History of In-Game Advertising and Advergames: The First Wave

A couple of years ago, I wrote a thesis on in-game advertising. One chapter about history didn’t make it into the final version, but now you can view and download the entire chapter in its original format, complete with proper references. Here, I am publishing a series of excerpts, illustrated, where possible, with screenshots and gameplay videos that have began to appear on YouTube. This first installment deals with the early years of advergames. The next one will be about brands and arcades.

The exact moment when third-party brands become part of the games is hard to pinpoint. The Internet Pinball Machine database that lists 4,832 different units contains images of the Mustang (1964, Chicago Coin) machine. It is unclear whether the makers licensed the brand name of the Ford’s new sports car that appeared in April of the same year but the website describes it as being about car culture, and the game’s playing field and backglass art incorporate images of cars that look similar to those early Mustang models.

One of the early games that appeared on mainframe computers together with Hamurabi and Hunt the Wumpus in the late 1960s was Lunar Lander. It was a text-based simulation where a player piloted a spacecraft by typing in acceleration values. In 1973, Digital Equipment Corporation (the same company that put Spacewar! on its PDP-1 machine) commissioned a graphical version of Moonlander to demonstrate the capabilities of their new GT40 graphics terminal. One of the game versions included a hidden feature:

If you landed at exactly the right spot, a McDonalds appeared. The astronaut would come out, walk over to the McDonalds and order a Big Mac to go, walk back and take off again. If you crashed ON the McDonalds, it would print out “You clod! You’ve destroyed the only McDonald’s on the Moon!” (source)

While this cameo was most likely a joke of an anonymous programmer and wasn’t sponsored by the fast food empire, the “only McDonald’s on the Moon” was probably the first instance of a brand integrated into the gameplay. It is not clear whether this Easter egg (as hidden features are known) survived the subsequent commercial adaptations of Lunar Lander (the game was made an arcade by Atari and was also distributed on tapes for Apple I), but for McDonald’s it marked the beginning of a long involvement with the medium. Arcade cabinets would become commonplace in its restaurants; the company recently initiated a trial of McImagination game kiosks shaped to resemble corporate characters.

In 1982, McDonald’s teamed up with Atari for a nationwide contest in which the restaurant gave away 12,000 video game consoles and home computers worth over $4 million. In 1983, Parker Brothers was working on a McDonald’s-themed game with Ronald feeding hungry aliens with shakes, fries and hamburgers and with the aliens biting into the Golden Arches, but apparently the game failed to generate interest outside the 8-9 year-old demographic and the project already advertised in the catalog was scrapped.


(source)

Regardless of whether the lunar McDonald’s was authorized, by the early 1980s video games had become a large enough part of popular culture to attract at least a few marketing minds at mainstream companies. Around 1983, Coca-Cola approached Atari to produce a game to be given away as a gift to the participants of Coke’s sales convention in Atlanta. Atari came up with a special version of Space Invaders, a blockbuster game that had sold millions of copies since its release a few years earlier. The rows of aliens were replaced by the letters P, E, P, S, I and the command ship above them was replaced with a Pepsi logo. The player controlled a ship whose goal was to shoot down as many enemy characters as possible within the three-minute limit, after which the game would end and the message Coke Wins would flash across the screen. Only 125 copies of Pepsi Invaders were made, but the game eventually trickled down into the broad gamer community.

At least three other promotional games were produced and offered to the general public through mail-order by consumer goods companies that year. One was Tooth Protector from Johnson & Johnson, a bizarre game in which the main character, the Tooth Protector, was armed with a toothbrush, floss and dental rinse to protect teeth from the cubes dropped by Snack Attackers. The manual read:

The game ends if 3 teeth disappear or if 3 T.P.s are carried away and eliminated by the Snack Attackers. When you are successful in protecting the teeth, valuable points will be accumulated, and there will be no end to the fun you can have! (source)

The other game was by Ralston Purina whose commercials for Chuck Wagon dog food featured a tiny wagon rolling out from a bag of dog food and across the kitchen floor. The commercials apparently were so popular that the company decided to turn it into a computer game with the wagon as its main character. The game was appropriately titled Chase the Chuck Wagon.

Finally, there was Kool-Aid Man made by M Network for General Foods. It, too, was tied to a commercial in which a giant pitcher was breaking through a brick wall and served Kool-Aid to everyone in the vicinity; the concept was reiterated on the game’s box art and in the opening sequence. In the game, the Kool-Aid Man fought evil Thirsties who were stealing water from a swimming pool.

