A Source Of Inspiration

In Britain, they really push hard with their military marketing efforts. Earlier this year i wrote about GetTheMessage, and now it’s time for Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to launch a new advergaming campaign.

©The Guardian

Massive Inc selected popular titles as Tom Clancy Splinter Cell, Need for Speed or Quake Wars for advert placement, trying to reach a younger audience that has fewer traditional media consumption and gamers with interest in IT, with the billboards placed within the Xbox 360 games. Or how a wannabe Master Chief might become the next security expert of the MI5.

On the website you can find all the major threats that Britain faces through a flash interface worthy of James Bond, with several challenging spy activities, a fun interactive way to describe the Graduated opportunities available at GQHQ.

As with the military recruitment, the advertising industry is facing their own battle. With the news of companies like Nike and IBM shifting their media placement, one of the challenges is how to find bright young minds that are keen on these new tools and disciplines, but still having a true passion for marketing and advertising.

P.S: Andre pointed out the coincidence that many of the popular military online marketing efforts usually come from the Commonwealth countries or the USA. Have you heard of any other ones without an English accent ?

Source: The Guardian, via Advertising Etc

My mind is in awe with the preview site for Halo 3. What a superb work from AKQA.

I Believe. In great online advertising experiences.

Update: Meanwhile, i’ve digged a little and found some interesting facts:

• The video soundtrack is Predule in D Major by Chopin
• Estimated ad budget: $10 million
• Pre-sales have reached 1 million
• Diorama is 12 Feet Tall and 1200 Square Feet
• The 360 degree panoramas and digital compositing displays the war-torn landscape of the Battle of New Mombasa. (Creativity Online)
• Diorama characters were created by Stan Winston, creature designer for Alien and Jurassic Park
• Film direction by Rupert Sanders; ad campaign by McCann San Francisco
• There’s another related video, Museum

Enjoy.

It’s been a long time since dancing babies had prime time in interactive marketing. JWT France and interactive agency 5emeGauche did his best on a integrated campaign for Wilkinson, bringing the kids to the spotlight again with Fight For Kisses.

With a funny blockbuster style intro movie, the site has a remarkable approach to advergaming, allowing users to download a full game (produced by Ginger Studios) where our GI-Baby can kick some ***. A huge 99 MB download nonetheless, but no pain, no gain (pun intended).

As if a free game wasn’t enough, the brand gives you a chance to win several prizes when you get a high score. Gosh, traditional advertising is in serious trouble if interactive marketing continues to deliver this kind of rich experiences.

Media Molecule are a brand new game studio (new as in since the beginning of 2006) from UK that joined forces with Sony to produce Little Big Planet, a recently announced game for Playstation3. The title has taken the big studios by surprise, proving that if innovation and creativity is nurtured (check their lab), great products come along.

(Alex Evans presenting the title)

(longer video demo at GDC, San Francisco)

With a website that reminds me the works by Saul Bass, with a touch of Friz Freleng, it was probably developed by Rexbox, that previously worked on Rag Doll Kung Fu the cult game were the founders came from.

I’m not quite sure if the game is a result or an answer to web 2.0, but it surely represents a in-your-face slam dunk at Second Life, that seems to be loosing the enfatuation. The game’s juicy features have several of the best things of today’s web:

• players can create their own character: Second Life, Gizmoz or user generated content done right
• customize your material: social networking profile “pimping”
• add your own items: hmm, widgets maybe ??
• ability to create your own detailed 3d worlds: think iGoogle
• upload them to the playstation network: social media, youtube culture
• invite others to play in you environments: communities, social networks again

Oh, on top of all that it’s educational, with lovely characters and seems to have a hell of a physic engine. Now they only need to add some RSS feeds so i can check my friends latests updates and i’m all set to Gaming 3.0.

(as if we needed the buzzword. Gaming is all about the ride)

Warning: serious time waster ahead !

Fuel Industries from Canada has been releasing several online games at Candystand.com. Most of them are refreshed versions of classic games, but still a great fun. Here they are, the latest ones:

1. 10 Pin Pro-Tour Bowling
2. Awesome Blossom
3. Billiards
4. Calculation Solitaire
5. Extreme Air Hockey Challenge
6. Free Cell Solitaire
7. Golf Solitaire
8. Klondike Solitaire
9. Match Point Tennis
10. Mah Jongg
11. Pyramid Solitaire
12. Target Bowling

One interesting addition is the localized branding for the gaming portal of Wrigley’s candies, available now just for US and UK, but with other releases coming soon. While advergaming is greatly focused at traditional games (PC or console) or related to experiences such as Second Life, sometimes we find these fresh developments at sites like CandyStand or MiniClip.

Ok, 2 posts in a row about DraftFCB is getting a bit self promotional. But this a funny take on the real Second Life, by the Paris offices.

I actually thought about building our own offices (with a little help from friend Nuno), but as we didn’t had the time and people to engage in actual conversations (too busy doing real work), the idea was abandoned. Maybe next time.

Today is a sad morning. My club just lost yesterday to Espanyol Barcelona at the quarter-finals of UEFA Cup, so i started to look for something positive about Benfica to cheer me up, and nothing better than announcing that Benfica has their own fan club at Second Life !

According to the sources, this is the first major football/soccer club to have a presence at Second Life, with some virtual merchandise to see or chat with other club fans. And this was all created by 2 loyal geek supporters, although the Marketing Department of the club is already in talks and looking at ways to be a part of it.

Second Life surely is a great opportunity to sports marketing, with their inherent fan based culture and passion about their other selfs. In a way a club fan is having a second life when he goes to matches or gathers his friends to have a beer while watching the match on TV.

While Benfica is not as global as Manchester or Real Madrid (although it is officially the club with most associates), if they manage to create a great experience at the virtual fan club, with clever product placements, merchandising, memorabilia and links to the online store, it might be a great revenue source - maybe next year we could pitch Saviola or Ronaldinho :).

Oh, out of curisity, the anagram for Benfica is SLB (Sport Lisboa Benfica), as in Second Life Benfica.

The Australian Navy is using MSN Messenger in it’s recruitment efforts, through the Instant Games feature.

This move is in pace with the changing habits of young males, that are replacing traditional media such as TV or radio, with gaming and internet. If they’ve seen this panel from Guy Kawasaky, then they might be doing also some mobile efforts.

Link: http://www.navy.gov.au/

Update:

There’s a interesting new article on iMediaConnection regarding this subject: “4 Quick Tips: Marketing to Teens Online”