Fast cars and video games go together like aliens and space. Automakers are leveraging the relationship, using games to build brand image and entice consumers to test-drive new vehicles.
On Monday, Toyota debuted “Yaris”, a free Xbox 360 game, to help promote the company’s new, moderately priced subcompact model. The game, which combines real-world options like customizing Yaris models with a virtual assortment of weapons and force fields, allows players to drive down futuristic streets in Toyota’s hot ride and kill bad guys. The game is the first advertiser-developed game to be featured for download on Xbox Live Arcade, and the third free game ever on the platform. It’s also a big step up from Volvo’s Xbox game, launched two years ago, which emphasized, safe driving–something that was probably not on the minds of its youth-targeted demographic.
Marketers will spend over $500 million on videogame advertising this year, according to eMarketer. While the majority of funds will go towards advertising within games, the rest will be spent developing games like “Yaris.” These “advergames”, as they’re called, have had major success stories: Burger King’s Sneak King Xbox game, for example, has sold 3.5 million games for $3.99 since its debut last fall, according to the fast-food chain. The company says that time spent on the game equates to more than 1.4 billion 30-second commercials—a major audience for a game that only cost a couple million dollars to make. Burger King is so confident in its gaming plan, it inked a deal just last Friday to debut mobile games this upcoming spring.
Toyota actually spearheaded advertising with games, or “advergames,” in marketing its youthful Scion in 2003 (itself a great example of our Sphere of Influence Model). The company created “Club Scion” in the tween virtual world WhyVille, where kids can customize and drive customized cars. A violent advergame called the Book of Deviants was created for the Scion xD, and a microsite called Want2bSquare.com allows users to earn points by playing games. Another game on Gamesradar let’s users get to know the car by building it and racing it around.
While Toyota’s Xbox game will probably fair better than Volvo’s predecessor, the Ford-owned company isn’t giving up on gaming one bit. This coming weekend, audiences at twelve Cinewood cinemas in the U.K. will participate in an interactive gaming experience touting the company’s new XC70 model. In tune with the automaker’s new motto, “Life is better lived together,” movie-goers will waive their arms in the air to guide a new XC70 down a driving course, picking up various items and people along the ride. Each cinema will compete with one another, and viewers will be able to monitor their progress on a virtual scoreboard.
Games in theaters are becoming a popular way to bring youth together. Teens and 20-somethings have been flocking to Cinegames in Spain and TimePlay in Europe (and soon the US), which offer more casual, interactive forms of MMOGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Games). Gaming is a huge sport in Asia and is growing in the U.S. as it enters the major leagues. In fact, FH Youth & Mobile promoted a relationship the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) had with National Amusements to turn theaters into gaming centers (read more here).
Through their evolving use of gaming as a marketing tool, automakers have shown how it can reach the industry’s target demographics–everyone from young drivers to their parents. And the trend is quickly catching on: today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Ford has lured Toyota’s top marketing executive—the man behind the Scion success—to head their $2 billion-a-year advertising campaign. As marketers continue to develop state-of-the-art, interactive ways to keep people engaged in products, gaming will surely be at the forefront.
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