Co-branded integrations in mobile games. What are the entry points?
Co-branding integrations are an effective marketing tool. According to a Game Refinery study, almost 40% of the top 100 booming mobile games hold in-game events in collaboration with non-gaming brands. At the same time, seasonal events themselves are held in 90% of the top 100 mobile games, generating multiple revenue growth and user base growth. According to the Guardian, citing the IAB, users themselves favorably perceive brand advertising — in Britain, about 79% of respondents reacted positively to co-branded integrations in their favorite games. And no wonder: according to many experts (for example, here), old school marketing methods have stopped working — especially if we’re talking about the most active part of the audience, Generation Z. Their benevolent attitude towards co-branded events in games is dictated by exactly that: it’s a new approach to advertising, more captivating, innovative, and more sincere in its own way and the audience loves it.
For this reason, it’s not just brands that are looking for an opportunity to expand their audience that take a chance with co-branding integration, but also those who are already entrenched in the minds of millions: Coca-Cola, Apple, KFC and others.
What is the advantage of advertising integration in mobile games specifically?
- The interactivity of games contributes to the fact that the variety of forms and approaches to integration here is much wider than in traditional media.
- Games are extremely effective in managing the attention of users and can hold it for a long time. Let’s say, active users spend up to 80 minutes per session in our game, Donut Punks. And there can be 2–3 of such sessions on a given day.
- There are few barriers between the brand and the user: people in most cases carry their phone with them, which means they are not limited in when and where to join the gaming event.
According to a Newzoo study, 81% of Gen Z are gamers who spend about 7 hours a week playing games on average. But more interestingly, 69% of Gen Z have made in-game purchases at least once in the last six months. Even social media are now losing ground to games: according to Deloitte, gamers see games as a way to satisfy social needs, whether it be self-expression or the joy of feeling connected with other people.
From the technical point of view, co-branded events can be very diverse: they can be based on new locations, modes, items, characters or tasks. Virtually any element of the game is subject to branding. There are two main approaches to this:
- Classic product placement. More often than not, this is a selective and rather narrow integration of the brand into the game.
- Increasingly popular seasonal integrations. This is a complex offer that uses the possibilities of the game to its fullest and guarantees maximum involvement.
The second approach seems much more interesting, therefore, let’s consider its constituent elements, which, in sum, give the maximum effect.
1. Game characters
It is generally accepted that gamers either associate themselves with their game character, or establish an emotional connection with them. This is why brands choose character integrations as one of the most effective ways to collaborate.
One obvious solution is guest characters. The Soulcalibur IV fighting game offered the player access to Yoda and Darth Vader from the Star Wars media franchise. Later, in the sixth installment of Soulcalibur, Geralt from the Witcher universe was added. Both examples stirred up the community at the time, and guest characters have become an integral part of fighting games.
However, not only characters from popular franchises can find their place in games, but living embodiments of brands as well. If you have a mascot — splendid, they can become a character in the game. If not, it doesn’t matter, you can always come up with a new character!
Left: a character inspired by the logo of a famous coffeehouse. Right: a character without an explicit prototype, created using the aesthetics of a major robotics manufacturer.
A separate kind of game artwork is skins that change the appearance of a character. Thanks to skins, it is easy to harness seasonal events, combine them with co-branding, and offer players a new look on familiar (and therefore welcome) character.
Sometimes it’s enough to simply complement the image of an existing character with branded attributes.
Or, as in this example, to radically change the appearance of a character (while retaining their gameplay qualities).
It’s not limited to protagonists alone. Co-branding can also work the other way around. If the tone-of-voice of your brand allows you to be ironic about yourself or your competition, you can brand game antagonists. For example, this zombie clown from Donut Punks is one of the bosses.
A curious example of collaboration could be found in PUBG, where, as part of a joint event with Resident Evil, zombie enemies and not the protagonists of the series were added to the game.
2. Products
While game characters lend themselves more to integrating meanings or metaphors associated with brands, in-game items allow you to directly show the product and its merits. The very essence of in-game items is conducive to this, because their main task is to support the player as much as possible on their way to victory.
KFC, for example, is actively working in this field, launching all possible collaborations with games on the Chinese market. One of the recent announcements is a collaboration with Naraka: Bladepoint. Supposedly by ordering food at KFC, players will be able to access a variety of in-game items and improvements. The success of this endeavor can be presumed in advance, given the record sales of the game and the popularity of KFC in China.
Donut Punks has a system that works exactly the other way around: players receive promotional codes for the successful completion of missions, which in turn can open access to certain benefits from the brand.
When it comes to the literal expression of a brand’s merits, we can recall EA games, which collaborated with the sports drink brand Gatorade. An item was added to the Madden NFL game that replenished the player’s energy and allowed them to spend more time in the game — to all intents and purposes, it increased stamina, as a sports drink should.
In addition to items, an important part of games is resources, which often include various types of game currencies. Therefore, integration can include not only brands that produce goods, but also those that provide services. In Donut Punks, for example, there is an insurance item that compensates the player for an amount of in-game currency in case of loss. Or the vault system, which is responsible for the safety of the player’s resources.
Clothes
Finally, the strongest link in the mobile gaming economy is cosmetic items, which generally do not provide gaming benefits, but allow the player to visually stand out from the crowd.
