[arg_discuss] The (Marketing) Effects Of Alternate Reality Games

[Sven Abraham]

Hello,

I'm reading for a quite few time your postings. I'd like to introduce 
myself again. My name is Sven Abraham. I study Strategic Communication 
and Planning at the The Berlin University of the Arts in Germany. I've 
started my "ARG-career" at vm-people as an intern. A few months later I 
was "upgraded" to a trainee. :-) It's great working for vm-people and it 
makes a lot of fun with that guys. We're sitting in the middle of Berlin 
and working basically on viral marketing campaigns. vm-people started in 
2006 with ARGs and is so far the only agency in germany which is 
developing, organizing and operating ARGs. The german market is not that 
big like in the states/canada but it's growing. We could generate a 
solid fan base.

I'm writing on my diploma thesis about ARGs. The subject is "the effect 
of ARGs as an instrument of the "brand communication" in the aspect of 
defined marketing goals".

For the advertising driving companys it gets still more difficult to 
achieve people by classic advertizing measures. So they're looking for 
new communication channels steadily to commercialize their products or 
services. An ARG seems to be a suitable tool for this. The interactivity 
of the game and the high involvement of the players shall award a strong 
effect to the communication strategy. ARGs are produced effortfully and 
can get very expensive. In most of the cases the product, service or 
company isn't announced in the game phase. (Ok, not in The Art of the 
H3eist ;-) ) Another point is the indentification of the teammates from 
the circle of the potential aim group network which shall initiate the 
ARG and drag other persons in the game. For certain players it seems not 
relevant what the ARG wants to attract. You can read on the internet 
that this form of advertising is unimportant for them and they're 
playing the ARG because alone the fun counts.

Is there really an effect and how can this effect be proved? Are there 
any reliable and adequate measuring instruments to shows a ARG is an 
instrument of the brand communication of marketing objectives defined 
for the attainment works? Sure, you can measure all that quantity stuff 
like blogposts, wikis, newsarticles, etc. or could you the net promoter 
score... But there has to be more...

It would be great to hear from you!

Best
Sven









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