The Best ‘Get A Mac’ Ads

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Last week we brought you word that Apple’s acclaimed “Get a Mac” campaign featuring Justin Long and John Hodgeman may be coming to an end. The campaign, which Adweek labeled as one of the best of the decade, has had many memorable moments. The folks at Mashable decided to select their top 10 “Get a Mac” spots. You can also check out Adweek s retrospective, which features all 66 commercials in the campaign, organized chronologically. We’d like to see more video game marketers inject some humor into their campaigns. It’s probably one of the reasons that Sony’s Kevin Butler ad spots have been so successful – people enjoy lighthearted humor.

Here’s one of our favorites, featuring the hilarious Mr. Bean:

Rush ‘N Attack Making A Comeback

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Ask any hardcore gamer today what some of their favorite old-school classics are, and there’s a good chance you’ll be told Rush ‘N Attack. Konami is looking to revitalize the old arcade and NES IP as a digital download for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. The debut trailer below (courtesy of GameVideos) reveals a game very reminiscent of Chair Entertainment’s Shadow Complex, which was a major Xbox Live hit. It’s clear that Konami is hoping to market the game to the older hardcore audience with nostalgia for the property as well as younger gamers who just want a great downloadable action title.

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Audience For In-Game Ads ‘Robust And Growing’

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We’ve seen all sorts of crazy forecasts for the future of in-game advertising, but the fact of the matter is that it just hasn’t taken off the way publishers and brand marketers would like. In fact, Electronic Arts recently dropped IGA and Massive and moved in-game ads in-house. Even with the slower growth, some analysts believe that games are still the best way to reach the elusive young demographic, which is spending more time on the web and with games.

New Media Age writes, “There s…attitudinal evidence that younger gamers are more receptive to in-game advertising. Of male gamers, 38 percent of 12-17-year-olds notice in-game ads, compared to 23 percent of 18-34s and only 7 percent of over-35s. This trend is reflected in brand perception, with a quarter of 12-17 male gamers agreeing that companies advertising in video games are more innovative. This contrasts starkly with the attitudes of 35+ male gamers, of whom only 4 percent share this view, as do 13 percent of 18-34s.”

Is OnLive Doomed?

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Alex St. John, known for his days at Microsoft and WildTangent, has the tough job of making hi5 as relevant as Facebook in the social gaming sphere. He’s long been a believer that consoles are soon to be extinct, but interestingly, he also thinks that games-on-demand services like the much hyped OnLive are “doomed.” The game industry is in a major transition period, and it’s going to be a challenge for publishers and brand marketers in the traditional space to adapt.

He writes, “Take the much anticipated launch of OnLive for example. It s a great sounding idea streaming games that require no installation, can be played anywhere, and are stored in the cloud with support for spectating! Sounds great; it s too bad that it s doomed. Is anybody out there aware that Valve is doing a 9-figure downloadable gaming business for premium titles already Although Valve is so wildly profitable that they have little need to hype the company to investors, I suspect that Gabe Newell is smiling to himself and thinking the same thing I am. This is going to be a fun show. Does anybody remember how many failed companies there are who have had the same idea and perfectly workable technology solutions for delivering premium games over the Internet?”

St. John ultimately concludes, “The hard to accept reality is that traditional games designed for retail distribution are simply dead in an online world and frankly the publishers of these games will ultimately die with them because they can t afford to adapt. Streaming the same content on-demand won t save them. The exciting part of this change is that it s a brave new world for new companies to step in and create the next-generation EAs and Take-Twos. I’d list Activision as well but they ve already effectively been bought by World Of Warcraft. I would not be surprised to see successful future games that are designed to be delivered as streaming video, but a new streaming delivery technology will not create a new online second life for this dying genre of content.”

Read more at IndustryGamers {link no longer active}.

Movie Studios Review Advertising Practices In Down Economy

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Even Hollywood is suffering through some crunch with the economy. With over $4 billion spent annually on movie ads, companies are looking to consolidate and do cheaper advertising via mediums like Twitter and YouTube.

“Marketing costs are the most dramatically impactful on a studio’s quarterly earnings. If you don’t open strongly, it really hurts, so there’s a high level of attention to efficiency,” said veteran Hollywood marketer Gordon Paddison. “Everybody’s trying to do more with less.”

Ad spend by Hollywood has gone down eight percent after dropping three percent the year before, with more expected in 2010. An example is the revamp of How to Train Your Dragon, which DreamWorks spent over $150 million to market, but only pulled in $43.7 million in its domestic debut weekend.

