|
|
of a gaming mind
Web-based game kiosks for biz folks on the go
By Kathy Prentice
As America gets ready to roll into the holiday travel season, a new out-of-home venue is being rolled out at highway stops and airports.
It is kiosks that offer internet access to a wide range of games aimed at travelers, with advertisers given the opportunity to place logos and messages within content, as well as inside and on the exteriors of the kiosks themselves.
Installation of 300 sites will begin this week at truck stops, airports and travel plazas, along with some shopping malls.
To find out how to put your client on screens in front of travelers’ eyes, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Advertisers sponsor games that travelers access via internet kiosks and on screens at public phones.
Who
eGamePreserve, headquartered in Baltimore.
How it works
Advertisers' logos and icons are scattered throughout the games, including at sign-in, and can also be integrated, along with advertiser messages, within the games themselves.
Users can access the games through a variety of wired and wireless internet devices.
These include internet kiosks at travel plazas, hotels, and airports, but users can also gain access through their own personal digital assistants and individual consumer airline screens.
Sites will also include military bases, shopping malls, bars and restaurants.
Advertising is also available in online newsletters that will go to all users.
The eGamePreserve venue is being launched through 300 AT&T public internet phones and internet kiosks in U.S. markets. The sponsored games will begin appearing this week.
Users can start a game at one site and continue playing at other sites and at home on their computers.
“At the airport a consumer can use the kiosk, sign on, pick up game points and then sign off and pick up at the next airport or at home,” says Mike Szimanski, eGamePreserve president.
Advertisers' options include sponsoring games, infiltrating word searches with product names or key words, and using product icons for golf and card games, as well as traditional banner advertising.
The games are geared to business travelers and include “Really Cool Wordsearch,” “TRI,” “eGolf” and “Forbidden Pinball.”
New games will be added each month. Each game’s popularity will be tracked by location. Advertising can then be customized or optimized based on game use within demographic and geographic ranges, even down to individual locations.
Currently exterior kiosk branding is used by eGamePreserve in its own branding campaign, but there is space for advertisers’ messages, too.
“When the kiosk industry launched, extra space was built into the exterior sides for advertisers’ signage,” Szimanski says.
Creative is “wide open,” Szimanski says. “This is a content platform that we can customize based on what the advertiser wants.”
Advertisers provide creative.
AT&T is using its logo--the familiar blue-shaded globe with black lettering--and messages as creative.
Branding is the primary goal of eGamePreserve advertisers.
Consumers logging onto eGamePreserve sites automatically become members and will receive electronic newsletters with updates on locations and games. Advertisers’ messages can be included in the newsletters.
Users participate in loyalty and points programs that advertisers can integrate into their campaigns by offering their products as prizes.
National and regional companies are most likely to use the venue, Szimanski says, because of the system's capability to network messages and to campaign across a number of markets or select markets within a region.
Advertisers will be able to buy the entire network or regions.
A stand-alone campaign would work well for some product categories, Szimanski says.
“For instance, travel related industries--airlines, car rentals, hotels--could be great as stand-alones.”
Additional programs based on eGamePreserve’s logo, “Nora the Oracle,” will provide another level of sponsorship and advertising opportunities.
Companies will be able to use their product information to customize Nora’s actions and answers. Guidelines to keep the content in line with the entertainment theme will be provided, as well as creative assistance and support.
Markets
Markets include Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Houston.
Airports include Phoenix Sky Harbor International, JFK, Newark International, Miami International, Atlanta Hartsfield International, Dallas Fort Worth International, and Cleveland Hopkins International.
How measured?
Usage is tracked with software, with individual kiosk companies using systems that can be modified to provide advertisers with the numbers they need, Szimanski says.
What product categories do well?
Travel and travel-related categories like car rentals, hotels and airlines, communications and electronics, entertainment and new product launches should all do well, Szimanski says.
“We’d even welcome other game companies if they want to come along,” he says.
Tobacco and alcohol products will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Demographics
“These are business travelers who play Solitaire and MindSweep on their laptops,” Szimanski says. “They’re not 22-year-olds looking for fast shoot-em-up games.”
Making the buy
Lead time is based on the type of game. Dropping a logo into an existing game could be done in two days, Szimanski says.
“For instance, an insurance company could provide 25 words and we would plug them into a word-search game.”
The minimum contract is one month.
Rates are negotiable during this trial phase, Szimanski says. “For advertisers who come onboard now, there will be better rates.”
Factors that affect pricing include the predominance of the advertisers' presence on the site, the number of games they elect to sponsor or be built into, and their presence in the newsletter and on kiosk exteriors.
Markets and locations can be cherry-picked, with a minimum of 50 machines per buy.
Sales offices are in Baltimore.
Who’s already on eGamePreserve?
AT&T.
What they’re saying
"Traditionally kiosks get maybe 300 to 400 hits a month, so there hasn’t been much appeal for advertisers. And cell phones have diminished use of public phones 20 to 30 percent a year. The industry is sorely in need of traffic-generating content vehicles.
"Offering internet access through a device is a service, not content. The internet is not a novelty anymore. You have to give people a reason beyond that and the answer is content. It’s entertainment.”--Mike Szimanski, president of eGamePreserve.
Web site info
eGamePreserve at www.egamepreserve.com
Etc.
The same sponsored games are available simultaneously at home through eGamePreserve’s web site.
December 10, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Kathy Prentice writes about out-of-home advertising for Media Life, penning her stories from the resort town of Traverse City, in the upper reaches of Michigan.
Send to a
Friend| Printer-Friendly Version
Cover Page | Contact
Us
