Digital Game Advertising (IGA and Advergames): Not All Fun and Games

Video games have come a long way—from the early 1980s and console-based systems to online gaming and mobile applications. The vernacular has also changed, as industry and academic professionals have adopted the term digital games over video games in favor of more modern applications of the technology. According to the Entertainment Software Association ([ESA] 2019), a large percentage of U.S. households have at least one video game player (75%), and the gaming industry contributes more than $40 billion in value to the U.S. economy. Games are also no longer played only by adolescent males, as gamers have gotten older (the average gamer is 35 years old) and more diverse (females represent 46% of the gaming population) (ESA 2019). As such, marketers and advertisers have come to recognize that games represent unique opportunities to reach a diverse audience through a fun and engaging medium.

Brands can co-opt the engagement of digital games through in-game advertising (IGA) and advergames. IGA places branded products within a gaming environment to co-opt that engaging and entertaining experience (Terlutter and Capella 2013). IGA is has shown to be quite effective at delivering a marketer’s message. Research has shown that IGA can have a positive impact on brand awareness (particularly for interactive in-game ads) (Herrewijn and Poels 2017), brand attitudes/evaluations (Yoo and Eastin 2017; Vermeir, Kazakova, and Tessitore 2014), and even purchase intentions (Chang et al. 2010). Advergames, on the other hand, prominently and strategically feature the brand within the game environment (Peters and Leshner 2013). As such, advergames uniquely present the brand in a positive and prominent manner that best reflects the brand’s position (Cicchirillo and Mabry 2016). Advergames have also shown to positively affect brand attitudes (Wise et al. 2008; Lee, Park, and Wise 2014) and purchase intentions. (Choi and Lee 2012; Lee, Park, and Wise 2014).

Research in this field of marketing and advertising, while robust, has become somewhat stagnant. Focus on outcomes related to affective reactions based on congruity or violence has been established; therefore, new research is necessary. Findings on memory, recognition, and recall with both IGA and advergames have been established; again, new research is necessary. Thus, new directions for research are necessary to help guide marketers and advertisers to better understand IGA and advergames literature. The current special section of the Journal of Interactive Advertising addresses this shortfall by offering research that focuses on gameplay itself and gameplay outcomes. Also, if we need to understand new directions, it is helpful to know what research has already been conducted through review of the material. The first article, by Yoon, offers a bibliometric review and co-citation analysis of research on advergames and IGA and offers new agendas for future research based on those results. The second article, authored by Eastin, Netto, Xu, Lee, and Mabry-Flynn, investigates how customization and game performance impact gameplay self-efficacy and attitude toward the brand. This research importantly helps marketers and advertisers understand IGA strategies. The third article, by Moulard, Kroff, Pounders, and Ditt, offers a new conceptual model of suspense in games that focuses on the reward and punishment structure of games. The implications for this research can greatly affect both IGAs and advergames because game design elements, such as winning and losing, are highly influential in terms of motivating consumers. While these studies are varied in nuance and methods, they are needed to extend our understanding of how games can persuade. I hope future researchers will look at these examinations to help with their own research understandings of IGA and advergame strategies. Finally, I hope these studies will spark new avenues of gaming research related to brands and branding.

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Vincent J. Cicchirillo

Vincent J. Cicchirillo (PhD, Ohio State University) is an assistant professor, Management and Marketing Faculty, Graham School of Management, Saint Xavier University.