It’s Time to Talk about the Elephant in the Room
What it means for Gameloft when the big players announce rewarded in-app ad units, including playable ads.
The incredible viewability and innovative ad formats that come with in-app advertising make it no surprise that the sector is drawing the attention of the big players in the industry. Google notably announced new playable ad units that will be integrated into their in-app offer. With all the benefits that come with the mobile environment, it’s important to understand what it takes to properly leverage the in-app difference and deliver engaging creatives.
When you design a game you’re always looking at combining several complicated ideas to tell a coherent story that is playable. Overlooking the importance of that mix between storytelling and gameplay is what causes many games to miss the mark on being a fun experience.
Taking those ideas into the advertising world is how you get playable ads and that combination of engagement and information is a dream come true for all advertisers. The cherry on top is the positive brand association that naturally comes with a gamified experience.
When we started developing our proprietary ad tech and with it Gameloft Advertising Solutions, there was a natural push to combine Gameloft’s gaming expertise with new initiatives in advertising.
With Google now looking into playable ads and integrating them into Google’s ecosystem, their legitimacy cannot be ignored. No player in the industry can afford to overlook such a powerful format.
Google’s recent interest in branded minigames comes from the search giant seeing how successful rewarded ads are. The format is incredibly powerful because it is designed to encourage users to interact with the advertisement. Rewarded videos give users the choice to view an ad when they are contextually relevant. The advertisement adds to the game instead of taking users out of their immersed state.
Imagine you’re racing along in Asphalt and after a grueling race you cross that finish line in first place. The adrenaline still running through your veins, you get a prompt to double your XP. All you have to do is watch a short ad and you’ll be winning something for the second time in less than 30 seconds.
An expansion of these rewarded ads are multiple-option videos, an innovative ad format that gives users more control over exactly which ad they see. The format lets users choose an ad they want to watch, on top of giving them an in-game reward.
Google has however decided to focus their rewarded formats on click-to-download products, which will help apps monetize but means these formats are mostly intended to drive downloads for other apps.
Gameloft Advertising Solutions has a broader approach to rewarded ad formats, using them to promote brands all over the world. The result is an interactive and branded message that is delivered to the millions of people who play Gameloft games every day.
Playable Ads at Gameloft
Gaming and the mobile platform is what makes up Gameloft’s DNA. The company was a pioneer in mobile gaming and that background in both gaming and portable devices gives Gameloft a sharpened edge when it comes to gamifying brand messages for the mobile environment.
With that context, it’s easy to see how Gameloft Advertising Solutions is able to develop custom minigames designed around a brand, incorporating its message into the gameplay itself. The experience and expertise that comes with Gameloft means we are capable of producing any type of minigame for any type of brand.
A notable example of Gameloft’s success with playable ads is Paris 2024 Run, a branded minigame created to bring the 2024 Olympics to Paris. While the playable was not for an advertiser looking to sell a product or service, the success of the campaign shows the power of the format and more importantly, how fun and engaging a brand message is when it is gamified.
Interacting with a message via the playable ad format organically creates a positive association between the brand and the user. That positive association then leads users to more likely remember the brand when it is relevant, when they need to buy a certain product for example.
This high level of brand recall demonstrates how impactful playable ads are for branded messages. For Paris 2024 Run, it shows how the format in and of itself helped create a community feel around the Paris Olympic bid by keeping the idea of the Olympics coming to Paris in users minds throughout the campaign.
Incentivized Interactive Videos
Going beyond playable ads and multiple-option videos, Gameloft has pushed the incentivized envelope even further by developing interactive videos that combine the characteristics of rewarded videos and minigames.
These innovative interactive videos require users to engage with the ad via quick time events, short pauses in the video where users have to perform an on screen action or make a decision. Not only does this further engage the user with the brand and its message, it also provides more data on how exactly users interact with the ad. The format’s strength lies in how it captures the viewer’s interaction with the brand message and how that insight can then be shared with the advertiser.
The on screen actions inherently provide proof of the user actively engaging with the brand’s message and not looking away or ignoring the screen while the ad is displayed. When a user’s actions lead to different endings the interactive video format has the added bonus of creating an incentive to replay the ad. It’s an organic way to lower ad fatigue and makes users want to engage with the ad multiple times in order to see the impact of their on screen actions.
The nearly 20 years of gaming history that comes with the Gameloft name gives us a firm background in understanding what makes an experience fun and engaging. With the combination of proprietary ad tech and an in-house creative agency, Gameloft Advertising Solutions offers a completely vertically integrated solution for advertisers all over the world.
In 1999 the idea of mobile gaming becoming a multi-billion dollar industry was laughable at best. Time has proven Gameloft’s bold choice was a sign of things to come with every major gaming company now a part of the mobile market. Google announcing their support for playables adds to our history of being ahead of the curve and confirms that our decision to combine gaming and advertising was a good one.
At Gameloft, we look forward to the innovation that will come with playable ads becoming an expected format in the digital ad space.
