I can feel it. The roar of the crowd is pulsing through my veins. I can barely hear the clacking of my teammates Nike football cleats in the tunnel. My center grabs and fistful of my Reebok jersey and yells through my face mask "ARE YOU READY?" Before I can respond, he slams his Riddell helmet against mine giving it the first blemish of the season. Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth are no doubt giving the viewers the Gatorade Prime starting line-up. If this were last season, my Old Spice Swagger stat would undoubtedly be 45. I'm only a rookie, but I lead my team out of the tunnel. The barking of the crowd is deafening. I look at the scoreboard only to see myself on the Jumbotron. My live image is surrounded by billboards for AirWest and StarkTec? I've never heard of those companies. That doesn't matter. JasonAtTheDisco's trash talking in my ear piece snaps me out of my daze. I have a head-to-head match in Madden 12 to win.
I grew up playing video games. I love them. It's an escape for me and a way to "hang out" with my friends that don't live nearby. Here's a problem for marketers and advertisers: how do you reach someone who is saving the world from the evil clutches of EvilBadGuy? How do you reach someone who isn't reading a magazine or newspaper but instead they're punting gnomes in Azeroth? Well, you go to where they are. And you punt some gnomes because it's fun.
Madden 12 lends itself to product placement and advertising very well. The game emulates a television broadcast of the game while you play it. Gatorade G2 Series sponsors the starting line-up (Prime), impact player (Perform), and Performer of the Game (Recover). Reebok and Riddell provide the NFL with equipment so they also provide Electronic Arts with equipment, and in return, get product placement. Every player in the game wears Nike shoes. During breaks in the game, water boys go out on the field and re-hydrate the team with Gatorade squeeze bottles. Gus and Chris even call for a commercial break after each quarter and during the 2 minute warnings. The only thing missing are actual commercials and real companies on the billboards of the scoreboard.
The key to advertising in video games boils down to one key factor: is the game more realistic with your product in there without being overloaded? With a game like Madden you expect to see the players drinking Gatorade and wearing Nike cleats. In racing games like Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo you expect to be driving Mitsubishi, Acura, and BMW cars. In Rock Band you expect to see the band playing Gibson guitars. The product has to represent the lifestyle being portrayed in the game. If Nvidia had an advertisement in Half-Life 2 for its GeForce series of graphics cards, it would make sense. You would need a graphics card in your computer to play such a game. However, it doesn't add to the realism of the game. If anything it would take away from the experience because of the setting.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take Nathan Drake to Subway.
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