IPad’s Advertising Potential

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The iPad is seen as a great potential boon for the gaming and electronics industries. When the Wall Street Journal went asking companies how they would approach the device, Time Magazine indicated that they would receive sponsorships from Unilever, Toyota Motor and Fidelity Investments among others to sponsor their initial issues for the iPad. Additionally, Ford is apparently building an arcade game that’s controlled by tilting the iPad.

It’ll be interesting to see who creates these ads, writes IDG’s ITworld. Will it be the traditional print creators learning interactivity, or will it be the designers doing small-format flash ads for current sites learning to think big And what will it cost for advertisers to create all this content For companies like Coke and FedEx, this is a non-issue, but if the iPad does become ubiquitous and smaller publications, those that attract smaller advertisers with smaller budgets, move to the device it could be a factor. You’d be surprised at how often an advertiser needs help creating a basic banner ad once you get away from big media.

Video Ads Drive Consumers, Says Study

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A comScore study commissioned by the Fox Networks says that in the U.K. video advertising is effective at driving “significant uplift.” Looking at four campaigns across Travel, Finance, Government and Utilities sectors over a four-week period, it showed users were seven times more likely to visit a site after seeing a video ad compared to a display ad, and three times more likely to research a brand.

Additionally, the study said that those exposed to video were 28 percent more likely to visit a brand site and roughly twice as likely to do a search.”Confirming expectations and previous industry understanding, video was able to generate a more immediate impact in the first five exposures than display ads in terms of increases in site visitation and search queries,” said the study’s authors [thanks MediaPost].

“This research centers on consumer behavior proxies that are better placed to reflect communication goals, defining success based on a mix of visitation, engagement and search behavior across a four-week period,” said Anthony Rhind, Global co-CEO of Havas Digital, which sponsored the study.

Considering that video games are of course a visual medium, game marketers should take note. Video ads could help boost a campaign’s effectiveness.

HP Hitches Ride On DreamWorks’ Dragon

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For the box office debut of DreamWorks’s How to Train Your Dragon, Hewlett-Packard put together a spiffy new commercial to showcase how HP technology has made the movie possible. HP and DreamWorks have worked together for over a decade. The spot is part of HP’s “Let’s do amazing” brand campaign (branding effort from 72andSunny), and features the film’s directors as well as stand-up comedian Rhys Darby.

“The ad celebrates HP’s partnership with DreamWorks, bringing viewers behind the scenes of the newest movie to see how HP technology makes the vision of the creators possible,” said Glenna Patton, vp of brand strategy at HP, according to Adweek. “It also demonstrates the strength and breadth of HP’s capabilities for the creative community.”

Ghost Recon Sequel Teaser

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Ubisoft lifts the cloak just a little further off of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, showing how the title blends modern and futuristic warfare in this trailer. The full FMV trailer is packed with feature film quality special effects, perhaps another harbinger of Ubisoft’s stated filmmaking aspirations. Watch it at Joystiq.

Ogling This Week’s Ad Age Viral Video chart

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Ad Age lists the top 10 viral videos for the week of March 15 based on viewer tracking by online video firm Visible Measures.

 

Of this week s four new entries, three broke into the top five. Ad Age says Doritos seems to have a working formula for viral videos, placing its second number one on the chart in two months with a video promoting a contest in Canada that drew more than 2.3 million views. The winning formula here could be the scary puppet. A little further down at number three, Sony s long-form ad for PlayStation Move that took a few stealthy swipes at Microsoft’s Xbox 360 motion controller debuted on the chart with nearly 1 million views. It’s worth noting Microsoft’s Natal video is still on the chart at number nine with about 460,000 views, its 39th week on Ad Age’s top ten. The remaining new entries are two hilarious college humor themed virals. Muscle Milk’s take on spring break was the fourth most viewed on the chart with about 866,000 views, and Capital One’s long video spoofing a March Madness Cinderella story entered at number six with 530,000 views.  Check out the full list and watch the videos at Ad Age.

Of Sports games And Gamer Culture

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Writing for AOL Sports blog Fanhouse, Jon Weinbach interviews EA Sports boss Peter Moore.  The pair touch on EA titles and sports games in general.  It s a window into just how entrenched EA is in licensed sports games.  Read it at Fanhouse.

Yearning For M-rating, Australia Gamers Welcome New MP

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The game industry is getting a welcome feeling in Australia after the country saw its anti-mature game attorney-general give up his post to a much more favorable candidate. Australia news site news.com.au reports (via Edge-Online) that John Rau, the new MP taking over as South Australian Attorney-General, has already made statements that he s amenable to introducing a mature game rating in the country. Rau replaced Michael Atkinson, a staunch opponent of mature game content who had denied classification for titles such as EA’s “Left 4 Dead 2” and Sega’s “Alien vs. Predator,” and in recent months faced challenges from game makers and retailers. Atkinson stepped down from his post despite winning his most recent election, citing personal reasons. The report from news.com.au says Chris Prior, game industry advocate and president of pro-mature rating lobbying group Gamers4Croydon, spoke to Rau about the issue shortly after he replaced Atkinson. Prior said that Rau called the lack of a mature rating for games absurd and said he thinks extending Australia’s R18+ film rating to mature games is common sense. Australia’s attorneys-general are preparing to take up the issue at their next meeting in late April. Read more at news.com.au.

Emptor Sues GameStop, Citing Lacking Caveat

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A disgruntled shopper is suing GameStop, claiming the retailer fails to warn its customers that downloadable content advertised as free on game packaging isn’t available to used game buyers. According to IGN’s report, the plaintiff James Collins filed the suit after purchasing a used copy of EA’s Dragon Age: Origins at a California GameStop, getting a $5 discount over a new copy but then discovering that content advertised as free on the box would cost him an additional $15. Collins claims that GameStop failed to address that the code to access the content had expired once the original owner downloaded it. His attempt to return the game was refused when he missed the store’s seven-day refund policy. The suit states that the retailer tricks consumers into paying more for a used game than they would if they purchased the same game and content new. IGN says GameStop refused to comment, citing that it doesn’t do so on pending litigation. Read more at IGN.