How to Meaningfully Market to Gamers

Within advertising, authenticity is everything. 

Think about it. Your goal is to sell a product, yes, but more importantly, it’s to retain consumer loyalty and remind them why they’ll want to stick with a brand for years into the future. Sure, you can just throw stuff at the wall, be it big names, a big budget, or pop culture hype, but that on its own doesn’t leave a lasting impact. Agencies and brands need to know who they’re catering to and find a way to meet them on their terms, in a way that will be received effectively. 

This is especially true within the gaming sector. While it might seem like an ideal market to tap into given just how many people partake in this pastime (The Entertainment Software Association reported that 61% of Americans ages five to 90 – 190.6 million people – play video games), unfortunately, it’s just not that simple. One bad execution can tarnish a brand for life in the eyes of certain gamers – and those are very high stakes to gamble with.

Biborg’s creative lead and partner, Thomas Purbeck puts it best. “When gamers are playing, interruptions of any kind are unwelcome. Doorbells and power cuts can be forgiven (in time), but in-game advertising is different. Gamers are vocal and tech-savvy, and they tend to not only despise ads, but openly skewer the worst offenders.”

So, for the uninitiated, why is this the case? Are gamers just an irrationally unreceptive bunch? After all, in other media formats like TV, ad breaks are a given, and concepts like product placement aren’t exactly new within the movie business either.

Well, unless you’re someone who has never played a video game before, you probably already know the answer. This hobby – or sometimes more – is meant to be an escape from reality – a chance to explore a different world, have fun, or even compete, free from the politics, global issues and daily grind that impact humans the world over. 

So, why would anyone want to have that experience marred by ads, be they interstitials (which occur between levels) or in-world, where the game universe itself is treated like a media space… especially when in most cases, consumers have already paid a pretty penny just for the chance to enjoy this hobby?

After all, as Carly Doctor, connections director, social at VML points out, “For premium gaming experiences, like consoles or desktop, the game’s price tag comes with the expectation of uninterrupted play.” Clearly, this means very limited space for ads, if any. 

Moreover, add on the fact that, as Cassidy Wilber, group strategy director at adam&eveDDB West observes, “most in-game advertising is intrusive garbage”, and you begin to see why gamers hold increasing levels of ire towards this sector of marketing. “It’s being treated as a monetising mechanism by platforms and as impressions-generating low-cost media by advertisers,” she continues. “It's pop-up ads in pause menus, redirect ads in inventory screens, and banner ads below options. We wouldn't pollute a museum with bad ads, so why do we dump them into games?”

That is the question right there. Sure, in-game advertising is on the rise, with Kantar’s 'Media Reactions Report' citing that 62% of UK consumers say they’ve seen or heard it, but online and mobile gaming campaigns still have the lowest ad equity of all channels, which isn’t exactly inspirational news. The gamers don’t want to see ads, the marketers themselves aren’t impressed by the work some brands and their fellow agencies do… so why bother at all?

Well, perhaps it’s because of the proven potential of meaningfully executed, authentic advertising that, every once in a blue moon, gets pulled off within this space. You just have to know how to do it correctly. 

So, how do you make people warm up to content that they generally don’t want to see, and which Leonie Gates-Sumner, head of creative at Kantar calls “intrusive and repetitive”?

As it turns out, the usual rules of effective marketing still actually apply. “Make content memorable, make people feel something, and deliver ads in a way which feels authentic to the brand,” she explains. “However, do all this in the specific context of gaming. It’s about adding to the user experience, and not taking away from it.”

What exactly does this look like? A great example that Leonie highlights is ‘EA Sports FC 24’, which, like its predecessor FIFA games, has done a great job of seamlessly blending pitch-side banner ads into stadium environments. After all, if you’re incorporating advertising into a space where it’s already expected, and it actually ends up enhancing the realism of the player experience, everyone comes out ahead.

That’s not the only approach either. ‘Roblox’ is another title that has historically allowed for effective marketing. In a game that has picked up on some players’ preferences for personalisation and the likes of the ‘Roblox Gucci Garden’ have been released (where players were able to buy Gucci accessories for their avatars), none of this has felt remotely out of place. 

This latter example can be a double-edged sword, however. Sure, it works for ‘Roblox’ because it's aware of what its audience appreciates, but you can’t just do that with every game. As Hannah McKeown, junior strategist (and gaming enthusiast) at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment points out, “The majority of gamers are frustrated by the monetisation of their passion, with brands coming in to solely target gen z with little to no understanding of those behind the screen.” 

To this end, one clearly shouldn’t just go into a game, add yet another branded map or some cosmetics to the ever-expanding pool of one-and-dones and expect gamers to pay attention meaningfully, care, or respond well. Instead, as Leonie notes, the approach needs to be tailored to the audience. “Job number one is to get into the mind of the gamer, whether they’re a ‘Candy Crush’ lover or a ‘Fortnite’ regular. Who are they? Why do they play? Only after that can you tailor techniques depending on what you know about how they’ll respond to different advertising approaches.”

