In-Game Marketing

Abstract

In-Game Marketing has over the years attained considerable respect in the domain of mainfield advertising and product placement. Several enterprises of the likes of Microsoft, NFL, AIG et al have benefitted from In-Game Marketing by placing their product ads in globally renowned games. The gaming genre spans from mobile games to games from social networking sites to hardcore games played on console players and PCs. Also, gaming has becoming an omni-present phenomena spanning with gamers ranging from children to teenagers to adults. Gaming is also strengthening its roots in India at an incredible speed. Thus, scope for in-game marketing is currently immense with a horizons still open for all.Thus, effort was made in this paper to comprehend the relevance and applicability of In-Game marketing scenario from the Indian perspective. The objective was to understand the Indian Gamers peculiar characteristics which will drive the application of In-Game Marketing in the Indian scenario. The methodology adopted was firstly to visualize the definition, benefits, opportunities, imperatives and dos and don’ts of In-Game marketing through secondary research and literature review. Next, secondary research was further conducted to understand the Global scenario followed by the Indian scenario. This was followed by a depth-literature-review to find peculiar key insights in regards to the applicability of in-game marketing techniques in India. Depth Interviews were then conducted so as to formulate hypothesis and questionnaire needed. From the literature review and depth interviews hypothesis were formulated. Apart from these hypotheses, depth interviews and literature reviews were further used to lay the foundation to do statistical analysis and factor analysis. Thus, a survey was prepared and conducted to test the hypotheses and sundry analysis. Furthermore, effort was made to understand the recall and attitude formation of the gamers immediately after playing a game using a post-game response analysis. Thus, a game was selected and a select sample was asked to play the game following which a survey was floated to judge their response. The final step was to conduct quantitative, statistical and factor analysis based on the data accumulated. From the research conducted it was observed that the Indian Gaming sector was to the tune of INR 6.5 bn FY2008-09. Several Indian companies of the likes of Tata Motors, Mahindra, Zapak.com et al had already ventured into In-Game Marketing. Interestingly, movies like 3-Idiots and political parties like Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have also joined the In-Game marketing bandwagon. From the hypotheses conducted it was observed that the gamers from the top 4 metros showed varied gaming-trends unlike what was generally assumed. It was also observed that the most widely played game in India is NFS. Next, it was observed as is generally anticipated that the advertising in-games may have a negative impact on the gamers attitude towards the brand if conducted in-appropriately (read outof-context, multitudinously, monotonously). Also, it was observed that the effectiveness of Reverse Product Placement was without any doubt positive on the gamers attitude towards the product/brand per se. Also, from the Factor Analysis it was found that prime motives of the Indian Gamers can be categorized into 5 key factors namely.