and reading a magazine. But games tend to command 100% attention. If you don’t pay attention you get beat!

Third, marketing opportunities abound. Whether its wrapping your brand around a simple mobile game, ensuring that your branding gets consumers’ rapt attention for minutes on end (unlike that corner of an eye on a 15 second TVC). Or designing a billboard at the virtual arena that is actually clickable so the gamer can pause the game and perhaps order your pizza without ever leaving the game site.

Or going back to Four Square: that game allows users to tag locations with comments. Already a few smart marketers are realizing that they can use those tags to pass on simple, honest, effective messages. Like the barbeque restaurant that spells out “Monday night buy 10 wings get 10 free”. Cost? A few seconds of someone’s time.

In Canada, a newspaper chain has done a deal to send locationally specific news to Four Square users based on their check-in location. Perhaps a sign of how news on dead trees will be reborn for the digital age. Food for thought.

Dr. Ian Fenwick is an Advisor at Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, and Founding Partner of digiAindra Co. Ltd. He recently co-authored DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media & Digital Marketing (Wiley 2008). Read his blog at http://blog.digiAindra.com, follow him at www.Twitter.com/DrIanFenwick, and see his presentations at www.SlideShare.net/Ian.Fenwick, or email him at ian@digiAindra.com.

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