Question 1.

“Advergames are non-traditional media forms of advertising in terms of their

pros and cons” justify your statement. What ethical issues do you believe are presented by
advergames? Exemplify some successful campaigns of advergaming.

Answer: The advergames has become one of the most promising areas of advertising media in
recent years. Studies has shown that how it increased the level of brand recall while giving very
little attention to the effectiveness of persuasion through the consumer’s cognitive and affective
modes.

video game contains an advertisement for a product, service, or company. Some advergames are
created by a company with the sole purpose of promoting the company itself or one of its products,
and the game may be distributed freely as a marketing tool. Companies can promote their products
through the elements integrated into a game. It increases brand awareness and makes users talking
about the game and consequently about the products advertised. This is now one of the most
trending forms of advertising. And It’s a very effective way of non-traditional advertising.

Pros of Advergames:

1. Increase brand awareness: This is the main advantage. Advergames allow users to interact
with your product. Now, don’t imagine that they will go to the store to buy it immediately
after that. But they will know about your brand when they need it. Moreover, if the game is
engaging enough and you implement social elements, they will definitely talk with their
friends about it.
2. Suitable for any business: Another positive aspect is that advergames work for every
industry. It really doesn’t matter if you promote food or tires or beauty products! It all
depends on the game created. If users enjoy playing it and you focus on increasing
conversion rate, then you have big chances to reach the wanted success.
3. Long-term results: While with a regular ad, as soon as the campaign is over customers move
on and forget about your product, with advergames things are different. They will remain on
users’ devices for a long time. That small icon has the power to remind them that your game
is extremely interesting and your brand’s worth their attention. In fact, users know that your
game is actually an advertisement, but they don’t care because they are having fun with the
characters you created based on your products.

Cons of Advergaming

1. High cost: Even though the price for creating a mobile game is lower than it was before, we
should know that this type of campaign will be relatively expensive. On the other hand,
instead of paying a high price for intrusive ads which drive people away, you should
reconsider your strategy and invest your money into a more user-friendly technique like
advergaming.
 2. Demands creativity: Users won’t be interested in your game if it is boring and the gameplay
is like other 100 games they’ve played before. You need to leverage new technologies in
order to convince them that your game deserves their attention.
3. Requires promotion: Yes, it seems awkward that you must promote your ad because you
created it for promoting your product. But you need to be aware of a certain fact. If you built
a game, it doesn’t necessarily mean that millions of users will start playing it in the next
second. After all, a game is a game even if its purpose is to connect players with your brand.
It still needs marketing!

Ethical Concerns of Advergames

1. Ratings
2. Children and Persuasive Knowledge
3. Vulnerability to advertising messages
4. Childhood Obesity and Advergames

Example of Advergames: Burger King and Game wheel Burger King and Game wheel created a
really engaging game Burger King and Game wheel created a really engaging game that could be
played inside their mobile app (check out the story). This game had an average CTR of 40,25% and
truly engaged their customers. This was a really good way for burger king to promote their product
and to make their app more engaging.