The Digital Push Continues — Xbox Live with Toyota
Josh Bernoff takes some time to analyze the ongoing push of advertising towards digital mediums, not the least of which is video games. From AdvertisingAge:
The result is that digital, which will be about 12 percent of overall advertising spend in 2009, is likely to grow to about 21 percent in five years. Along the way overall advertising budgets won’t grow much. This is huge. It means we are all digital marketers now, since digital is at the center of many campaigns anyway.
The signs have been there for quite awhile, and companies like EA have been at the forefront of taking advantage of the increased engagement clients are seeing with audiences in virtual spaces.
Microsoft has been making significant strides as well, two of which are extremely notable.
First, if you have an Xbox 360, boot it up and see if you notice anything new on the dashboard. Chances are there’s an embedded video playing alongside some of the featured game slots as soon as you log into Xbox Live. These are extremely eye-catching, and most of them have ties to digital downloads (games, themes, contests) that offer additional chances at engagement.
Secondly, 1 vs. 100 is a game, currently in beta, that has Xbox 360 players answering trivia questions in a visually appealing game show presentation, complete with their avatar as one of the stars of the show. The best part for potential clients? Those commercial breaks that occur every several questions, with tens of thousands of gamers happy (enough) to watch them in exchange for the free game.
We’ll keep you posted as this develops, and we’re very curious to see how Sprint and Honda are enjoying their 1 vs. 100 advertising at the gaming forefront of this advertising push to digital.
