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Mobile advergames in tourism marketing

Evrim eltek Journal of Vacation Marketing 2010 16: 267 DOI: 10.1177/1356766710380882 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jvm.sagepub.com/content/16/4/267

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Academic Paper
Journal of Vacation Marketing 16(4) 267281 The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1356766710380882 jvm.sagepub.com

Mobile advergames in tourism marketing

Evrim Celtek
Anadolu University, Turkey

In recent years, the effectiveness of traditional communication techniques has been diminishing and marketers have sought more creative practices to attract consumers. One of these new marketing tools is the mobile advergame, which is seen as an attractive and new marketing communication vehicle that increases awareness. The term advergame refers to games created by companies to promote their products or brand by combining advertisement, computer games and mobile phones. The main purpose of this study was to provide an understanding of the qualities and potentials of the mobile advergame as an advertising and marketing tool for the tourism industry. The study had focused on the mobile advergame practices in the tourism industry with a content and SWOT analysis. The results showed that the games were successful in branding and city integration in game, but ineffective in viral marketing as very expensive devices are needed to play these games. Keywords mobile marketing, mobile advergame, tourism industry advergames, tourism marketing

Introduction
The inclusion of brands in electronic games or the brand as the game (advergaming) is not a new marketing practice. Analysts predict that commercial placements in games will become a five billion dollar industry and it will start gauging the effectiveness of game brand placements. Interest for this marketing technique is driven, in part, by changes in media use, particularly among males who report that they find playing games more interesting than watching television (Afshar et al., 2004; Nelson et al., 2004). Advergames can be a powerful tool to build brand loyalty and collect crucial data about existing and potential customers. They consist of unique interactive games with a suite of advertising creatively built in. By combining games and ads, it is possible to boost product awareness. Branding concept is also an important issue for tourist destinations. In terms of destination branding, which is claimed to include a selection and strategic combination of a consistent mix of brand elements to identify and distinguish a destination through positive image building, advergames are seen as conceptually new and an

innovative channel of communication especially to reach well-defined target markets. Given the importance of this marketing communication practice in many sectors, it is surprising how few practices are conducted in the tourism industry, even though the industry would have many advantages in applying these practices. So the main purpose of the study is to provide an understanding of the qualities and potentials of mobile advergames as an advertising and marketing tool for the tourism industry. More specifically, the study aimed to achieve the following research objectives:  To determine the potentials of the mobile advergame in the tourism industry.  To determine the mobile advergame applications with content analysis in the tourism industry.

Corresponding author: Evrim Celtek, School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Anadolu University, Turkey Email: evrimceltek@yahoo.com

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268   SWOT analysis of mobile advergame applications in the tourism industry. To offer a mobile advergame model as a marketing tool for the tourism industry.

Journal of Vacation Marketing 16(4)

Advergames represent a rapidly evolving form of marketing-communication comprising of embedded commercial messages within the content of retail-accessible video games and on-line electronic games. In the advergame aim is to offer entertainment and to engage web or electronic game users in order to make an emotional connection between the game and the brand featured within it. (Dahl et al., 2006)

First, an overview of the various definitions of mobile technology, mobile marketing, mobile advergaming, and its types is provided, as well as a review of existing literature regarding its effectiveness, and examples of advergaming from the tourism industry. The study concludes with a mobile advergame model according to the needs, challenges and opportunities faced in marketing tourism products by advergame and a SWOT analysis is made of mobile advergame applications. The implications of this study will be meaningful to both academics and practitioners. The study is organized as follows. In the first part, a literature review about advergaming, the advantages of mobile advergame are determined. At the analysis section, a content analysis is made on mobile advergame examples from the tourism industry and a SWOT analysis is made according to the content analysis on mobile advergame applications. And finally, a mobile advergame model is offered for marketing tourism products. Findings and results are summarized in the last section.