The aforementioned EA had a similar collaboration in The Sims, where they added Asos virtual clothing. Players could dress their Sims up in real models, and thanks to interactivity, they could assemble an image to their liking, view it in 3D in detail, and make a purchase decision in reality.
Digital fashion is the exact opposite; it’s a direction where you can try on digital clothes using AR technologies. A digital-only retailer DRESSX is actively working in this direction and in 2021 announced a collaboration with the MOD4 gaming application. Users could create avatars, put clothes on them, and then transfer them to real images using DRESSX.
Another collaboration example: Balenciaga and Fortnite. The collaboration of brands here went beyond the game, and New Yorkers could watch a three-dimensional video billboard in Times Square with a Fortnite Doggo character dressed in Balenciaga.
The fashion industry and games in general have become good friends. Nintendo invited Marc Jacobs and Valentino to create clothes for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And Riot Games developed branded skins for the League of Legends, first with Louis Vuitton, and then with UNIQLO.
3. Locations and modes
Game environment has historically been considered one of the pillars of game design, having a direct influence on both gameplay and storytelling. The prospect for co-branding here is wide-open.
A location can be dedicated to a large event.
Or a more intimate event in a recognizable setting.
Or a holiday.
Associating game updates with real holidays or events is the most advantageous position. Halloween, Christmas, Chinese New Year or solstice always attract a huge audience to games. The same Game Refinery study shows that the Lunar New Year event in Genshin Impact resulted in an increase in revenue from $200 k to over $1.25 m in just one day (iOS, US market).
A slightly more complex, but therefore the most impressive opportunity for collaboration is the development of temporary game modes with unique mechanics. Such a move implies closer cooperation between the two companies, but the result is expectedly better.
For example, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang held a joint event with Transformers. It was based on a special questline and a gacha event with special cumulative purchase mechanics.
Donut Punks has modes likes chases, heists, races, battle royale, and more. All of them are designed for time-limited events to surprise players with their novelty without becoming boring and to be remembered as something unique.
4. User Interface
A more specific, but no less interesting approach to collaboration is a temporary change in the game interface design.
Our own analytics show that a player spends up to about 30% of their time in the meta — the part of the game that takes place during a pause between matches and allows you to take your time to upgrade characters, make purchases, and gather a team of friends.
The basis of the meta — the main screen — changes depending on seasons or active collaborations.
Another striking example: game loading screens with detailed artwork are the main thing that the player sees at startup. These screens can be used as a full-fledged advertising banner.
In addition, even the smallest interface details — emojis, pop-up frames, buttons, icons — can become collaboration objects.
5. Celebrities & Co.
In the first half of 2020, an event took place in the gaming world, which, in terms of the amount of attention paid to it, seemingly managed to overshadow even the pandemic. Travis Scott gave a virtual concert on Fortnite, which was attended by 27.7 million players. This was a clear proof that games are a great platform for those who promote their personal brand.
Scott’s concert was a huge and impressive visual feast, but even before it, representatives of the creative industries showed an active interest in games. For instance, Grimes, Run the Jewels and A$AP Rocky participated in creating the soundtrack for CyberPunk 2077. Paul McCartney recorded a song for Destiny, and the Final Fantasy series featured collaborations with Florence and the Machine and Katy Perry.
Sports stars have also become active in promoting their personal brands within video games. In October 2022, Plarium entered into an agreement with Neymar Jr, under which a pilot with the likeness of Neymar will appear in Mech Arena. For a limited time, players will be able to get a new character for free, whose skills give a significant increase in strength and speed. And that’s not all: you can not only play as Neymar, but also get a set of unique mech skins. Also, the footballer will become a virtual coach for all new players as part of the updated tutorial. Another football legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, also got a virtual incarnation of his own — in 2020, his character appeared in Garena Free Fire.
As you can see, there is a place for athletes, for musicians, and, if you think about it, for any person who wants to promote their talents in the cozy world of games.
What else?
If you approach collaboration in a complex way, then even the usual marketing solutions will find a place. With the help of platforms like Google Ads, Unity Ads, ironSource, you can integrate classic video ads, static or interactive banners, and even polls into your game. The key point here is that games allow you to not just embed ads, but also connect viewing them with in-game benefits.
So in Donut Punks, with the help of ads, players can instantly increase the reward for the played match or get the opportunity to play bonus matches with rewards. Such advertising is called rewarding and is used in many mobile games. For example, King, the creators of Candy Crush Saga, built Nestlé ads into their games — that way, all the benefits received from viewing ads were associated with the brand, and for players, the very fact of seeing ads became not an obstacle, but a pleasant bonus that helps them achieve their in-game goals.
Conclusion
The capabilities of modern game development allow you to quickly create co-branded events, and essentially any element of the game can become an integration point here: from interface details, to rewards and complex mechanics, and even entirely new game modes.
In this case, complex integration is the most effective: studies by game analysts show that co-branded events have gained high momentum and are now held in most popular games. In the same US market, events are already held in more than 40% of the top 100 games on iOS.
Such events invariably attract new audiences and multiply the revenue of the game, and non-gaming brands are showing increasing interest in such collaborations. It is games that make it possible to show the audience not a stingy advertising banner, but to give real interaction with the brand and an exciting experience.
Players appreciate it, and advertising itself becomes more sincere. The product’s merits are no longer empty promises, and through the interactivity and flexibility of games, they turn into a real experience for the player.