Equally so, it’s not recommended that brands use in-world advertising, for the simple reason that it ends up cheapening the product. “People pay a lot of money for AAA games that take years and millions of pounds to produce,” Thomas adds. “Using a rich, multilayered world for a piece of corporate communication just doesn’t sit right, and players won’t be kind about it.”

Instead, he suggests that people within the business reconsider what exactly they’re trying to achieve with the work, and what their purpose is. To him, this comes in the form of realising that the goal should be to create compelling work which generates minimum fuss for our audience, without any compromise.

“When an unskippable in-game ad starts, a common strategy is to simply look away from the screen because if you’re not looking at it, you’ve won somehow,” he continues. “The challenge is finding the best way to communicate in the given environment so that the ad feels relevant rather than intrusive. Its success depends on our ability to immerse ourselves in the context of the game and understand the player’s state of mind at the time the ad will appear.”

Couple this with an awareness of genre, and you’re primed to create “clear, natural links between non-endemic brands and gaming niches”, whether these are energy drinks in sweaty mobile FPS games, VPN providers in hacking games, or snacks and wellness apps making good use of pause time.

“Simply put, it’s all about finding common ground with your audience and showing that you understand them at that very moment, in that very game,” he concludes. “If you successfully integrate your ad into their gaming experience in the least intrusive way possible, you might be able to produce something interesting and which your audience doesn’t resent. And, if all else fails, you can always offer some in-game currency or an extra life to thank them for their time.”

This latter point is especially important. Ultimately, the game should never be about the ads, and the advertisers need to know that the gaming experience comes first. If they strive to add consistent value and enable audiences to experience this, they’ve got all to gain, which, according to Hannah, isn’t as hard as it might sound on paper.

“There are many ways, in and out of the game, to relate to audiences,” she affirms. “From the loss of physical spaces such as closure of Insomnia and E3 (making it harder for gamers to create deeper communities), the need for more accessibility in games, to the desire for more customisation with the likes of mod culture and skins, every brand can have a place in gaming if the strategy comes from the love of the game.”

So, with all that said, what does advertising created with actual gamers in mind look like? Unsurprisingly, the spectrum is large (which goes to show just how much diversity can be afforded in the approach), but all of it consistently demonstrates a knowledge of what the target market is actually like, which puts it a cut above the rest.

A great example which recently received a lot of buzz is undoubtedly Sky Broadband’s ‘Sky City’, created in ‘Fortnite’. While previously, yes, this article decried the concept of just adding another branded map to a game and expecting it to work, it’s how the brand approached it that made all the difference in terms of the project’s success and reception.

Specifically, by not only announcing the map in tandem a sponsored tournament, ‘Speed Showdown’ – demonstrating Sky’s understanding of what the players might actually want – but also utilising bespoke partnerships with actual gaming creators like Sunpi, Tubbo, Archie and LittleBunny to market this, the brand was able to connect with the demographic, ticking the aforementioned boxes of not being intrusive, and enhancing player experience for it… all while actually keeping the brand at the centre of the picture.

“Really, we created a ‘city’ that allowed us to place in-game advertising at the forefront of the landscape, while remaining unobtrusive,” reflects Sunny Bhurji, marketing director at Sky Broadband. ”By embedding ‘advertising’ into the world, we allowed ourselves the privilege of engaging with the audience, while also delivering an exceptional gaming environment – an approach that has absolutely resonated with this key gaming audience.

Thus far, the numbers are certainly painting a favourable picture for the merits of this approach. Since launching in late August, nearly 150,000 players have engaged with the map – a firm indicator that Sky’s new approach to immersive advertising is one to lean into for the future.

“This campaign has paved the way to exciting, new opportunities for the brand, Sunny finishes. “It’s proven an entertaining way to expand the reach of our broadband credentials, and has demonstrated how building an experience like this gets you two shots at engagement, firstly within gameplay, then with unique content created off the back of it.”

This theme of non-intrusiveness is a serial winner, as it turns out. According to Cassidy, even as early as January 2008, ‘Burnout Paradise’ understood the assignment with its Obama campaign billboards; timely, contextual ads in a driving game that factored into gameplay scenarios without being the focal point.

More recently, in 2022, Pringles offered up a paid job as a non-playable character (NPC) responsible for restocking the brand’s vending machines in ‘Train Sim World’ – proof one-offs have a real chance of cutting through and making a splash when original and creative enough in execution.

And then, of course, Cassidy also points to “the subtle product placement of Madrinas Coffee”, which released an emote bundle offer in collaboration with the game ‘Darker and Darker’, which puts a cup of coffee in the hands of the player’s in-game character. “The placements are intrusive, but your ad content doesn’t have to be,” she explains. “Earn audience attention with something entertaining like an insider wink, add value with something useful like a skill tip, or enhance the experience by offering a skin, emote or audio track.”