Types of advergames
There are six categories of advergaming according to Wikipedia and Chen and Ringel (2001). Table 1 shows the types of advergames. Examples of ATL advergames include Promotional software. At first a company provides interactive games on its website in the hope that potential customers will be drawn to the game and spends more time on the website, or simply become more products aware. Examples of BTL advergames include Militainment, Recruitment tools, Edutainment, and In-game advertising. In the second form, games are published in the usual way and cause players to investigate further. The subjects may be commercial, political or educational. Examples of TTL advergames include link-chases and ARGs. A rare form of advergaming, TTL advergames involve the use of URL hyperlinks within the game designed to induce the player to visit a webpage which then contains BTL advertisements. The technique used to tempt the player into visiting the intended URL varies from game to game (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Advergaming). Types of advertising in games: These include (eTechnology Group, 2007: 21):  Advergames: Games developed especially for a brand with deep integration of the brand into the game. A game is specially built around a brand, aimed to develop association and strong recall for the brand. An example is a game built around the bottle of a soft drink
Table 1. Types of advergames Wikipeida (2008) 1. ATL (Above the line) advergaming, 2. BTL (Below the line) advergaming, 3. TTL (Through the Line) advergaming. 1. 2. 3. Chen and Ringel (2001) Associative advergames Illustrative advergames Demonstrative advergames

Literature review Advergaming

Many companies have begun to use the internet as part of their marketing mix; the newest and hottest mass media marketing strategy is advergaming, the emergent international industry of online computer games created solely to promote brands (Kretchmer, 2003).
Advergaming is the use of interactive gaming technology to deliver embedded advertising messages to consumers. Advergaming incorporates branding directly into the gaming environment. With an advergame, companies lure the consumer into interact with their brand. So they can find out on their own that they appreciate and value companies brand ideas. (Afshar et al., 2004: 16) Advergaming, the use of product placement in computer games, is one of the new frontiers in online promotion. Games built around brands enhance realism and further reinforce the connection between brand images and social attributes. (Solomon, 2003: 166)

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Celtek brand. The advertiser underwrites the entire cost of game development. In-Game placements: Brand/logo placement inside an existing game. A brand is placed in a game such that it is an integral part of the game and creates many opportunities for the consumer to interact with it. A good example is the logo of Honda painted on a car in a racing game. The advertiser pays a fee for the in-game placement. On-Site advertising: Banner ads on gaming sites and gaming pages of portals. Internationally the most common revenue model, though not the largest source of revenue. In this model the advertisers pay for placing their advertisement (usually banner ads) on the website. Games are monetized by advertising units sold around the game. The opportunities mobile advergaming opens are intriguing for consumer, advertiser and game developers. For the consumer the most obvious benefit is the possibility of getting mobile entertainment services to their cell phones with more economical prices, in best cases free of charge. Advergaming could also be put into good use as an educational tool, recruiting tool, etc. For the advertiser, the goal of advergaming is usually not to make direct revenue, but instead build customer relationships and brand awareness. It could also provide brand new ways to reach out and share their visions of mobile lifestyle to consumers. For mobile game developers and the mobile gaming industry, advergaming could be the required boost. Mobile advergaming could prove particularly important for smaller, independent companies, as game development is a time consuming and very expensive procedure. Mobile gaming is just a component of mobile entertainment, yet an important one. Mobile games are played on mobile devices for example, PDA or mobile phone which have a limited performance due to, for example, small screen and limited memory. There exist two different types of mobile games. The first one is played on mobile devices but otherwise does not differ from other, non-mobile games. The second one is inherently mobile type, specially designed for mobile devices, which uses unique properties of mobile technology. Mobile games of the second type can use the advantages of the SMS network, the GPS technology, the GSM network and be location-aware (http://www.zgroup-mobile. com/advergaming.html). There are a number of benefits in producing such a mobile game, particularly for branding purposes. Games, being an engaging medium, lead to higher consumer affinity as opposed to

269

Mobile advergame
Mobile advertising is no different than traditional advertising in regards to the need for brand awareness and loyalty in addition to product and service sales. One method is to use branded advergames to get your message across and to help consumers associate your brand with something unique and fun. Companies are developing solutions that meld mobile entertainment and games with any clients brand. Since they are usually provided free-of-charge, advergames can be a great way to reach out to your potential audience while giving them something thats fun to use, free, and worth their time. Every time they open and play the game, they are re-introduced to the brand, so the more unique the game, the more brand awareness received (http://www. mobilemarketingwatch.com/).
Table 2. Worldwide mobile advertising spending

Worldwide mobile advertising spending, by objective, 20062011 (millions) 2006 Mobile brand ad spending* Mobile direct response ad spending ** Total mobile ad spending $ 123.8 $ 1,424.0 $ 1,547.8 2007 $ 277.3 $ 2,495.8 $ 2,773.1 2008 $ 644.4 $ 4,312.9 $ 4,957.3 2009 $ 1,120.5 $ 6,349.8 $ 7,470.3 2010 $ 2,175.3 $ 9,273.6 $ 11,448.9 2011 $ 3,569.2 $ 12,654.3 $ 16,223.5

