pop-up; camouflage it so that when people click to close the ad, it opens a new site instead; or make a banner ad automatically route to a sponsor site when the cursor is passed over it. This might force a visit, but it annoys consumers—and you’re unlikely to get a sale. A good advergame, however, makes people actively look for your ad—there’s no need to force it in front of them.

Because people spend time with games—and your brand. Once people find your game, they’ll spend time with your brand—from a few minutes to a few hours. This gives them plenty of time to absorb the marketing message you’ve c

Advergaming is an interactive advertisement—a video game that promotes a certain brand, company, or product. There are several different ways marketing and gaming come together. One way works a bit like product placement in the movies—a product appears in the graphics of a game. For example, there might be a Toyota banner at the stadium in EA Sports’ Madden NFL. Before the rise of the Internet, some companies gave away games on Floppy disks or CD-ROMs with their product—for instance, General Mills cereals used to come with General Mills All-Star Baseball, where the company’s cereal mascots played against Major League baseball stars.

Today, advergaming has taken on new life online. Companies from Orbitz to Life Savers have well-known online games that promote their brand and encourage traffic to their sites. Here are some reasons why advergaming is so effective—and why it could bring some serious traffic to your site.

Because a good game is addictive. An addictive game doesn’t have to be complex and expensive to put together—but it will keep people returning to your site over and over. The right game can get consumers obsessed. And the more they come back to their site, the more likely they are to buy from you, not your competitor. An addictive game keeps people coming to your site even when they don’t have a need for your product—so your name is at the forefront of their minds when they do.

Because a lot of people get bored at work. Think about how many people work in an office with a computer and online access. Then think about how many of those office workers get bored and need something to pass the time. Managers won’t like to hear it, but a lot of people do play games like Solitaire and Minesweeper at work when things are slow. Every one of those people is a potential fan of your advergame. Bring them something fun, addictive, and easy to minimize when the boss walks by, and you could win a lot of people over.

Because promotional games cause customers to seek out your ads—not avoid them. Our culture is saturated with ads. And advertisers may hate to hear this, but consumers don’t generally like them. When it comes to online ads, people have very little tolerance—pop-ups, pop-unders, and flashy banners are almost universally disliked.

Many online advertisers are reduced to chasing consumers down and making it difficult for them not to look. They hide the “close” button on a pop-up; camouflage it so that when people click to close the ad, it opens a new site instead; or make a banner ad automatically route to a sponsor site when the cursor is passed over it. This might force a visit, but it annoys consumers—and you’re unlikely to get a sale. A good advergame, however, makes people actively look for your ad—there’s no need to force it in front of them.

Because people spend time with games—and your brand. Once people find your game, they’ll spend time with your brand—from a few minutes to a few hours. This gives them plenty of time to absorb the marketing message you’ve ca

ajor League baseball stars.

Today, advergaming has taken on new life online. Companies from Orbitz to Life Savers have well-known online games that promote their brand and encourage traffic to their sites. Here are some reasons why advergaming is so effective—and why it could bring some serious traffic to your site.

Because a good game is addictive. An addictive game doesn’t have to be complex and expensive to put together—but it will keep people returning to your site over and over. The right game can get consumers obsessed. And the more they come back to their site, the more likely they are to buy from you, not your competitor. An addictive game keeps people coming to your site even when they don’t have a need for your product—so your name is at the forefront of their minds when they do.

Because a lot of people get bored at work. Think about how many people work in an office with a computer and online access. Then think about how many of those office workers get bored and need something to pass the time. Managers won’t like to hear it, but a lot of people do play games like Solitaire and Minesweeper at work when things are slow. Every one of those people is a potential fan of your advergame. Bring them something fun, addictive, and easy to minimize when the boss walks by, and you could win a lot of people over.

Because promotional games cause customers to seek out your ads—not avoid them. Our culture is saturated with ads. And advertisers may hate to hear this, but consumers don’t generally like them. When it comes to online ads, people have very little tolerance—pop-ups, pop-unders, and flashy banners are almost universally disliked.

Many online advertisers are reduced to chasing consumers down and making it difficult for them not to look. They hide the “close” button on a pop-up; camouflage it so that when people click to close the ad, it opens a new site instead; or make a banner ad automatically route to a sponsor site when the cursor is passed over it. This might force a visit, but it annoys consumers—and you’re unlikely to get a sale. A good advergame, however, makes people actively look for your ad—there’s no need to force it in front of them.

