Advertisers Target Videogames

August, 2002

VIDEOGAMES are less risky to develop than movies and can draw more viewers than television shows, speakers said at the School's annual Future of Content Conference winter quarter. That has prompted advertisers to come up with "advergames" ÷sponsored games used as a marketing medium.

Keith Ferrazzi, president and CEO of game company YaYa, said games can be an effective way to "bribe" people into providing personal information. Online games also can be used to reveal aspects of consumers' psychology. "You put a lot of yourself into a game," he noted.

Among YaYa's products is Spinopolis, an Internet game created for the electronics and engineering company Siemens AG to reach out to customers of its infrastructure services. Players work to build an efficient city. According to Ferrazzi, high-scoring Spinopolis players include Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City.

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