Whether these three games were a marketing success is hard to tell. Distributed for free in exchange for proofs of purchase, they are now considered collectible rarities unlike many other Atari titles of that period, so the companies probably didn’t send out too many units. One of the reasons why these games didn’t do well is their bad fortune of being released during the unraveling of the game industry known as the Video Game Crash of 1983. In 1982, when these titles were probably commissioned, the industry was at the peak of its popularity and profitability; that year, the American public bought $3 billion worth of games (over $6 billion in today’s money), tripling the previous year’s amount. The news media sensationalized the boom and many companies rushed to open video games division to capitalize on the tidal wave; Quaker Oats, for instance, acquired US Games and presented eight titles, mostly clones of the existing hits, at Chicago’s Summer Consumer Electronic Show of 1982. The market became saturated with bad games and numerous variations of the same concepts, and the next year the sales dropped to $2 billion, and then to $800 million in 1984 and $100 million in 1985. Quaker Oats’ game division lasted one year.

Waste-Reducing Computers – Clear by Wataru Watanabe (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Electronic waste, like computers being thrown out to be replaced by new ones every 3 or 4 years, is a very ubiquitous and recurrent phenomenon in modernized societies. We all have or have had electronic equipment that has become obsolete and/or has reached the end of its useful life for whatever rea…

Virtual Reality Drugs – A Digital Escape by frogDesign (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) The latest concept by frogDesign, called A Digital Escape, would allow the wearer to compliment their personal reality, with exclusive visuals, sounds and aromas. Frogdesign dramatically describes the necessity for such a product as a way to, “live with the troubles we’ve already caused,” in o…

Links for 2008-05-17 [del.icio.us]

Sculptures for the Sole – Couture Shoes by Marloes Ten Bhömer (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Dutch designer, Marloes ten Bhomers’ radical shoes beg belief when you see them for the first time. Their highly sculptured lines are far removed from what we think of as shoes. Indeed, some of her designs need a second look just to make sure they are shoes.

“I never let functionality get in the…

Caption It #26

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[via Crawford Insights]

Resist Branding at Home: Buy Household Items In Bulk, Store Them In Unbranded Containers

Not to go all Adbusters on you or anything, but I like to see is people actively resisting advertising. I think it’s a healthy reaction to the onslaught of commercial messages.

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Debranded Home is doing its part by offering a set of generic labels printed on high-quality waterproof vinyl.

Our objective is to provide you with the tools and information you need to debrand your home. We want to change the way people think about and buy products. Advertising is everywhere and, granted, does serve a purpose, but we want to show you how to can reclaim your space. Once a product has made it off the shelf, its label has served its purpose.

It’s freeing to not be pressured to dole out extra cash to buy that product with slightly nicer packaging. And you can feel good about recycling your bottles and either buying in bulk or learning to make things yourself.

The label sets are $9.00, plus $1.50 for shipping.

There does seem to be irony in the fact that Debranded Home is offering labels, that essentially act us an unbranded brand. It seems, one could take their advice but skip the labeling, or device a simpler labeling technique.

[via Quipsologies]

Tassled Tights – Bebaroque Roxy Tights with Fringe

(TrendHunter.com) Always being one to love the fringe, these tights from hip Scottish leg wear designers Bebaroque caught my attention. The Roxy hosiery collection has black fringe hand embroidered down the backs of either black, cream, dark purple or hot pink 80 denier tights.

The gals from Bebaroque say, “When on…

MTV Supports Burma

In the wake of the devastating Cyclone Nargis (one of the world’s deadliest cyclones) that has hit Burma (also Myanmar), MTV and Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide have created a video in support of the Burmese during this time. The ad was originally made to show support for Burma while living under military rule, however, with recent happenings the ending of the spot was changed to help show that although there are issues between the Burmese junta and foreign aid, we are here to help. In recent news, it has been said that the dropping of parcels over the country is one of the easiest ways to offer aid. Enter the spot.

In this ad, military aircrafts are shown taking off, heading out in what could be construed as a warlike fashion and finally dropping flowers over the country. Set to a soundtrack of a very beautiful piece by Chopin, it is quite possibly one of the most moving spots I have seen in awhile.

 

If you would like to help, visit www.mtvburmaaction.com or www.noneofusarefree.org.

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Anton Kannemeyer – The Alphabet of Democracy

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White Nightmare (Sedan Chair), 2008

Yesterday i arrived in Manhattan just on time to see the last hour of Anton Kannemeyer’s solo exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery. The title, The Haunt of Fears, comes from the 1950s EC Comics title, The Haunt of Fear, a bi-monthly horror comic from the ’50s. As co-editor of Bitterkomix, the satirical comic magazine he started with Conrad Botes in 1992, Kannemeyer became known for creating a new South African brand unconcerned with hypocrisy and political correctness.

