A1 Infinite Runner: A Case Study
This next topic we are about to cover summarizes our ongoing efforts of the past year pretty much perfectly. During that year, we have had a few questions asked by partners and potential clients: what are these advergames you keep talking about? We’ll let Wikipedia do the talking for this one: An advergame is a form of advertising in video games, in which the video game is developed by or in close collaboration with a corporate entity for purposes of advertising a brand-name product.
So you might be asking yourself:
Why choose a video game compared to TV, print or digital?
Are there any other uses to incorporating games into my business?
There is a whole plethora of benefits, depending if you are trying to launch a marketing campaign of that type for the first time on your local market, or simply want to streamline your internal onboarding process. But for now, we will focus on the promotional power of them. Arguably, making a game and serving it’s content along with the message you want to convey to your customers will never have the reach of TV. This may be true nowadays, but we are witnessing a major shift in the way people consume content. Metaverses are being built from the ground up, and people are already claiming that games are the new social media.
Whatever the case, we wanted to see how the local market would react to a novel way of getting their message around. This was our intrinsic motivation. Boy were we delighted with what happened next:
Planning phase
Project pitch
Single player, motion controlled video game where the player must navigate a character through an endless level filled with obstacles and power-ups. The level increases in difficulty over time. The goal of the game is to survive as long as possible while collecting coins to earn points and bonuses. Each score is uploaded to a global leaderboard where players can see how they compare to other players and possibly even win prizes. The game is controlled by the player’s movements, using a ZED 2i camera to track their motions and translate them into in-game actions. Let’s get that into some bullet points:
Core gameplay loop
The player overcomes obstacles by jumping, sliding or switching lanes to avoid colliding with them.
Power-ups and items appear that give temporary improvements or bonus points.
The player's score and level difficulty gradually increases as they progress.
If the player fails, they can start over and aim for a higher score.
Loop is designed to encourage players to improve their skills and achieve better results.
Design Challenges
The most successful infinite runner games are presented in portrait mode. An attractive visual style is imperative. A unique theme, environment or location is very important for the game. The gaming experience should present a challenge, but not too much so that it doesn't alienate the audience. We need that replayability! We will achieve this with the easy to play, hard to master concept. The levels are designed to be short and sweet, with an ideal duration of one round of play of 2 to 3 minutes. But who would be willing to join us on this journey?
Partnering with Go2Digital and A1 for Reboot Infogamer
Being the technological trailblazers that they are, Go2Digital were more than happy to partner with us. We have joined forces with the leading DOOH agency in Croatia, and it was only a matter of finding the right partner who is going to merge its brand to this type of marketing activity. The stars have aligned just right this time, as a well-known gaming event was coming back to town after a four year break. Enter Reboot InfoGamer 2023 powered by A1. A1 Croatia is a part of A1 Telekom Austria Group, a leading provider of digital services and communications solutions in Central and Eastern Europe. For years they have been positioning themselves at the forefront of corporate support in a lot of gaming related activities. One of them is sponsoring Reboot InfoGamer as the biggest consumer-oriented games fair in this part of the globe. Since the pause was rather long, this time they wanted to do something special with their marketing budget. It was our immense pleasure to find out that both G2D and A1 loved this proposal coming from us, so we got to work. See the results below:
What are the numbers behind the results?
The campaign ran in two phases. For nine days leading up to the event, there were four different locations throughout Zagreb where the game could be played. Once Reboot InfoGamer started, there was one active display on-site.
It was interesting to notice a 36% increase in the total number of runs during the event compared to the most played location before it. This can be attributed to the well-known term in sales: Buyer Intent. During the event, people were already hyped about games. Before it, by-standers simply noticed something interesting happening on a screen. Which means that three days of something relevant, beats nine days of something accidental tenfold. Here’s a complete overview of runs played throughout the campaign:
Notice how the runs were much more consistent by number during the event. To sum things up, here’s a few takeaways:
A total of 3569 runs throughout the whole campaign
Positioning this type of content performs better in smaller shopping malls compared to those that are vast.
Main squares are awesome for engagement, but take into account possible poor weather conditions.
Average run duration was 40.76 seconds. That’s someone paying attention to your brand for more than 40 seconds! Total playtime was just over 40 hours during the whole campaign.
We hope you enjoyed reading about our case study. Click here to learn more about how advergames can help you brand message stick! If you are ready to talk, feel free to book a meeting with us 👇