Online games in Guerrilla marketing

An online game is a game played over some form of a computer network, usually meaning the Internet network. Online games, in comparison to the typical software games played without the need to be online or to the games played on consoles, have becoming increasingly popular as the secondary research indicates. The reason is mostly a rapid growth of social media networks, the Facebook in particular, where new games may be played online and even uploaded by the users themselves.

The click-through rates on ads that accompany, or are part of, a game are, by one estimate, 20 times higher at 1 per cent, rather than 0.05 per cent. Advertisers are also enticed by the prospect that campaigns on social networking sites can be tracked more easily (Richards, 2008)

There are several places online where online games can be used by marketers:

1. Facebook via Facebook Apps on www.facebook.com
2. Kongregate on www.kongregate.com
3. Apple computers and iPhones via App Store on www.apple.com
4. Google Android cellular phones on www.code.google.com

While playing on console games requires the gamers’ full attention and is relatively time demanding, online games are briefer and aware to the „jumpy, restless nature of its target audience“ (Backgame.com). Moreover, online games are on Internet usually free of charge. The players are paying by their exposure to advertisements. According to a report by Forrester, the total spend on “interactive marketing” is predicted to more than triple from $18 billion (£9.1 billion) to $61 billion by 2012. Of the $61 billion, by far the largest chunk will be spent on search and online display advertisements, which between them will account for $40 billion, yet social media apps are expected to grow from $1 billion to $11 billion in that period (Richards, 2008).

Online gaming industry with its focus on young and mid-aged Internet users is assumed, according to conducted research and findings presented in this chapter, to be appropriate communication channels with high possible efficiency of marketing outcomes when guerrilla marketing principles are properly included in already existing content of the games. Using guerrilla marketing principles in online games and on gaming website servers is relevant to thoughts of Ambient marketing and Presence marketing introduced in the Literature review. The possible risk of using online games for marketing purpose is no particular chance to estimate realistic business outcomes in spite of the fact that producing or co-producing of online games can be costly.

Creative concept #9
K4U: Attracting youngsters to come to a library by playing games online

The K4U (www.k4u.cz, CZE) is a social network website developed by Inspiro Solutions, a Prague-based web design studio, for Municipal Library in Prague. It is a social network used mostly by young readers, students who have interests in reading books or using information resources for their studies. However, the library took the decision to attract more young people to become members of the library and therefore a strategy based on an online game was developed.

The game called Librarian was developed as a classical Internet application that is easy-to-use and free to use. Moreover, every logged-in user of K4U gathers points for the score which increases his possibilities and scale of function on the website. The game does not contain any advertisements but a player is exposed to several information about the services of the Municipal Library that should increase his/her attraction to come to the brick library. 

The game can be visited on: www.k4u.cz/..hra../

Image 26 Online games for Social networks, The Librarian game on K4U, created by Inspiro Solutions, The Municipal Library in Prague, 2009

The game was launched in the May 1, 2009 and registered 803 visits, according to the Google Analytics statistics. The game can be visited on: http://www.knihovna4u.cz/...

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