14 DAY TRIAL // Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Massive, Microsoft is offering customers the option to advertise their brands and products in a new territory, video games. Furthermore, the Redmond company indicates that in-game advertising is on par with alternative forms of digital marketing when it comes down to effectiveness. This is the conclusion of a test performed by Massive and comScore designed to showcase campaign results for Bing, the software giant’s search/decision engine.
comScore used a digital advertising measurement methodology tailored to console in-game advertising to measure the effectiveness of the Bing campaign in a number of Xbox 360 video games, such as Activision’s “DJHero” and 2K Sports’ “NBA 2K10.” Dubbed AdEffx Action Lift for Gaming, the methodology was developed in collaboration with Massive, Microsoft underlined.
“We’ve always known that Massive’s broad in-game network is a powerful force in helping brands successfully engage with the hard-to-reach gaming audience,” JJ Richards, general manager at Massive, noted. “Now, we can precisely measure gamers’ response after seeing those in-game ads, in the same way marketers like to measure their other media. These apples-to-apples results validate just how good in-game ads are compared to more traditional media.”
The number of gamers visiting and performing searches on Bing.com jumped by no less than 108% after they played the titles containing Bing ads and while monitored by AdEffx Action Lift for Gaming. Microsoft revealed that no less than two-thirds of them were Bing converts, new to the company’s search/decision engine.
“The gaming community embraced the in-game ads and interacted with the brand,” Kirsten Ward, director of digital advertising for Bing and MSN at Microsoft, added. “The campaign exceeded our expectations across the board. The fact that we’re able to measure that kind of ad effectiveness is truly compelling for brand marketers.”
The Bing campaign ran only between November 2009 and December 2009, with 71% of participants noting that they recalled seeing the Bing ads, and with 60% revealing that their opinion of Bing had improved after playing. “We believe the AdEffx Action Lift for Gaming research methodology is a ‘game-changer’ for in-game advertising,” Mike Hurt, senior vice president at comScore, noted. “Companies will now be able to measure campaign ROI in a standard, comparable way to other digital media and further realize how effective and influential in-game advertising is at reaching targeted gaming audiences.”