Branded games and advergames

What a branded game is.

A branded game, often called an advergame, is a game made to promote a company, product or campaign. It can be as small as a one-minute arcade challenge or as involved as a game with levels, accounts and a season of contests. What sets it apart from an ordinary ad is that people choose to spend time with it, and the brand is part of how it plays.

We build these games to run in the phone's browser. That removes the app store from the path, so someone can scan a code on a poster or tap an ad and be playing a moment later. It also means the game has to load quickly on an ordinary phone and on a mediocre connection.

You'll also see the term gamification marketing. It describes adding game mechanics such as points, badges, streaks or instant-win moments to something you already run, like a loyalty program or a sign-up form. A branded game is a game in its own right.

When a branded game makes sense.

A game is usually worth building when your product is hard to make interesting in a static ad, when you have a real reason for people to come back, such as a seasonal contest, or when you want first-party information from people who have clearly opted in. It also suits physical settings, because a QR code on packaging, in a store or at an event gives people an easy way to start.

It's a poor fit when you have nothing to spend on bringing people to it, because a game with no traffic plan gets very few plays. It's also hard to justify when a good form would do the job. If that's the situation, we'll say so.

Designing a game people finish.

The first few seconds decide most of it. A player arriving from an ad didn't come looking for a game, so the rules need to be obvious from the first screen, without a long tutorial or a registration wall.

We start from the action, and the action should come from the brand wherever possible. A mechanic that uses your product, your category or your campaign idea gets remembered with your name on it.

We also decide early what the game is meant to lead to. The next step needs to appear at a natural moment, usually after a round ends, and it has to work properly on a phone.

Leaderboards, contests and prizes.

Competition gives people a reason to play again, but it adds work that's easy to underestimate. A leaderboard needs moderation for offensive names. Once there's a prize at stake, it also needs protection against cheating, so we plan for scores being checked on the server and for limits on repeated attempts.

Contests and prizes also have legal rules, and those rules vary by market. They can affect who may enter, whether a purchase can be required, how a winner gets chosen and what the official rules have to state. Your qualified reviewer needs to look at the mechanics and the rules before launch, and any market you add needs its own check.

Player data and consent.

A game can collect names, emails, scores and sometimes location. We agree on what gets collected, why, how long it's kept and who can access it before anything is built. Playing shouldn't require handing over more than the game needs, and consent to marketing should be a separate, clear choice.

If a game could appeal to children, stricter rules can apply to what you collect and how you promote it. We raise that question at the start, because it can change the concept.

How we measure a branded game.

We follow the path from first tap to the outcome you chose. That usually means how many people started, how many finished a round, how many played again and how many took the next step, whether that's a sign-up, a coupon or a purchase.

Time played is useful, but we report it next to the business step it was supposed to lead to.