One lesson learned by all organiations that put online games to work is this: The greatest online game ever invented won't do a thing for you if no one is playing it. So many companies turn to game portals such as Shockwave.com, another Web Business 50 winner, to promote and host their games. Shockwave.com and its sister site, Atomfilms.com where users watch animated and live film shorts lure more than 24 million visitors per month and lay claim to 60 million registered users. On any given day, Shockwave.com sees between 600,000 and 700,000 unique visitors.
In addition to selling subscriptions for users to play some of its games, Shockwave.com earns money by developing and promoting games for others. Real Pool, a popular and free online game of pool that was developed by the Groove Alliance and is hosted by Shockwave.com, is sponsored by Jack Daniel's whiskey. According to a white paper written by the marketing company KPE, external banners placed around the game generated a CTR of 0.42 percent. Meanwhile, the ads embedded in the game saw a CTR of 2.2 percent.
Incorporating logos and branding messages in content is becoming more popular because players tend to play a game more than once, thereby offering the advertiser multiple opportunities to reach the player, says John Welch, vice president of games and product development at AtomShockwave.
"Games work because of the interactivity and the long time of exposure and repeat exposure," Welch says. "People will come back to play again and again. It's an opportunity to drive different stages of a campaign."
Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford agrees. The automaker coproduced three short films with AtomFilms to promote its new Focus line of cars, then turned to Shockwave.com when it wanted to develop a game to turn the buzz up a notch and DJ Fu Wax Attack was born. Players control DJ Fu, the main character, and navigate urban surroundings (populated with Detroit landmarks such as the Ambassador Bridge) as they collect and spin records and knock off bad guys with a series of kung fu punches and kicks. Ford billboards scroll across the screen in the background as DJ Fu advances. When he successfully completes a level, a Ford Focus ZX3 takes him to the next one. Bob Fesmire, Focus marketing manager, says he knew the game was fun but wasn't sure how to get it in front of its target audience of 16- to 24-year-olds. Then he found Shockwave.com, and from June to September the game has seen about 700,000 plays at its original Ford address, www.focus247.com, and nearly 3 million plays at Shockwave.com. As a result of this success, Ford and Shockwave.com are negotiating a sponsorship deal for a DJ Fu sequel, which would be an industry first.
"What we're always looking for are new and unique ways to connect with our consumers and expand the Focus brand," Fesmire says. "It's kind of a cutting-edge area. It's certainly where our target consumers are. You bring all of those things together and it makes sense."
Game (not) Over
The numbers suggest that like the Internet, games are here to stay, not only as an entertainment medium but as a medium for advertising, branding, learning and teaching.
Game developers such as Keith Ferrazzi, the president and CEO of Los Angeles-based game developer YaYa, which has helped design games for GM, IBM, Pepsi and others, are wide-eyed about a future where online games will become more intense and rival or even exceed those played on PCs and game consoles.
"It's an area that's found its sweet spot on the Net. Games are used more and more for education, marketing and pure entertainment value," Ferrazzi says. "I believe we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg."
When he isn't playing online games, Jon Surmacz is a Web writer for CIO.com. He can be reached at jsurmacz@cio.com.
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