In It to Win It

              Grand Theft Auto Video Game, one of the locations - New York ( Liberty City)

Digital marketing is a new way to engage with the customers through computers, smartphones, game consoles and other electronic devices, using technological platforms such as internet, social media, apps etc. According to statistics 35% of internet users play online games. And it's not only male teens who play games as most of us would think. The percentage is spread almost equally between males and females and the average age would be 34 years old. This has created a base for the new form of digital marketing- a game based marketing.

The reason why we can see so many varieties of marketing opportunities appearing nowadays could be that people get really tired of traditional mass media marketing. And as it is known we all don't like this feeling when we are being pushed into something even slightly, the very idea just puts us off, or when somebody is giving lots of information and you are not actually able to answer back or to express yourself also it's not a secret that everybody hates being interrupted with something absolutely irrelevant while watching a film, video, reading, playing etc. All this unpleasant things are the reason why customers get very upset with traditional marketing, its push orientation as well as outbound messages created without any chance for interactivity and constant  interruption used to get attention. 

Game based marketing was created as one of the alternatives to traditional marketing with a chance to establish a more close tie with a customer. Companies have noticed that game and brand linkage is more intimate, the player sees the product or destination being marketed on his/her screen rather than in public place with thousands of other people. In order for the campaign to be successful, the destination brand image must fit well with the atmosphere of the game. First of all, the demographic profile of players must be considered, the size of the market, as well as the quality and context of the game.

In games, the characters can act as brand endorsers just like celebrities do in traditional marketing. As we know some customers are buying the products only because they saw a celebrity using it. Meanings attributed to a celebrity become associated with the brand in consumers mind. In the same way, players get very involved with their characters as they spend some time to build that character and to enable it to perform at the highest possible level.

By giving an opportunity to choose a certain location in a game it allows players to interact with brands which creates bonding between a brand and a player. Marketing within the game is an unobtrusive method to share the company's message. Games could be characterized in the same way as movies, providing an immersive experience, without any barriers of class and culture as everybody can participate in a story.

Mental stimulation through narrative storytelling encourages players to become lost in the story and they basically don't notice the advertising as it becomes a part of the game they are playing. As a result more positive feelings about the product could be developed.

Colosseum in Rome: Road to Freedom Video Game

To sum up, the positive sides of game marketing are:

• almost no intrusion
• potential for interactivity with the brand's message
• acquired entertainment value of the game
• low cost
• easily measurable return on investment as there is a link to the sales of the game

However, there are some downfalls as well, firstly, the percentage of people playing games is relatively low if to compare with people watching TV for example, or listening to the radio, however the cost of investing into game marketing is much less. Also there are too many games out there and all of them compete for player's attention, and secondly, the time requirement to play a game is very high as a gamer has to learn the rules and master the tricks. While in traditional marketing you can look at a pop up ad, for example,or just ignore it, with no wasting much time, could be with no gains to advertiser as well. Game marketing could be more effective if developers work properly on design to convince the players that it is worth attention.

Here are some of  the examples  how real life locations are featured in video games please have a look:

1. Fallout: New Vegas
2. The Telegraph newspaper best real life locations
3. Locations used in Grand Theft Auto 
4. Locations by Fox News
5. Virtual Tourism locations