Note: mobile advertising includes text message promotions, ad-supported voice minutes as well as ad placements around video content, mobile games, mobile music, mobile TV, mobile social networks and mobile search; *advertising which aims to create a positive association between consumers and a company, product and/or service; **advertising with the objective of generating transactions and which presents a device for consumers to initiate such transactions Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id1004991&src article2_newsltr

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270 other advertising media. The interactive nature of a game ensures that the consumer interacts with the brand and therefore brand-identity can be readily established. This interaction, in the case of mobile games, is much longer since their casual nature is such that gamers tend to play them repeatedly. Users carry their mobile devices with them almost everywhere and consequently spend more time with the brand, facilitating a higher recall value (Lopatina, 2005). Currently, mobile devices have relatively higher market penetration rates than other electronic devices; staying connected seems to be the need of the hour, personally as well as professionally.

Journal of Vacation Marketing 16(4)  Viral marketing: Advergames are a form of viral marketing in which word of mouse rewards customers when they help with some of the heavy lifting that comes with releasing a new product or promoting an existing brand (Afshar et al., 2004: 20). Contests, one of the simplest types of mobile games, can successfully double as a market research tool for polling a considerable number of consumers, even at short notice. Mobile advergaming is a perfect fusion of non-intrusive advertising, marketing and branding. Mobile game can just be an integrated part of the tour. It can be, for example, a kind of tourist guide which accompanies the person on the move in a game form. Mobile games can be played indoors or outdoors. A large geographical area, an open air museum, a camping place or a hotel building are all the examples of potential playgrounds for mobile games (Lopatina, 2005: 20).

Advantages of mobile advergame

Games allow different levels of brand promotion, from passive placement of product, to the product being an integral part of the game itself. According to a Jupiter Media Metrix survey (Zodal, 2008) advergames advantages are:  86% of internet users passed viral messages on to another person. 49% passed them on to more than three people The average time spent in an advergame is 7 to 30 minutes far beyond the time spent looking at a magazine advert, a clear advantage for advertisers over a 30-second TV spot Recent research from the Conference Board, NFO and Forrester reveals that 67% of males under 35 are online gamers with 62% of females in the same age category also following suit.

Methodology Data collection

The data set was collected via internet in 2009, using internet web page search the mobile advergame examples were found. Snowball sampling method was used for reaching the examples. Snowball sampling is a technique for developing a research sample where existing study subjects recruit future subjects from among their acquaintances. Thus the sample group appears to grow like a rolling snowball. The sample built up to gain enough data to use for analyzing the data. This sampling technique was often used in hidden populations which were difficult for researchers to access. With snowball sampling method ten mobile advergames was found. Mobile advergaming is the use of interactive gaming technology to deliver embedded advertising messages to consumers. Advergaming incorporates branding directly into the gaming environment. With an advergame, companies lure the consumer into interact with their brand. In this section the examples are mainly based on the tourism mobile advergame examples from the world. Explaining the mobile advergame examples from the different countries in the world, to understand a lesson learned from advergame applications in other countries. The mobile advergame examples are Disney Toy Story Mania, Get lost in Rotterdam, Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt Game, REXplorer,

According to the website: http://www.unkasoft. com/en/advergaming_en, advergame advantages are:   Non-annoying advertising: introduced within the content which customers are enjoying. It allows us to understand the preferences of the clients, which may at the same time, create a greater implication with the message and identification with the brand name. While an advertising campaign elevates by 2% the intentions of purchase or acceptance of a product on the public exposed to it, the combination of this with online marketing increases this figure to 12%. Personalized: As it is interactive and capable of meeting the person after the advertisement, it is possible to adjust publicity to each person and time of the day.

