Video games have become very popular in today’s world. The fantastic setting, storylines, sounds, and their interactive nature has made millions of people to love these games. As a result, video games have become wholly immersive, with many people spending a lot of hours playing. This has presented a massive opportunity for marketers to sell their brand to millions of people worldwide.
Online games in particular, have risen in popularity. You can play and chat with your friends, even when you are not in the same living room. Gaming is now a multi-billion industry with millions of people daily playing games like the Legend of Zelda :
So, how can gaming be used in marketing and advertising to reach new customers?
Mobile Games
A large percentage of the world’s population own smartphones. Businesses are now using this smartphone trend to their advantage. Through smartphones, companies can collect data that can be used to improve their product to suit customer needs.
In the same spirit, the majority of video games are now downloaded and played using smartphones. There are thousands of free to play games which you can download and play. In these games, you will often encounter in-app ads or product placements for a particular brand. This way you can advertise your product all over the world with just a mobile game.
Augmented Reality
When the game Pokemon Go was introduced in 2016, it became an instant phenomenon. Many people from all parts of the world were playing the game with the number of daily users rising to 45 million people.
Pokemon became famous because of augmented reality- using graphics to bring experiences to life.
Now augmented reality is popular with several business brands designing ways they can leverage the technology. Companies like Apple are looking into ways to use augmented reality to allow customers to virtually test the product before buying it.
Advergames
A lot of companies are now using video games as a means of marketing and advertising. Some companies have now gone a step ahead by designing their games. They then use these games to not only reach their audience but also engage them.
As a business, you can use advergames to gain additional followers, raise your brand awareness, and even use it to collect data that can be used to improve your product. You might also get luckier, and your game turns out to be a hit.
Nobody ever thought video games would gain a reputation like the one they currently have. With their rise in popularity, new possibilities like using them in marketing and advertising emerged. We do not know what the future holds for video games, but for sure, there will be even more emerging trends that can be beneficial to business owners.