25 Jan 08

X-Box In-Game Advertising for Drink Drive

MediaCom Scotland launch the first ever Scotland targeted X-Box In-Game Advertising

We all know that it is getting harder and harder to reach the youth of Scotland through traditional marketing channels. The media landscape is changing irrevocably and TV and Press appear set to play a different role in engaging with the youth of today, let alone tomorrow. However, we can take some solace in the fact that today’s youth are consuming more media than ever before and that we have never had so many new opportunities to engage with them.

Digital technology is so embedded in young people’s lives that it has become ubiquitous. Their love of Personal Computers, the web, mobiles, games’ consoles and iPods has opened the door to exciting new ways to start and strengthen relationships with young people. The ways they use technology to create, share and control media and to express themselves identifies new persuasive ways to make connections with them. In an age when the consumer is firmly in control the old adage of ‘right time, right place, right message’ has never been more applicable.

We just need to be brave and follow their lead into digital media. The potential benefits to all advertisers are hard to resist at a time when 24% of all adult media consumption is online, 69% of all Scots are online and 68% of young men aged 12-17 have a games’ console in their home.

December was the first time that Scottish online console gamers were specifically targeted with relevant advertising. Mediacom Edinburgh’s Xbox Live campaign for the Scottish Government’s drink-drive initiative communicated young men’s key fear of losing their licence through drink-driving whilst they gamed. The advertising appeared in games such as EA’s Need for Speed Pro Speed and Need for Speed Carbon and Microsoft Games Studio’s Project Gotham Racing. The campaign is a demonstration of new ways to engage with young people through digital channels.

The campaign allowed the Scottish Government to directly reach Xbox Live’s core 18-24 year old Scottish user base (Nielsen, 2007). This was made possible by Microsoft’s Massive use of IP (Internet Protocol) targeting. This is the first time in the UK that IP targeting has been used to regionalise an in-game advertising campaign. This has created a potent new digital channel viable to all regional advertisers.

Research has shown that in-game environments are highly involving with players’ virtual lives often dependent on their alertness and awareness of their surroundings. This heightened sense of awareness has been shown to deliver very high scoring in advertising effectiveness studies. The campaign’s effectiveness will be evaluated by a bespoke research programme involving the creation of a Scottish Xbox gamer panel.

An interesting benefit of this type of activity is the PR generated. As recent arrests have sadly shown it’s not just young males who drink-drive. The PR took the drink-drive message to a much wider audience from the Scottish press to Radio 4’s Today programme and the BBC website - places that could not be reached by paid for media. In a few days there were hundreds of links on Google. Simply type in ‘xbox drink drive’ into Google and you will see the online pick up.

Michael McDonnell, Director of Road Safety Scotland is delighted that this project has gone live: “We need to look beyond the conventional methods of addressing key road safety issues which affect young people and I believe that the positioning of the drink-drive message in online console games will serve as an ever-present reminder to young Scots about the consequences of drink-driving”.