Your brand and anti-advergames

Several weeks ago I was contacted by a writer for a business magazine who asked if I would comment as a branding expert on a relatively new category of online games known as "anti-advergames". The writer wanted to know my views in relation to how such anti-advergames can impact brands from the marketers’ and brand owners’ perspective.

I admitted my ignorance because I had never heard of anti-advergames prior to that call and therefore was not qualified to comment.

After subsequent research and discussion with a lawyer friend of mine, I now have a better understanding of anti-advergames and think they might be a significant enough phenomenon to discuss in case you one day find your brand entangled with them.

First of all, let’s define advergaming. Advergaming is the practice of using games, particularly computer games, to advertise or promote a product, organization or viewpoint.

Anti-advergames, therefore, are online games that target companies and corporations and take an activist position against such promotion of companies, products and viewpoints. They are the opposite of advergames. These games take players through simulated aspects of business operations and either overtly condemn companies or more subtly encourage players to question the motives, morals and social values of the companies they target.

For instance, one anti-advergame targets the McDonald's Corporation by asking players to simulate the burning of forests in order to clear pasture land for cattle (while natives can be seen running from the flames), questions the practice of injecting cattle with growth hormones and rails against corporate management by questioning staffing practices.

In another anti-advergame, "Disaffacted!", the game creators target FedEx Kinkos by putting the player in the shoes of demotivated employees trying to manage a Kinkos store while demonstrating apathy and lack of concern for the customer. These games target specific companies by name and attempt to promote a social and/or political agenda by painting the companies as evil corporate citizens who care about little more than profitability.

Why should you be aware of anti-advergames?

With rapid media and technology advancements coupled with increased demand for new digital entertainment and ease of message distribution, there will be an increase in these types of campaigns that attack companies and attempt to shape public opinion against them.

Right now it appears this is being done with complete disregard to copyright and trademark law on the part of game creators. They violate copyright and trademark law and use brand names and logos without permission under the guise of "parody" and “education”. You may one day find your brand the target of such activism.

Brand managers seem to be in a precarious position.

If targeted companies respond and initiate litigation to stop anti-advergame creators from violating trade names and perpetrating slander or libel, then they run the risk of generating a lot of negative publicity and creating more awareness for those very games that might otherwise only have limited reach and impact. Perhaps these gamers are so insignificant that they are not worthy of response anyway.

As a marketer, a certain amount of restraint is in order to allow for creative expression against your brand, however, you must also guard your brand’s honor and be ready to take action if significant damage is caused and can be proven. Smart marketers must be aware of anti-advergames and be prepared to take action if such activism targeted toward their brands causes significant damages and destroys hard earned brand equity.

As an aside, I wonder how anti-advergame creators feel about the computer manufacturers, electric companies and Internet service providers they rely upon to execute & distribute their anti-corporate campaigns. I also wonder if these social activists burn down forests in order to plant soybeans and other vegetables so they can subsequently kill those plants and eat organically on the moral high ground.

Unless they are completely self-sufficient in their lifestyles and conduct no commerce whatsoever in the course of living their lives, then they too are part of the complex world of commerce and enterprise that they so gleefully attack.

Does your marketing suck?

I just downloaded an .mp3 file of the Mark Stevens book, "Your Marketing Sucks", for an upcoming trip. This book promises to show me "how to distinguish between marketing that works and marketing that sucks".

As for me, I believe that the best way to improve the quality of all marketing is to help educate as many people as possible about marketing so not only will marketers get better at what they do but consumers will demand better marketing, recognize it when they see it, and reward those marketers who get it right.

I look forward to listening to this unabridged audio book and reporting back...

Introduction to Brand Management

A new book, "Total Brand Management: An Introduction," was just published by ICFAI Press. Although I have not yet received or reviewed my copy, the book looks like a very good introduction to brand management...and I'm not just saying that because I contributed one of the chapters.

I am getting more information from the publisher about how to obtain some copies of the book so if you are interested in purchasing a copy, please let me know so I can send you the details when I get them.

Link with description and table of contents:
http://www.icfaipress.org/books/TotalBrandManagement_ct.asp

The marketing of Origami

Microsoft has at last revealed details of its new PC as a result of its Origami project.

For weeks the bloggers and technology writers have been speculating about the device and whether or not it has a place in the market and whether or not it will be ultimately successful.

I’m not a technology writer or gadget reviewer, but I do find this story interesting because it illustrates well many aspects of effective marketing.

From the mysterious publicity website (http://www.origamiproject.com) created to tease people and generate buzz to all the “leaks” about the product before it was officially announced, I give kudos to Microsoft for doing a good job at both marketing the product and managing expectations at the same time.

One part of the product launch strategy that I find fascinating is a video of Origami’s Creator, Otto Berkes, as he is interviewed by a Microsoft blogger.

In the video, Berkes is seen talking about the product in behind-the-scenes fashion that is both approachable and intriguing. This was a well-crafted piece of publicity. Marketers out there should note the use of new media to help a major corporation to launch a new product. Especially take note of how a blog was used to directly distribute what is essentially a long format commercial thus integrating blogging into the Microsoft marketing mix.

In the video, Microsoft talks about pricing strategy, hardware specifications and potential “use scenarios” defining what market segments may be early adopters for this new, ultra-mobile PC.

Microsoft alludes to price skimming strategy based upon the newness of the product in the product life cycle and states that it set out to find the pricing sweet spot between price and usability based on the technical capabilities of the device along with its screen size compared to competing mobile technologies. They further go on to discuss how the price will fall once it gets beyond the early adopters and production ramps up to meet demand during the growth stage when the customer base grows rapidly and price falls accordingly.

The managing of expectations occurs when we see Berkes squirm in his chair when asked about battery life while never directly answering the question. When he talks about how some uses make more sense than others and that not all software applications will make sense for this device, he clearly is managing expectations for the device and not over promising. I find this corporate honesty refreshing.

Microsoft clearly knows that this is not a device for everyone but it does fit a niche. Maybe ultimately a large niche (if there is such a thing).

Microsoft did not develop this product in a vacuum and unleash it on the world as so many Microsoft critics would like to believe. Microsoft clearly worked with its hardware partners to develop this device and they all did their marketing research homework and believe there is a market for it.

So how is this product positioned and where does it fit?

It fits somewhere between a handheld device and a laptop computer.

A bit smaller than a tablet PC, this device is an ultra-portable PC running Windows XP and will allow the user to run many full-fledged software programs with its main interface being a 7” touch screen display.

The detractors complain that the product will flop because it is too big to fit into a pocket and that it is yet another gadget to lug around but they miss the point.

This is an evolutionary product, not a revolutionary one.

This device will deliver a larger screen size than many mobile devices while also offering much more computing power. I can easily see how it would be desirable to leave both a notebook computer and a handheld device in the office while traveling on business and take an Origami device instead… assuming there will be available software add-ons such as a virtual on-screen keyboard and quick booting times. In fact, if the price is right it might be worth it just to use on airplanes and while waiting in airports.

As for the price, the market will soon enough determine that.

Like it or hate it, I think there is a market for the device and I think Microsoft did a wonderful job from a marketing perspective in its launching of the device.

What do you think about how they managed the marketing?