In-game advertising makes for clumsy bedfellows
January 19, 2006

Image of a Subway ad in Counter-Strike (Ars Technica)

There’s a fascinating dustup occurring in the quickly converging world of online gaming and advertising.

We’ve heard about how advertisers are looking to the gaming community as fair game to reach the coveted 18-34 year old demographic.

A recent campaign pitching the Subway sandwich chain was hailed as a grand success by the marketers behind it, Engage In-Game Advertising:

"After only three weeks of advertising in the most popular online action game played among men 18 to 34, SUBWAY® reached 31,000 unique gamers and achieved more than 19,000 eyeball hours of exposure in one market alone. All SUBWAY® markets running in-game advertising are seeing a measurable increase in traffic and sales."

Curiously, as Ars Technica reports, the game in question is never mentioned by name in the PR bumf, instead it’s just described as "the most popular online action game."

That’s because the game's publisher, Valve Software, didn’t clear the use of the ads in the game (Counter-Strike). Valve is now pursuing the issue as a “legal matter,” saying the ads violate the game's EULA (end user license agreement).

Ars Technica has done a great job of following the money and explaining how the ads ended up in Counter-Strike.

via: The Consumerist

related murmurs: Sony confirms PSP ‘corporate graffiti’ campaign, Dissecting the advertising onslaught on the young, Kids spend more time with media that adults spend at work: study, EverQuest takes product placement to a new level, Where have the boys gone?

murmur categories: technology, advertising, branding

tags: consumers consumer news consumerism advertising marketing ads business games gaming

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