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Celtek VeGame, Can You See Me Now, City Treasure Hunt, The Tourist Trail, Explore and Geocaching. Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick and Belfast. Can You See Me Now game was a touring game in cities of Europe including Sheffield, Rotterdam, Oldenberg, Cologne, Brighton and Barcelona. It was hosted by various art festivals and related cultural organizations (Benford et al., 2006: 3). Disney Toy Story Mania which was developed by Disneys Living Mobile studio was based on the Toy Story Mania ride at Disneys Hollywood Studios theme park which opened in June 2008 (http://mobilegames.blogs. com/mobile_games_blog/2008/08/disney-releases. html). Get Lost in Rotterdam was a location-based game that allowed players to discover the Dutch city of Rotterdam (http://mobilegames.blogs. com/mobile_games_blog/2008/08/the-saints-rele. html). Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt game was developed for the city of Malmo (http://mobile games.blogs.com/mobile_games_blog/2008/05/ elbes-malms-mob.html) and REXplorer was a mobile, pervasive spell-casting game designed for tourists of Regensburg in Germany (Chen, 2008; Huijnen, 2006). The playground of the VeGame was the urban environment of Venice, where students and tourists played along the citys streets, discovering its art and history (Bellotti et al., 2003). Explore was a gaming and guiding system for Museum and Exhibition Environments (Lopatina, 2005: 22). Geocaching was a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. There are 992,062 active caches and an estimated 34 million geocachers worldwide (http://www.geocaching.com/ default.aspx). The following variables are accompanied by the appropriate definitions and the mobile advergame examples analyzed by the content analysis variables: Game name: The mobile advergame examples names were: Disney Toy Story Mania, Get Lost in Rotterdam, Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt Game, REXplorer, VeGame, Can You See Me Now, City Treasure Hunt, The Tourist Trail, Explore and Geocaching. Registration and Requirement for Personal Information: If a website or initial game page required any form of personal information (name, address, email, phone, age, sex) before playing. All of the games needed registration and name verification. Pressure to Purchase: Whether or not there was any pressure to purchase, or if purchase gave additional options on the site. For playing

271

Analysis
The studys data analysis followed a three-step method. First, a content analysis was made on mobile advergames. Mobile advergame examples were analyzed on the basis of 15 game features. To analyze the game features 15 factors were developed on the basis of marketing and advergaming. Second, after an overview of the various examples of mobile advergames, a SWOT analysis was made according to the content analysis and literature review data about advergames. The study examined the advergame applications in the tourism industry using SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis consists of everyday situations (strengths and weaknesses) and future conditions (opportunities and threats) of advergames applications in tourism industry. At the third step a conceptual mobile advergame model was offered for marketing tourism products by advergaming. To determine the mobile advergames a content analysis method was used. In order to associate the content analysis of advergames with marketingrelated information, the associated advergames constituted as units of analysis. For the content analysis all mobile advergames were analyzed with a concentration on the following items: 1. Game Name 2. Registration and requirement for personal information 3. Pressure to purchase 4. Domain 5. Viral marketing 6. Interactive communication 7. Branding and product use in game 8. Type of the advergame 9. Essential technologies for playing the game 10. Type of game-Game genre (Action, Fighting, Shooting, Puzzle/Strategy) 11. Player role 12. Focus of game (product vs. company) 13. City information availability 14. Destination information availability 15. Incentive to try product

Results Analysis 1
Treasure Hunt game had four types, but two of them focused on tourism and city. It played in

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272 Rexplorer, Can You See Me Now, City Treasure Hunt and The Tourist Trail Games full purchase was necessary. Get Lost in Rotterdam and Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt games some pur chase needed for hiring the technology devices. Explore and Disneys game did not required any purchase. Domain: If the game was placed extra site other than corporate site or it was in a fun or game section on the general site or it was not directly linked any site. All of the games except VeGame and Explore had website for reaching them. Viral Marketing: If there was any incentive on the site to invite friends or to send e-card. Only Disney Toy Story Mania game had invite friends application so that game examples had lack of viral marketing applications. Interactive Communication: If there were chat with other players, multiplayer game, single player game, and interactive links in the game, prize/awards and create own avatar application features in the game. All of the games were multiplayer game, VeGame and Can You See Me Now game had chat with others application. Disney, VeGame and Explore could play as a single. Disney, Get Lost in Rotterdam, Malmos Treasure Hunt, City Treasure Hunt, The Tourist Trail and Geocaching gave prize and awards. This application could be helpful for reaching more players. Branding and Product Use In Game: If there were logo sing, information links about the product in the game, information links about the company, product integration in game or no information, logo about the product and the game is product related or not. A product featured as an integral part of the game. All of the games were city or product integrated, except Rotterdam, Can You See Me Now, The Treasure Hunt and The Tourist Trail game had information about the city or the product so that branding application was good in games. Type of the Advergame: If the game type was ATL or BTL or TTL advergame. Disney, Explore and VeGames advergame type was ATL other were BTL advergame. Purpose/goal of the game: If the game purpose was fun, have fun with city/product or educate city/product benefits. All of the games purposes were have fun with city or product and most of the games were educated about the city benefits and informations. Essential Technologies for Playing the Game: If there was need for a pocket size pc, personal

