Espionage thrillers that keep your skin silky smooth!

Here at Off Madison Ave, we always prefer the proven, steady approaches to promoting a business. Still, we understand the need to keep on top of new developments in marketing, advertising, and PR. Video game advertising, for example, is one such development. A little over 100 years ago, film first appeared. No one thought it would make a serious contender for the dominant media of the time, theater. A little over 50 years ago, television first appeared to present a similar challenge to film. Today there are so many different media outlets that one can hardly pick a favorite and say, “Yes! This is the winner! This is the dominant media outlet for our time.” And now, video games.

Video games were once doomed to the purgatory of 4-bit cartridges displaying animated blocks, requiring an instruction booklet to tell you if that blob on the screen was a ninja or a professional hockey player. Today titles are graphically sophisticated, have intricate game play, and take up enough of a player’s time to make them a major competitor for television, film, theater, reading, etc. It is no surprise, then, that advertisers are starting to see the benefit of getting their products placed in games. Nivea (makers of lotions, skin cream, and various other sweet-smelling grooming products,) will appear in the next installment of the video game series Splinter Cell. (The story of a gruff, unshaven secret agent who kills people.) Read the article here. The purpose of the tie in isn’t entirely clear. Perhaps the game’s hero Sam Fisher will pumice the truth out of terrorists? Might a detachment of the 82^nd Airborne drop into Tukrit and carry the day because their cream rinse kept their skin moisturized and smooth? Until the game’s publisher UbiSoft produces screen shots of the game, we can only continue to merrily speculate. Whatever the nature of the tie-in, it does exemplify this new development in brand advertising. If a game’s character spends a great deal of time walking the streets of New York City, for example, any number of real advertisers could purchase placement on the game’s digital billboards. This would add to the game’s attempt to create reality, while still creating brand awareness for the company. It is an interesting idea, and certainly something that will become more important the more games take up our collective time.

About the Author: Eric Reid

I am the Social Media Services Manager for Off Madison Ave. I've been with the company since 2006, when I was hired to do SEO, and link building in particular. When social networking sites started cropping up, at first I started using them to create backlinks - but they weren't the best for that, given all of the "nofollow" attributes. However, I did see the potential for all of the direct referral traffic they represent. Since then I've been actively pursuing both tactics for clients: Links that can help them for search, and social postings that get them involved in the conversation. It's about the coolest job you could ever get. ;)

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