15-minute user engagement with advergames

The internet is chaotic right now. There are too many distractions. Engaging someone from five to 10 minutes is a huge deal. Advergames with effective gameplay can engage the audience for 15 minutes up to an hour. That's not all, these easy-to-play small games keep bringing them repeatedly. The longer they play, the more it impacts brand recognition and purchase intent grows. Traditional online ads like search ads, banner ads, and even video ads often fail to grab the user's attention. Some brands try to force-feed their ads. Doing so simply annoys the user and can not ensure if the audience is looking at it or paying attention to it. With advergaming, the scenario is the opposite. Whether it's a brand message infused in-game or showing ads directly inside the game, people are concentrating because they are enjoying it. Internet users don’t mind seeing advertising messages in games. They are smart and understand that there is a value exchange when they play a game. That being said, there needs to be subtle balance. The game can not simply be an ad, but it does have to have a marketing component to it. Associating a brand with something that people are doing for stress relief and fun is a positive brand association. The opportunity is tremendous. As a marketer, you would need still need to be creative with the distribution. Do you simply like to bury your advergame deep in your site or have strategies around how to make it go viral? Game-based marketing campaigns are still not widely adopted. It's time to consider advergames in terms of competitive advantage.