Journal of Vacation Marketing 16(4) digital assistant, cellular phone, smart phone, GPS receiver, Bluetooth and GPRS for communication technologies, wifi technologies, internet and special detector device for playing the game. Essential technologies for playing the game were pocked size pc, cellular phone, smart phone, GPS (Global Positioning System) receive, bluetooth, wifi technologies, internet and walkie-talkies. This means the games could be expensive for playing the gamers. Type of Game-Game Genre: If the game genre was arcade, puzzle, quiz, sports, racing, action/ adventure, interactive role playing, strategy, location based, social, physical, outdoor wide area, seamless transition between real and virtual worlds, ubiquitous computing game, tangible interaction game, touring/sightseeing game. Most of the games genre was quiz, puzzle, action/ adventure, racing, location based, social, physical, outdoor wide area, touring/sightseeing game. Player Role: Player role was designated as either first-person or third-person. Traditionally this means that if the player plays as himself/herself and no character is controlled on the screen, this is a first-person game. If the character being played is one other than the actual player and is seen and controlled by the player, this is a third-person game. All off the games the player role was first player role except Rexplorer and Can You See Me Now. Focus of the Game: If the game featured a city/product, rather than the company name or logo, it was a city/product-focused game. If it featured the company name or logo and no product, it was company-focused. If it featured both a city/product and company logo or name it was marked as both, and if neither were featured, neither was chosen. All of the games focused on city or product except Geocaching. City Information Availability: Any specific information about the city presented, such as city information, photographs, sighting photographs. Most of the games had information and photographs application about the cities. Only Disney and explore games did not give any information about the city. Destination and Country Information Availability: Any specific information about the destination and country presented. All of the games did not give information about the destination and country except VeGame and geocaching. Incentive to Try Product: If there was incentive to try product, any presentation of a coupon or call to action. There were no incentive applications for the gamers.

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Table 3. Tabular overview of mobile advergames Treasure Hunts.ie Can You See Me Now? City Treasure Hunt The Tourist Trail

GAME NAME

Explore

Disney Toy Story Mania Rexplorer VeGame

Get Lost In Rotterdam

Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt Game

Geocaching

p p

p p

p p

p p p

p p p

p p p p

p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p

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p p

p p p p p p p

p p p p p

REGISTRATION and REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONAL INFO Name verification Email verification Country verification Age verification No registration PRESSURE TO PURCHASE Full purchase necessary for playing Some Purchase(s) required No purchase required DOMAIN Extra site other than corporate site Fun or game section on the general site Not directly linked VIRAL MARKETING e-cards Invite friends INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION Chat with other players Multiplayer game Single player game

p p

(continued)

273

274 Treasure Hunts.ie Can You See Me Now? City Treasure Hunt The Tourist Trail Disney Toy Story Mania Rexplorer VeGame Get Lost In Rotterdam Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt Game Geocaching p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p (continued)

Table 3 (continued)

GAME NAME

Explore

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Interactive links in the game Prize/awards Create own avatar application BRANDING Logo sign Information about the city/product in the game Information about the company in the game City/product integration in game No information and logo about the product Company mission Company location Company contact TYPE OF THE ADVERGAMING ATL advergaming BTL advergaming TTL advergaming PURPOSE OF GAME Fun for funs sake Have fun with city/ product Educate city/product benefits

Table 3 (continued) Treasure Hunts.ie Can You See Me Now? City Treasure Hunt The Tourist Trail

GAME NAME

Explore

Disney Toy Story Mania Rexplorer VeGame

Get Lost In Rotterdam

Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt Game

Geocaching

p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p

p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p

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p p p

p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p

p p p p p p p p p p p p p p

ESSENTIAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR PLAYING THE GAME Pocket size pc Personal digital assistant Cellular phone Smart phone GPS receive Bluetooth GPRS for communication Wifi technologies Internet Walkie-talkies Special detector device TYPE OF GAME GENRE Arcade Puzzle Quiz Sports Racing Action/adventure Interactive role playing Strategy Location based game Social game Physical game Outdoor wide area game

p p

(continued)