Because people spend time with games—and your brand. Once people find your game, they’ll spend time with your brand—from a few minutes to a few hours. This gives them plenty of time to absorb the marketing message you’ve c

to buy from you, not your competitor. An addictive game keeps people coming to your site even when they don’t have a need for your product—so your name is at the forefront of their minds when they do.

Because a lot of people get bored at work. Think about how many people work in an office with a computer and online access. Then think about how many of those office workers get bored and need something to pass the time. Managers won’t like to hear it, but a lot of people do play games like Solitaire and Minesweeper at work when things are slow. Every one of those people is a potential fan of your advergame. Bring them something fun, addictive, and easy to minimize when the boss walks by, and you could win a lot of people over.

Because promotional games cause customers to seek out your ads—not avoid them. Our culture is saturated with ads. And advertisers may hate to hear this, but consumers don’t generally like them. When it comes to online ads, people have very little tolerance—pop-ups, pop-unders, and flashy banners are almost universally disliked.

Many online advertisers are reduced to chasing consumers down and making it difficult for them not to look. They hide the “close” button on a pop-up; camouflage it so that when people click to close the ad, it opens a new site instead; or make a banner ad automatically route to a sponsor site when the cursor is passed over it. This might force a visit, but it annoys consumers—and you’re unlikely to get a sale. A good advergame, however, makes people actively look for your ad—there’s no need to force it in front of them.

Because people spend time with games—and your brand. Once people find your game, they’ll spend time with your brand—from a few minutes to a few hours. This gives them plenty of time to absorb the marketing message you’ve c

ergame. Bring them something fun, addictive, and easy to minimize when the boss walks by, and you could win a lot of people over.

Because promotional games cause customers to seek out your ads—not avoid them. Our culture is saturated with ads. And advertisers may hate to hear this, but consumers don’t generally like them. When it comes to online ads, people have very little tolerance—pop-ups, pop-unders, and flashy banners are almost universally disliked.

Many online advertisers are reduced to chasing consumers down and making it difficult for them not to look. They hide the “close” button on a pop-up; camouflage it so that when people click to close the ad, it opens a new site instead; or make a banner ad automatically route to a sponsor site when the cursor is passed over it. This might force a visit, but it annoys consumers—and you’re unlikely to get a sale. A good advergame, however, makes people actively look for your ad—there’s no need to force it in front of them.

Because people spend time with games—and your brand. Once people find your game, they’ll spend time with your brand—from a few minutes to a few hours. This gives them plenty of time to absorb the marketing message you’ve c

pop-up; camouflage it so that when people click to close the ad, it opens a new site instead; or make a banner ad automatically route to a sponsor site when the cursor is passed over it. This might force a visit, but it annoys consumers—and you’re unlikely to get a sale. A good advergame, however, makes people actively look for your ad—there’s no need to force it in front of them.

Because people spend time with games—and your brand. Once people find your game, they’ll spend time with your brand—from a few minutes to a few hours. This gives them plenty of time to absorb the marketing message you’ve carefully embedded in your game. Most ads only get a few seconds to make an impression—but advergames give you a much larger window. If people like the game, they’ll remember the URL so they can come back for more. It’s an extremely effective way to reach customers.

Because games make people love pop-ups. Most Internet users dislike pop-ups and pop-unders. But put a game in your pop-up, and they may not close it so quickly. It gives you more freedom to use this method of advertising to reach consumers. If your games are good, they could visit your site just to see the pop-ups.

Because people tell their friends. If people find things they like on the Internet, they share them with friends and family. If it’s entertaining enough, your game could generate a lot of free publicity. It works under the same concept as viral video marketing—make an addictive game and tell everyone you know. They’ll forward it to their friends, who will forward it on to theirs, and before you know it bloggers are linking to it, there’s a write-up in an online journal about your innovative advertising, and you’ve reached hundreds of thousands of people.

Your ad campaign is faced with a big challenge—to break through the clutter of ads in all mediums and reach a solid audience. Advergaming is different than traditional advertising—it gets people spending time with your ads, instead of looking to avoid them. A good advergame campaign can take on a life of its own—and be a huge benefit to your business.