“It wasn’t resonating with its target audience, leading DreamWorks to refocus its marketing efforts, but perhaps not in time,” said Piper Jaffray analyst James Marsh, noting longer-form trailers were scrapped for shorter, funnier ones.

The film, it should be noted, has held up well in the wake of a revised campaign, earning $104.7 million in ticket sales so far.

YouTube is a valuable resource, running trailers on the front page to attract attention; Twitter has also been used to engage fans, with films like District 9 and The Ugly Truth being among the first.

“About 40 million people visit the YouTube home page each day. If you’re releasing a movie, it’s a coveted space,” said Tommy McGloin, entertainment team manager for Google Inc’s YouTube. “We’re reaching upfront deals with major studios who are signing annual agreements.”

“Using fans as evangelists is the most effective ways to lower marketing costs,” said Paddison.

With game development costs for the current generation of consoles skyrocketing, publishers need to be wise about their marketing also. Just like in Hollywood, game makers will need to leverage social networking and fan evangelism more and more.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

iPad New York Times App Sees Chase Sponsorship

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Chase is paying $1 million to sponsor the New York Times iPad App. The company will advertise their new Sapphire rewards card during a campaign lasting three to six months, with a chance for renewal.

No one is quite sure of the number of NYT subscriptions that will be on the iPad, though it is hoped to be in the tens of thousands. Still, the New York Times takes in billions of dollars every year, so it’ll have to increase quite a bit to have a positive impact on their bottom line. With the iPad having just launched, marketers are still trying to assess the real value of advertising with digital publications on the device.

Source: Media Post {link no longer active}

Masters Live Popular Among Golf Fans

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CBS has attracted a great deal of attention with its Masters Live program, streaming select holes to 556,090 unique users, a 133 percent increase compared to the roughly 239,000 that streamed the tournament last year. It is also notably only a little below the 575,000 fans that streamed the NCAA men’s basketball championship game on Monday.

Fans consumed 392,901 hours of live video, an increase of 71 percent versus the same day in 2009. With the anticipated return of Tiger Woods, CBS has increased its online coverage with 86 hours of live video on Masters Live, a 50 percent increase over last year. It just goes to show that, controversy or no, Tiger’s brand remains incredibly strong, and it makes EA Sports’ decision to stand by him the whole time seem like a wise one.

Source: Adweek {link no longer active}

Advertisers Should Take Notes From Games

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As consumers get more savvy, marketers need to evolve and major lessons can be learned from video games. Used already in big business and the military, games can help train and influence behavior and be a key marketing tool.

Creating a persona is great in helping give marketers a better idea of how to approach a user and choosing a setting shows how players want to be engaged. Choice is also important for increasing attention to and engagement with commercial messages and rewards keep users coming back.

“The challenge for advertisers and marketers is to find a way, without masquerading, to play along. Gamers need the flexibility to attack the problem their way,” writes Daniel Flamberg, Managing Partner at Booster Rocket. “This has profound UI-UX implications and it validates the need to create a smorgasbord of commercial content that consumers can access according to their personal preferences and timetables.”

Source: iMediaConnection {link no longer active}

Florida Star Tim Tebow Covering Latest NCAA Football

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Electronic Arts today revealed that their cover athlete for NCAA Football 11 is one of the most storied college quarterbacks of the past decade: Tim Tebow. While leading the Florida Gators to two national championships, he also won the Heisman Trophy, Davey O Brien Award and Maxwell Award.

Tebow is both well liked and respected among fans and players, so his inclusion was a natural one for EA Sports and it should definitely give the publisher a leg up in promotion and marketing for the game. While no one knows how Tebow will perform in the NFL, his status in the history of college field generals is secure.

Source: IndustryGamers {link no longer active}

Metal Gear Solid Creator Defends Product Placement

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Konami recently unveiled that Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker would feature product placements for Pepsi beverages, Uniqlo apparel, Doritos chips, Axe deodorant, and Sony Walkman music players. Some consumers are leery of their inclusion, forcing Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima to comment.

“Regarding the collaborations, I have one reason for doing them, wrote Kojima via Twitter. It’s because I want to surprise the players. If the surprise and freshness were lost, I would stop the collaborations. It’s different from Hollywood-style merchandizing.”

Most core game titles have avoided product placement, but the Metal Gear Solid series has embraced it since Metal Gear Solid 4 and given that title’s success, it perhaps suggests that the market is more accepting of their presence than initially thought. Brand marketers do need to be careful, however, when working with developers to make sure the product placement doesn’t tarnish the game experience.

Source: IndustryGamers {link no longer active}