275

276 Treasure Hunts.ie City Treasure Hunt The Tourist Trail Disney Toy Story Mania Rexplorer VeGame Get Lost In Rotterdam Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt Game Can You See Me Now? p p p p p p p p p p p Geocaching p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p (continued)

Table 3 (continued)

GAME NAME

Explore

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Seamless Transition between real and virtual worlds Ubiquitous Computing game Tangible Interaction game Touring/sightseeing game Others PLAYER ROLE First person Third person FOCUS OF THE GAME City/Product focused game Company focused game Both (company and city/product) focused game None of them CITY INFORMATION AVAILABILITY City information City photographs City sighting photos at the game web page

Table 3 (continued) Treasure Hunts.ie Can You See Me Now? City Treasure Hunt The Tourist Trail

GAME NAME

Explore p

Disney Toy Story Mania p Rexplorer VeGame

Get Lost In Rotterdam

Malmos Mobile Treasure Hunt Game

Geocaching

p p p p p p p p p

p p

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No information DESTINATION and COUNTRY INFORMATION AVAILABILITY Country information Country photographs Destination information at web page Destination photographs at web page No information INCENTIVE TO TRY PRODUCT Presentation of a coupon or call to action Any discount

277

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Journal of Vacation Marketing 16(4)

Analysis 2
After overview of the various definitions of mobile advergame and its types were provided, as well as a review of existing literature regarding its effectiveness, and mobile advergame examples from the tourism industry, the study examined the advergame applications in the tourism industry using SWOT analysis. For making the SWOT analysis mobile advergame examples applications and content analysis data were used. The SWOT analysis consisted of today situations (Strengths and weaknesses) and tomorrow conditions (Opportunities and threats) of mobile advergame applications in tourism industry. Today: strengths and weaknesses Strengths  Mobile advergames has involve users, interact, entertain and engage features  Advergame players spend more time in games  Mobile advergame players market is getting bigger year by year.  Advergaming revenue is a good opportunity for the companies  Non-annoying advertising for the customers.  It allows to understand the preferences of the customers  Build brand loyalty and capture data about customers  Most of the mobile advergame examples were successful in branding. Weaknesses  Availability of game development skill-set and lack of financial resources for the game companies and advertiser companies  Advergames could be expensive for playing because games needed purchases and expensive technology devices  Lack of viral marketing applications in games  Most of the games had not multilanguage application  There are less mobile advergame examples and applications in tourism industry and existing examples are not city, destination and country targeted advergames. And most of the tourism advergames are targeted the young customers  Some of the games had disconnections of communication and player restrictions  There were no incentive applications in games for the gamers.

Tomorrow: opportunities and threats Opportunities  Size of youth segment because most of the customers are from young segment  Increasing demand for buying the expensive mobile advergame technological devices  Entertainment seeking behavior on the rise (Afshar et al., 2004)  Rise of the mobile advergame players because in the most country there were geocaching gamers and websites  Growth in both PC & mobile gamers: The rise in number of subscribers and the replacement market for mobile handsets would help the mobile gaming industry to grow (Afshar et al., 2004). Threatens  Prevalence of anti-gaming culture  Creating viral marketing factor and size of the competitor games: For the average users there are enough opportunities to play games offline or on mobiles  Demonstrating advertiser value: Online advertising per se is only slowly being accepted by large advertisers in developing countries (eTechnology Group, 2007: 28).

Analysis 3
At this part the study offers a mobile advergame model according to the needs, challenges and opportunities faced in marketing tourism products by advergaming. Mobile advergame model: discovery in the holiday. The main target of the game is to offer enjoyable, exciting sightseeing for tourists in the city or tourism destination. With this game tourists can explore the destinations or citys streets, squares, churches, palaces, historic places, arts. The main target players are young adults aged 18 to 35 years. The game can be played by several teams simultaneously (e.g. on adequately advertised special events), or independently by tourist who want to visit the destination. Parts of the game Photo and video hunting Puzzles Information hunting Geodashing

   

1. Photo and video hunting This part of the game is for tourists or tour groups who enjoy taking photos and videos. This parts goal is hunting for exciting, unusual and

