By Walaika Haskins E-Commerce Times
10/14/08 2:56 PM PT
The Barack Obama presidential campaign has broken ground in a relatively new ad medium: in-game advertising. The candidate has purchased ads in the Xbox 360 car-racing title "Burnout: Paradise City." When a gamer goes online to play against other racers, the ad appears as a billboard.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has taken political advertising into uncharted waters this month. In an advertising first, political ads for the Illinois senator have begun appearing on billboards in "Burnout: Paradise City," a car-racing video game on the Xbox 360 console.
The game features a multiplayer element in which users can play against each other if they hook their Xbox consoles up to the Internet. When the game is connected to the Web, new advertisements can be placed on billboards that players see as they race through the streets.
Obama's ad reads "Early voting has begun. Voteforchange.com. Paid for by Obama for President."
The Gaming Gets Political
While initially there was speculation that images of the advertisement could have been faked, Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), publisher of "Burnout," has confirmed that the ads are legitimate.
"The campaign is a regional campaign that began on Oct. 6 and is running through Nov. 3," Holly Rockwood, an EA spokesperson, told the E-Commerce Times.
The ads are running in 10 states: Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin. Although these states (with the exception of Wisconsin) were won by President George W. Bush in the 2004 election, many have become battleground states in this election cycle, where Obama and Republican nominee John McCain have been fighting tooth and nail for each vote.
The ads, according to Rockwood, may run in the larger states for as few as 10 days, with those scheduled in smaller states running the entire time span. They appear to target what is traditionally a much sought-after demographic.
"In general, the 'Burnout' audience is typically male, ages 18 to 34. I think the sweet spot age is 27 or 28. The attractive benefit any advertiser sees in advertising on a game like 'Burnout' is reaching that demographic," Rockwood noted.
The ads were sold through Massive, a Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) owned in-game ad firm. Massive, according to Rockwood, also reached out to the McCain campaign to sell ads, but the Republican candidate passed.
Neither Obama nor McCain have opted to purchase ads for EA's PlayStation 3 games through ad firm IGA, Rockwood added.
Advertising Smarts
Online ads can be very effective, said Karsten Weide, an IDC analyst.
"[That] is one reason why many advertisers move marketing budgets from the traditional media onto the Internet," he told the E-Commerce Times.
Although Weide cannot predict the effectiveness of political online ads in general, he believes the Obama in-game ads will work to grab the attention of game-playing voters.
"This Barack Obama ad is going to be very effective, because it is an unusual ad in a new and unusual marketing channel -- in-game ads -- so it is bound to get a lot of attention in the target group. Plus, because of this, it is also bound to get a lot of press coverage and indirect PR for the Obama campaign," he pointed out.
Can the 'Funnest iPod Ever' Take on Nintendo and Sony? October 13, 2008
The iPod touch can be used to play over 1,000 games available on the iTunes App Store. Apple has even dubbed the touch the "funnest" iPod ever. What threat does it pose to dedicated portable gaming machines like the DS and the PSP? The iPod's lack of buttons may preclude it from large, immersive games, but casual games are a different story.
Related Stories
iPhone Goes to Washington: Obama Campaign Launches Mobile App October 03, 2008
The Barack Obama presidential campaign has staked out turf on Apple's iPhone App Store. The Obama '08 application delivers campaign news, opens a window to financial donations and encourages users to call friends in key battleground states and push for their votes. In the future, voters should expect to see political campaigns move aggressively into mobile technology, regardless of the party being represented.
Motion-Based Gaming on Phones: The Ticket to Public Humiliation July 02, 2008
How far will you go to play your favorite video game on your cell phone? Sometimes it's too far, points out Renay San Miguel. With the advent of motion-based gaming, don't be surprised to see people wriggling their bodies in public while using their iPhones as steering wheels while playing Polarbit's "Raging Thunder," he says.
Related News Alerts
More by Walaika Haskins
ZeeVee's Zinc Browser Gets Web TV Right April 29, 2009
The Zinc Browser from ZeeVee updates the old Zviewer with tighter navigation and better catalog options. The finished application offers a great way to find TV shows and movies anywhere on the Web, regardless of whether they're hosted by Hulu, CBS, Netflix, Amazon's on-demand service or others.
Game Sales Sputter, 'GTA' Fails to Steal the Show April 23, 2009
It may appear as though the video game industry is beginning to join the economy at large in its slump, as March numbers from NPD were less than encouraging. However, a year-over-year perspective is difficult due to the timing of game releases and holidays. Meanwhile, Take-Two hasn't seen much success in introducing its violent "GTA" series to the Nintendo DS.
Can Microsoft Win the Online Game? April 16, 2009
Now that the major video game consoles have been on the market for two and a half years -- or more -- hardware sales have slowed considerably. Online services, however, still have room to grow. InStat says subscriber bases will take off in the coming years, and Microsoft's Xbox platform may come out the big winner.
Headline Feeds
Talkback: 
