The Ability of Branded Online Games to Build Brand Equity: An Exploratory Study

Key insights

7 takeaways

01
An M&M's advergame achieved 32% unaided recall and 57% aided recognition, versus 3% and 14% for a banner ad, with 68% combined recall compared with 16% for the banner.
02
In a paired comparison, the advergame produced significantly higher brand recall than the banner ad (t=4.53, p=0.0009), supporting the view that advergames can outperform banners in building brand awareness.
03
The study's sample was small and non-representative: 37 completed responses out of 108 registrants, recruited from online game community forums.
04
The author argues advergames avoid the pitfalls of early online formats like banners, pop-ups, and interstitials by embedding brand messages in enjoyable content rather than forcing them on viewers.
05
Confounding factors such as game enjoyment, time spent on each site, prior exposure, awareness of the study's purpose, and familiarity with ad formats could have influenced the results.
06
Recall was used as the sole proxy for brand equity, so the study does not measure attitudes, purchase intent, or other equity dimensions.
07
The author presents the findings as promising grounds for further research rather than definitive proof of advergame effectiveness, noting that little published research had directly tested advergames in the online context.

Summary

This exploratory study examines whether advergames, online video games embedded with brand imagery, can build brand equity more effectively than banner advertisements. Motivated by the poor performance of early online advertising formats such as banner ads, pop-ups, and interstitials, the author argues that advergames avoid many of these pitfalls because their marketing messages are integrated into enjoyable content rather than forced on viewers. The literature review draws on research into interactivity, extended exposure, positive attitudes toward advertisements, and familiarity effects, suggesting that advergames have substantial potential to generate favorable brand equity, though little published research has directly tested this in the online context.

The empirical component compared recall of an M&M's advergame against a banner advertisement placed above a non-branded control game. Participants were 37 completed responses drawn from 108 registrants recruited through online game community forums, a convenience sample acknowledged as small and non-representative. Respondents played both games in randomized order, then completed unaided recall and aided recognition tasks. Unaided recall was 32 percent for the advergame brand versus 3 percent for the banner ad, and aided recognition was 57 percent versus 14 percent. Combining both prompts, 68 percent recalled the advergame brand compared with 16 percent for the banner. A paired t-test indicated the advergame produced significantly higher recall (t=4.53, p=0.0009).

The author cautions that these results are promising but not conclusive, identifying several confounding factors including respondents' enjoyment of each game, time spent on each site, prior exposure, awareness of the study's purpose, and general familiarity with ad formats. Recall was used as a single proxy for brand equity, so the study does not measure attitudes, purchase intent, or other equity dimensions. The findings are presented as grounds for further research rather than definitive proof of advergame effectiveness.