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Celtek beautiful pictures and videos about the city or the place which is visited by the tourists. Pictures and videos must be sent to the game server. Pictures and videos are also available on the internet. Participants of the game not only submit their pictures and videos but also determine the winner of the game: at the end of the predefined time period every player chooses the best (in his/ her own opinion) picture and video. The winner of the game receives the prize and the best pictures and videos can be used in marketing destinations or cities. This part of the game takes place only in the open air and no tourism actors directly participate in it. This means that the game contributes to the value creation only indirectly by stimulating longer tours while hunting for the best picture or video and, thus, taking more buses and ferries, spending more nights at the hotels and camping places, visiting more restaurants, and eventually visiting places of interest. The best images and videos made by the players can be used in marketing tourism. 2. Puzzles The idea of the game is based on VeGame. There exists a database of different items on the game server. The best images made by the players can be used in this part which are selected in the photo and video hunting game part. The player tries to solve the best images puzzles on the mobile phone. On the other hand hotel or restaurants can send the puzzles of their businesses for advertising them in a game platform. Player solves the puzzles of hotels or restaurants images with enjoying and can see the businesses images. This part of the game can use by the tourist who is at the bus or train. 3. Information hunting When the visitor has selected this part of the game that are at the different places in the destination or city download a set of questions, which depend on the visitors preferences. Results of the questions will be stored in the website of the game. At the end of the session or in the middle of the session, the visitor can view the results and compare the own results to other visitors results. All the questions are created by tourism actors. The questions of the game can be about the destinations or citys art, history, famous places, famous people, famous restaurants or hotels which are offered by the tourists. 4. Geodashing Geodashing is an outdoor sport and a game that players use GPS receivers to find and visit randomly-selected dashpoints (also called waypoints) around the world with their teams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Geodashing). In each game, which is time-limited, a large number of dash points randomly selected from all over the world are published on the web. The rules of the game are: select the dash point, visit it and report what you found (picture or story). One must get within 100 meters of the dash point to get scores for reaching it. The game can be played in teams up to 5 players (helps to increase a number of reached dash points) or individually. The team or the person with the most points at the end moment of the game wins. Among positive side-effects of the game are the social and emotional ones, since players can have many positive impressions while and after their journeys to the dash points (Lopatina, 2005: 15). Essential technologies for playing the game To participate in the game, players are required to have special technical equipment (digital camera, GPS receiver or detailed maps of the area, WAP and MMS support) or only necessary technical equipment during the game is digital camera and detailed maps of the area. The player needs internet access before he starts to play in order to register his profile and to receive the assignment (partially images and coordinates). He uses detailed maps of the area in order to reach the given location. Digital camera is used to take the complete images. These complete images are sent to the game server by the e-mail later (however, during the game playing period) when the player receives access to it (from a hotel or home). Game features The game can be played many times by the same player, and it is an edutainment game. It has marketing and advertising benefits for businesses and destinations. Benefits for the tourist The game includes such activities as driving, traveling, taking pictures, visiting museums and can be played in teams by family members, or a group of friends that travel together. All these activities could be enjoyable and unforgettable experiences for tourists during and after the tour or holiday. Thus, this kind of games could increase the quality of the tour. Benefits for the tourism sector The game educates tourists about the destinations or cities in an entertaining way. During the game the player must fulfill some tasks. To fulfill these tasks, the player pays, when necessary, for bus, ferry and entrance tickets to the places of interest. The game indirectly makes longer the

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280 tour (as places can be selected far away from each other) and, thus, spending more nights at the hotels and visiting more restaurants. And the game has branding benefits for cities.

