14 DAY TRIAL // Are you looking for a way to beef up your brand coolness factor? Then look no further than Microsoft and the Redmond company's Massive network for video game advertising. According to the research results of a study commissioned by Microsoft and compiled by Nielsen Entertainment, a unit of The Nielsen Company, the Massive in-game advertising will perform wonders for your brand quality. In association with the various gaming titles that participate in the Massive network, a brand has an increased chance to deliver a significant impact on the players as it melts away in the gaming experience.
"The research showed that ad campaigns from blue-chip brands that ran in the Massive network significantly improved key brand metrics between control and test groups. Key results of the study revealed that, from control to test groups: average brand familiarity increased by 64 percent; average brand rating increased by 37 percent; average purchase consideration increased by 41 percent; average ad recall increased by 41 percent and average ad rating increased by 69 percent," Microsoft revealed in a press release.
"The results of this research prove what we've seen in more limited studies over the past three years," said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive. "As marketers struggle to stand out in cluttered media forms, the Massive network provides both a deeply engaged audience and sophisticated capabilities for creative execution and delivery, resulting in memorable, positive impressions among highly desirable demographics."
Microsoft launched the Massive network in October 2004, as an integer part of its efforts to break into the advertising industry. In the three years that have passed, the in-game network pushed in excess of 200 campaigns coming from more than 100 clients. Nielsen conducted the study on 600 gamers from North America, all playing "Need for Speed Carbon," by Electronic Arts.