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Say! If You Speak English…, 2008

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Birth, 2008

The gallery presented a selection of Kannemeyer’s works on paper from The Alphabet of Democracy-series, a new series entitled Cursed Paradise and drawings from recent sketch books; all of which raise extremely uncomfortable questions in the debate about racial stereotypes and South Africa cultural and socio-political landscape.

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“n is for nightmare” (2008)

With The Alphabet of Democracy, the white South African artist tackles many issues politicians and journalists tent to “diplomatically” avoid. The series sharply comments on the madness below the surface of the rabidly conformist parts of white South African society, especially the Afrikaans community. Black politicians are not protected from his sarcasm either as the alphabet also targets the absurdity of some of their statements. However, some images from this series transcend satire. J is for Jack Russell, for example, shows a dog sleeping on the blanket with which its master’s murdered body has been covered.

In this context, the word “democracy” becomes subversive. The liberated South African society and its form of government are shown as just another arbitrary social order fraught with moral ambiguity and human absurdity.

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M is for Mugabe

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R is for Rainbow nation

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S is for suicide

In Pappa in Afrika, a parody of the controversial Tintin in the Congo, as a white African trapped in his own incriminating skin – a character who cannot escape his colonial past regardless of his personal political convictions. It depicts a content white man in a car driven by a black servant. A machine-gun-toting black soldier stands guard, while poor black natives watch the car filled with boxes labeled Texaco and Halliburton pass.

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White Nightmare: Black Dicks

More images: Michael Stevenson and Jack Shainman Gallery.

The gold standard for print was set in 1915

Theodore MacManus did what every writer wants to do. Pen an add that last well beyond its prescribed useful life. “The Penalty of Leadership” ad ran in as a response to a Packard ad. This simple black and white as has been republished and even mailed out to Cadillac owners. If you are not familiar give it a read.  “In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Wheter the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be mediocre, he will be left severly alone – if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a -wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountback, long after the big would had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by. The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy – but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as human passions – envy, fear, greeed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains – the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live–lives.” 

Top 15 Google Earth Innovations and Games (SUPER GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Google Earth is as entertaining as it is informative. In this feature, we profile some of the interesting Google Earth innovations and applications.

People are using the Google Maps for everything from finding addresses to creating giant-scale art projects and advertising campaigns.

Take a look …

FWA Theater

The FWA Theater

The almighty Favourite Website Awards just couldn’t get enough showcasing the best websites in the world. Now they had to show the greatest videos, reels, VFX and trailers out there.

All hail the FWA Theater.

Nokia N-gage: Get-out-and-play.com

Nokia N-gage: Get-out-and-play.com

Advertising Agency: Play Farfar, Stockholm, Sweden
Production Company: Hobby Film
Aired: April 2008

Pantene Anti-Breakage Shampoo: Rapunzel

Pantene Anti-Breakage Shampoo: Rapunzel

Advertising Agency: Grey Canada, Toronto
Creative Director: Rick Kemp
Art Director: Nicole Ellerton
Copywriter: Nicole Ellerton
Photographer: Aristea Rizakos
Producers: Full Serve Productions
Published: March 2008

Ministry of Transport Finland: Crash Test Dummies

Ministry of Transport Finland: Crash Test Dummies

Advertising Agency: Publicis Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Creative Director: Anthony Wolch
Art Director: Sami Anttila
Copywriter: Tomi Winberg
Directors: Alexander Kiesl & Steffen Knocke / Unexpected
Producer: Carlo Trulli / SPY Films
Aired: September 2007

Stilgraf: Preserve

Stilgraf: Preserve

Advertising Agency: DPZ, São Paulo, Brazil
Creative Directors: José Zaragoza, Marco Versolato, Fernando Rodrigues
Copywriter: Guilherme Fleury
Art Director: Bruno Landi
Published: January 2008

Stilgraf: Pollution

Stilgraf: Pollution

Advertising Agency: DPZ, São Paulo, Brazil
Creative Directors: José Zaragoza, Marco Versolato, Fernando Rodrigues
Copywriter: Guilherme Fleury
Art Director: Bruno Landi
Published: January 2008

Stilgraf: Forest

Stilgraf: Forest

Advertising Agency: DPZ, São Paulo, Brazil
Creative Directors: José Zaragoza, Marco Versolato, Fernando Rodrigues
Copywriter: Guilherme Fleury
Art Director: Bruno Landi
Published: January 2008

Estrella Damm: Rocket man

Estrella Damm: Rocket man

Advertising Agency: Villarrosàs, Barcelona, Spain
Creative Director: Oriol Villar
Art Director: Dani Zomeño
Producer: Edu Farré
Account Director: Juan Badilla
Account Supervisor: Milona Kosanovich
Production Company: Stink
Director: Stylewar
Producer: Dick Jeffares
Post-production: Stop, Swiss, Metropolitana
Sound: Plop, Infinia
Aired: May 2008