Journal of Vacation Marketing 16(4)  It is important to identify the potential tourist and advergame players  Prepare city or destination focused messages to communicate with the tourist who plays the advergame. It must use short words, emphasizing the destination brand. Use an ideal picture or image of the destination and the advergames must give city information such as tradition, culture, art and cuisine  Target not only young customers but also adult customers  Create a themed mobile advergame underlining the destinations or cities touristic information. Advergame themes must be interesting, different and integrate the city, destination or the country. References
Afshar R, Jones C and Banerjee D (2004) Advergaming Developers Guide: Using Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Director MX. Hingham, MA: Charles River Media. Bellotti F, Berta R, De Gloria A, Ferretti E and Margarone M (2003) VeGame: exploring art and history in Venice. Computer 36(9): 4855. Benford S, Crabtree A, Flintham M, et al. (2006) Can you see me now? ACM Transactions on ComputerHuman Interaction 13(1): 100133. Chen H (2008) Gaming tourism: lessons from evaluating REXplorer, a pervasive game for tourists. Available at: http://interactive.usc.edu/members/ hchen/2008/10/gaming_tourism_lessons_from_ev. html [Accessed 20 July 2008]. Chen J and Ringel M (2001) Can advergaming be the future of interactive advertising? KPC Fast Forward. Available at: http://www.kpe.com [Accessed 1 July 2008]. Dahl S, Eagle LC and Baez C (2006) Analyzing advergames: active diversions or actually deception. SSRN. Available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract907841 eTechnology Group (2007) Online gaming India- 2007. The baseline report. A Report by e Technology Group@IMRB for The Internet & Mobile Association of India, 2007. Available at: http://www.doc stoc.com/docs/19440510/Online-Gaming-India 2007 Huijnen C (2006) Mobile tourism and mobile government an inventory of European projects. European Centre for Digital Communication EC/DC, April 2006. Available at: http://www. mgovworld.org/ whitepapersandcasestudies/inven ory-mobile-gov ernment.pdf Kretchmer SB (2003) The emergent advergames industry: developments, impact, and direction.

Conclusions and suggestions

Advergaming is also a great opportunity for integrated marketing efforts. The facility of engaging users has led many companies to develop games, which has increased not only the interaction level, but has also helped companies increase their database. Advergaming increases awareness and recall. If any consumer gets intrigued by the product, he or she can immediately check the website to get more information about the product and make informed decisions (Lopatina, 2005). Advergames theoretically promote repeated traffic to websites and reinforce brands. Users choose to register to be eligible for prizes, which can help marketers collect customer data. Gamers may also invite their friends to participate, which could assist promotion by word of mouth or viral marketing (Lopatina, 2005). In recent brand-impact studies, associating a brand with the fun of gaming is known to lift brand metrics such as brand awareness, message association and purchase intent. After playing a game, consumers are more likely to remember not just the brand or product itself, but to associate specific brand attributes with it (Afshar et al., 2004). To strengthen the development of marketing communication and branding in advergames in the tourism industry, the major aims will be:    To create a fun mobile advergame experience about the city or destination To drive consumers through to purchasing and trial To generate both brand and product loyalty with viral advergame applications in games, creating an effective mobile viral game that would appeal to the specified target audience (age 16 to 34) To integrate the mobile advergame campaign with all other marketing and advertising materials To drive gamers through affiliate and partner media (websites and publications)

The following recommendations may be considered by governments and responsible city/ region authorities that wish to turn their cities or destinations into a popular visiting center by advergaming:

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Digital Games Industries: Developments, Impact and Direction Conference, 1920 September 2003. ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition. University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Lopatina I (2005) Context-aware mobile gaming. Unpublished masters thesis in Computer Science, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science, University of Troms. Nelson MR, Keum H and Yaros RA (2004) Advertainment or adcreep game players attitudes toward advertising and product placements in computer games. Journal of Interactive Advertising 5(1). Available at: http://www.jiad.org/vol5/no1/nelson/index.htm [Accessed 07 July 2008]. Solomon MR (2003) Conquering Consumer Space: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World. Saranac Lake. NY: AMACOM. Zodal. (2008) The lure of the advergame. Available at: http://www.zodal.com/pdf/Advergames-Zodal.pdf [Accessed 01 July 2008]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Geodashing [Accessed 24 June 2008]. http://mobilegames.blogs.com/mobile_games_blog/ 2008/05/elbes-malms-mob.html [Accessed 01 July 2008]. http://mobilegames.blogs.com/mobile_games_blog/ 2008/08/ disney-releases.html [Accessed 01 July 2008]. http://mobilegames.blogs.com/mobile_games_blog/ 2008/08/the-saints-rele.html [Accessed 01 July 2008]. http://www. mobilemarketingwatch.com/ [Accessed 01 July 2008]. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id1004991 &srcarticle2_newsltr [Accessed 20 July 2008]. http://www.geocaching.com/default.aspx [Accessed 20 February 2010]. http://www.unkasoft.com/en/advergaming_en [Accessed 10 June 2008]. http://www.zgroup-mobile.com/advergaming.html [Accessed 05 June 2008].

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Websites
http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Advergaming [Accessed 24 June 2008].

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