Games, Consumers & Errrr… Brands

Alok KejriwalCEO and Co-Founder

Games2win.com

Once upon a time, this was a game

A game, with a social context

And a game that had a Brand Sponsor!

This was the perfect ‘Adver-Game’

Games became friendlier, multiplayer…

Games became collaborative…

Games developed manners and rules!

Games became fun!

The ‘Social’ Context remained strong in all these games..

But, Brands took a backseat..

Then Games on the Internet arrived

And the audience exploded

Global Internet Audience: 1.4 billion

Source – comScore

Brands tried inserting themselves into games

And got lucky with 1 trick chickens..

Brand Games never made it to the list of top games… (as ranked by Venturebeat.com)

Why?

• Because Brands thought of GAMES as Ads

– They wanted Brand LOGOs to be big and shiny

– They wanted Games to be Brand messages

– They thought consumers were dumb “bots”

While this was happening,social online games exploded

And so did mobile games

The new gen of game creators boycotted Brands

In fact GAMES became BRANDS

And began behaving like Brands!

Games became a Business Zynga’s turnover (Rs. 6,000 crores) is higher than:

Rs. 2,394 crRs. 4,514 cr Rs. 4,213 cr

Brands lost out to Gaming

Now, that’s dangerous, ‘cozGaming is the new Entertainment

168,363Number of Game Apps

Out of 500,000+ total Apps on iTunes Store

Why Brands should pay attention

• Gaming is what young people do

• Gaming is the new connect

• Gaming is the new currency of engagement

What should Brands do?

Start by becoming

HUMBLE

Ask themselves:

• Do we play games?

• Do we understand what makes great games?

• What do we want to do with Games?

I believe:

If you are a brand that sells soap, colas, cars, life insurance policies or chewing gum, then it’s not your job to know games.

Games WON’T

• Get your brand “recognition” or “recall” or any of those silly words they teach you.

• Create engagement (whatever that means in the context of brands and games)

Games WILL

• Make you reach a set of consumers quickly. Faster than any media available

• Help you UNDERSTAND what these consumers like and want, so that you, as a Brand owner can give them those things.

Use Games to reach, learn and talk with potential consumers instead of trying to sell them your plasticky brand message.

Now, if you are thinking, “Who is this guy?

Why is he pretending to be Mr. Know All?”

Well…

• This is the guy who has spent 12 years building games.

• This is the guy who is always creating ‘coexistent peace treaties’ between games and brands.

So, a couple of Ideas….

Step 1 Flirt with media buys “around” games

Understand if there is affinity between your brand and the

gaming audience

Step 2Insert your Brand CLEVERLY into FUN GAMES

Your brand

Step 3 Use Fun Games to sell your Brand

PLEASE

Don’t try MAKING your Brand a Game.

Also, as a brand owner, don’t try this yourself. Instead:

• Hire a ‘Game’ agency!! (yeah, they exist – if you look around)

• Hire a Games Company to work for you.

Sounds Stupid? Check this..

Gaming is the biggest media opportunity ever

46,839,476,000Minutes spent on online gamingcomScore – Dec’11

As brand owners, DON’T BLOW IT!

Key Takeaways• Games as a media opportunity is big.

– Very Big.– Bigger than you can imagine.

• Games are NOT ADS. – Games are BRANDS

• Take Games seriously and work with PARTNERS who tell YOU what to do rather than the other way around.

I am available on : Email - alok@games2win.com

FB - facebook.com/rodinhood

Twitter - @rodinhood

Blog – www.rodinhood.com

Personal Social Network:www.therodinhoods.com