Rob Small And Miniclip, Paving The Way For Advergaming
Recently, global marketers have taken a more entertaining approach to advertising and sponsorship on the web. As advertising online has become quite expansive over the past few years, more are looking for innovative ways to differentiate their campaigns and finding challenges with an abundance of advertisers vying for viewership. What differentiates one campaign from the next? How does a company get the maximum percentage of conversion and generate interest in their products. And how can advertisers be sure consumers will actually enjoy interacting with their product?
On the eve of the 11th Annual Webby Awards I was able to sit down with Rob Small, CEO and co-founder of Miniclip.com, whose company is creating some lucrative and solutions for companies.
Miniclip.com was founded in a bedroom in London in 2001 and even though the company has grown organically – without a single dollar spent on advertising through word of mouth by gamers, today it is able to yield 35 million unique users monthly. The company’s main target is the tween market, meaning 8 to 16 year olds, although the site seems to appeal to users of varying age groups. The gaming site targets this demographic known for their “chatty nature” and uses games hosted and monitored by the site to continually grow traffic. The site provides games that do not need to be downloaded or purchased and are rigorously monitored as to keep the site safe for users. Miniclip.com has become a popular online entertainment destination to play browser based online games, participate in virtual communities and watch cartoons, by gamers ranging in ages from 8-29 around the world.
Miniclip is also leading the way in advergaming and has created a “platform that allows us to drive more users to a single piece of rich media content than any other site on online. That would include YouTube, MySpace, Google, whoever you want to name,” according to Small. He adds “Because their sites are quite fragmented it’s very difficult for them to push in one specific spot a piece of content because they have so much of it.”
With this model the company has a steady growth rate in a niche market that has not been frequently tapped into online. This is a very powerful group in that they are responsible for the highest amount of disposable income spent than any other, at an estimated $170 billion worldwide in 2006 according to Euromonitor. Many companies have been watching these statistics climb and seeing the success of Miniclip give them the opportunity to speak to these heavyweights of the consumer world.
More and more, advertisers have been opting to go advergaming route on games sites like Miniclip, which essentially allows them to design a tailored game around a product or brand and directly target an engaged audience who will actually enjoy interacting with their product – in single or multiplayer modes.
Advergaming (also known as “in-game” advertising and branded gaming) is a win-win for the advertiser and the gamer as it offers companies a more interactive, enjoyable and totally integrated choice, and also includes the capability of direct purchases while gamers enjoy playing a free quality game. Advertisers can also choose to display their own games and extend them across gaming sites’ networks reaching an even larger audience.
Companies who have taken the lead in advergaming on Miniclip include BP, Coca Cola, Disney, Starburst, Gillette and Momentum Pictures – to name a few — and game players responded by racking up 80 million game plays for Gillette’s ‘Jet Ski’ game making it the most successful advergame to date.
Another advertising use of the site has been film. Film companies have wanted to maximize their reach by using a single site with global range to promote films in one hit. As a result, Miniclip has given companies such as Disney and Sony Pictures alternatives in rich media promotions by creating games starring their film characters.
They’re definitely doing something right. Two new major advergaming launches being made soon with companies campaigns are on the horizon with RC2 and Unliever are going to bring a new dimension to future partnerships for the site.
Though there has been VC interest in the site due to its success, market and lack of ad expenditures, Rob Small assured me that there are no plans to sell the company any time soon. “It’s an exciting time for us and the beauty of it is that we don’t have many competitors in this market now. We’ve carved out quite a niche because we specialize in browser-based only.”
But what seems to be Miniclip’s strongest asset is their commitment to their users. That is what won them their third consecutive “People’s Voice Webby for Best Game Site;” Small said it all in his acceptance speech “Miniclip gamers are the best!” The future looks bright for this gaming site and the rich media advertising community.
Reader Comments.
“80 million game plays for Gillette’s ‘Jet Ski’ game making it the most successful advergame to date.”
Most successful advergame for miniclip, maybe. Off the top of my head, I’m sure that the Burger King XBox advergames (or America’s Army, the ultimate advergame) have far more ‘game plays’ than that.
Advergaming and in-game advertising are not the same thing. Advergames are games developed for a specific brand to communicate its values. These are mostly simple online or mobile games, but can also be developed for consoles, like the ones Burger King launched a while ago. In-game advertising is branding, product placement and more traditional advertising (such as billboards) within console/pc games.
Leave a Comment
Article Sponsor
More Features
-
Loading ...
Latest News
- Infographic: HootSuite Analyses Social Media Impact of Super Bowl Ads February 7th 2012 ADOTAS - So, it’s the Tuesday after the Super Bowl, [...] more »
- Facebook to Serve Mobile Ads in Coming Weeks February 6th 2012 ADOTAS – According to a Financial Times report, Facebook will [...] more »
- Survey: 39 Percent of Mobile Users Responded to Super Bowl Ads Via Mobile February 6th 2012 ADOTAS - During the Super Bowl yesterday, mobile ad network [...] more »
- Sponsormob Leads the Way Into RTB for Mobile February 3rd 2012 ADOTAS – For more than half a decade, Berlin-based tech [...] more »
- Weird Study: Mobile Purchasing While in the Bathroom on the Rise February 3rd 2012 DM CONFIDENTIAL - According to 11mark, three-quarters of Americans with mobile [...] more »
- This Week’s New Hires February 3rd 2012 ADOTAS – Another week, another round of new gigs. Here [...] more »
- Two Surveys: What Are We Doing with Mobile Devices During the Super Bowl? February 2nd 2012 ADOTAS - With the Super Bowl fast approaching and the [...] more »
Features
- Covering the Digital Buy: Super Bowl Winners and Losers February 8th 2012
- How Social Targeting Can Lead to Discovery February 7th 2012
- Video: “The Future of Engagement” Looks at Audi’s #solongvampires Campaign February 7th 2012
- Three Best Practices for Increasing Subscriber Engagement February 7th 2012
- Reaching the Multi-Tasker in 2012 February 6th 2012
Spotlight
Sponsormob Leads the Way Into RTB for MobileADOTAS – For more than half a decade, Berlin-based tech firm Sponsormob has remained relevant in an industry characterized by [...] more...
Reader Favorites
Classifieds
- PS Technical Writer - SEO Data Analyst
- Interactive Project Manager
- Media Buyer
- PHP Software Engineer (Facebook Platform/Social AP
- SEO/Marketing Internship at Green Education Startu
Recent Comments
- Bob: and just like that he got fired.
- 101 Best Twitter Apps Blog » Blog Archive » Social Networking: Without a Champion, Enterprise Social Tools Sputter – Formtek Blog (blog): [...] And Cons Of Social Media In Education …mediabistro.comMashable -Minnesota Daily -ADOTASall 97 news [...]
- The Rise of the Data-Driven CMO | ADMA Blog: [...] of information transparent to customers also stand to gain financially. According to a separate
- Tuesday, February 7 | Duncan/Day Advertising: [...] Messages Ever Work Online? [Econsultancy] 39% of Mobile Users Responded to Super Bowl Ads