While this is all well and good for premium games, with several more examples still to come below, the question of what this looks like in mobile games still exists. Undoubtedly considered home to the most intrusive ads imaginable, it’s imperative that brands and marketers take extra caution when entering the space.

For this reason, Carly emphasises that no matter the game, there are rules one must follow in order to actually succeed, akin to the aforementioned examples.

The first of these, unsurprisingly, is honesty. “Many in-game ads are, frankly, deceptive,” she says. “It’s common to see ads that don’t accurately represent the product or mislead users about the destination when clicking through.”

She follows this up with an equal stress on the values of both interactivity and resonance. In the case of the former, preventing consumers from disconnecting and keeping them engaged – even for non-gaming products – is, unsurprisingly, crucial for retention. 

Meanwhile, the latter is a firm but necessary reminder that one simply cannot rely on gamer stereotypes anymore – especially in this day and age. Calling it a “common trap for marketers”, Carly notes that gaming as a hobby spans generations and is as diverse as the population, which means more research than ever before is required to actually speak directly to this demographic’s habits, interests and needs.

Last but certainly not least on her list is the concept of quality. “There’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to find the ‘x’ in the corner to clear an ad,” she aptly observes. “So, design your creative with the format in mind.”

To this point, we’ve discussed mobile advertising, creative which respects the gamer and the game, and work which, above all else, is not intrusive. But, even then, sometimes room can exist for exceptions. As ‘Sky City’ demonstrated earlier, partnerships with trusted content creators can be a recipe for success – even while not being an entirely subtle approach.

Yet, should one choose to partner that methodology with a message that needs attention, does it become a problem that suddenly, you’re actually coming at gamers with on-the-nose marketing? What then? Does purely relying on trusted representatives really speak to an entire demographic?

Arguably in fact, yes. If sponsored streamers, content creators and esports professionals can make a case for certain products or brands simply by showcasing them as part of their branding, or plugging them in various pieces of content, then absolutely, a real, genuine message will also translate effectively. 

To this end, three recent examples come to mind. In 2022, BMO not only launched its own Twitch channel, where its very own ‘gaming relations specialist’ would play games and offer financial advice to viewers – an effective way to appeal to and benefit younger audiences – but it collaborated with some of the platform’s biggest streamers, like Mtashed, to further gain audience reach. (The Effie that FCB won for this probably speaks for itself, but clearly, this sort of thing works)!

Meanwhile, earlier this year, LG2 and The Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec released a public awareness campaign targeted at gamers about… the importance of driving at relative and safe speeds. Herein, the work involved the use of big collaborators, with Proze, JeuSérieux, MadameZoum and Stéphanie Harvey playing games on stream (involving driving, naturally) and reducing their speed from 200 kilometres per hour to 30 in residential and school zones. Once again, despite clearly being a marketing-driven campaign, it worked because it sent the message in an accessible fashion – meeting viewers where they were at.

Finally, a little further south, adam&eveDDB West and Cassidy partnered with Twitch streamers to promote a power-saving government programme. “We wanted to help keep California's power grid up during hot summer months,” she explains. “So, these  high-energy-use PC gamers encouraged their followers to power down in the language of gaming by going ‘away from keyboard’ (AFK) during peak energy hours.”

But, Cassidy continues, even beyond the media spots, dots and collaborations, one can even go as far as connecting with player audiences outside of the game – the final approach that all marketers ought to know about. 

“Previously, we drove people to play with Doritos by gamifying a fan behaviour of ‘sighting’ Doritos in everyday triangles,” she says. “Players finding triangles with Snap in the real world, in ‘Fortnite’ on ‘Triangle Island’, and in the metaverse could unlock prizes and experiences from the brand. The campaign drove 2.1 billion impressions, and a year-over-year sales lift of 4.1%. Not bad!”

So, with all this said, what are the key takeaways that marketers should remember? When should they place their brands in ‘Fortnite’, and when shouldn’t they? When should one employ the use of content creators and be on-the-nose, and when should they chill, sit back, and try to meet gamers in their own comfortable environment?

At the end of the day, it all comes down to ensuring you have an understanding of what you’re trying to achieve, who you’re trying to sell to, and what they’d like to actually see. Meet gamers where they’re at. You’re never going to win the entire mass at once when the demographic is so diverse, so pick your poison, understand who you need to sell to (and why), and then figure out what would speak most meaningfully to them. 

“If nothing else, marketers should remember that players are fully immersed and invested in the world they are participating in, often with friends in real-time,” Cassidy says, putting it simply and best. “Breaking the experience with an irrelevant banner or interstitial video will likely be ignored, or worse, it could generate a lot of angry discussion amongst the audience the brand was trying to reach. To make in-game ads that work and are welcome, develop content that fits the environment, offer a real value exchange for the attention, and be knowingly referential to the environment you’re in.”