DenuoFlash: Matt Story @ IAB Games
Posted by Mary DeBrunner | July 1, 2009
On June 15th, Denuo Director and gaming guru Matt Story participated in an Electronic Arts workshop at the IAB Markeplace: Games Conference in San Francisco – an event sponsored by the game developer and Microsoft. The workshop, which focused on how brands are brought to life in the gaming space, included Progressive’s Emerging Media Manager Chris Scott and four individuals from the EA gaming studio – Elizabeth Harz, Steve Seabolt, Matt Marsala and Sam Player.
Addressing the crowd from a marketer/agency perspective, Matt and Chris agreed that games should be viewed as a communication platform vs. a place to put advertising. The game producers echoed the sentiment that this is a high engagement platform that in and around-game marketing should be relevant to gaming content. When asked for his advice/words of wisdom on how to do videogame marketing right, he said that marketers, agencies and developers need to work together to:
- Meet and Exceed Gamer Expectations – relevantly insert yourself where it makes sense, in a way that is unobtrusive and adds value exchange.
- Leverage the Fact that Gamers Appreciate Realism – incorporate your brand in a way that is seamless and reflects real-life brand interactions.
- Customize Based on the Environment –consider what the person is doing, what they’re playing and how they like to engage with content.
- Leverage Existing Assets and Partnerships –look at your broader brand arsenal to see if there are existing logos, icons, affiliations or taglines you can seamlessly incorporate into the gaming space (i.e. BK’s King; existing sponsorship of an official sports league like the NBA or NFL).
- Focus on Distribution of Games – work with partners that have set distribution methods and/or develop a set plan for distribution before going to market. Thinking about game distribution and eventual sales at the beginning of a marketing plan will ensure your success.
For the full recap on the 2009 IAB Marketplace: Games event, visit: http://www.iab.net/events_training/games09_recap
