Addicted to Gaming: Finding a Captive Audience

To an advertiser, the best kind of audience is a receptive one. The second best kind of audience is a captive one. Since finding the receptive audience requires so much more energy and effort, I've observed much of the time companies consider a captive audience the Holy Grail of advertising. Since, outside of school, a captive audience is so hard to find, commercial organizations just try to put their messages everywhere they think their audience is looking. With that mindset, as the means to communicate with audiences increase, I wonder how advertisers might react to some people's unhealthy addiction to gaming.

Apparently the problem is so widespread that several online support organizations have sprung up, populated by spouses and significant others (70% women, 30% men) of addicted gamers. One such organization is ominously called "Gamer Widow," a 2,000-strong community with a name that infers that the beloved gamer spends so much time pursuing his addiction, he is dead to his wife.

The game in question is irrelevant, but the most popular antagonist on the boards I've seen has been the highly successful World of Warcraft (WoW).

When I read an article on MSNBC ("Game Widows Grieve 'Lost' Spouses," by Winda Benedetti) that described the problem, I envisioned thousands of advertisers descending on the gamers' virtual worlds trying to figure out how to angle for a product placement.

If you work for an agency and this describes you, before you take this course, even if only for your own interests, please consider whether that bottle of Coke really fits in the medieval-like environment of WoW.

Having a captive audience doesn't guarantee success, and in fact interrupting people in the middle of their whimsical hobbies or even their unhealthy obsessions with a promotion of an irrelevant product or service is not a good way to build relationships based on trust.

Instead, consider a model that allows you to meaningfully engage with your audience. Most importantly, don't get in their way. After all, in most cases, you need their input more than they need yours. It's harder to work that way, but ultimately more fulfilling. At least that way you won't have to feel badly about trying to take advantage of anyone's irregular or unhealthy behavior. - Cam Beck

Comments

[Bill Bartee]

One of your more provocative posts, Cam. I'd add that everyone is responsible for our his or her addictions regardless of status, married or single. And from the advertising angle, who wants to take advantage of addicted people anyway! It's like taking candy from a baby. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get back to my must-have morning coffee.

[Gavin Heaton]

Excellent post, Cam! Too many marketers go for the easy option and too few put in the hard yards to understand how best to activate a brand in a virtual world. In many ways it is like blogging ... in social networks there are unwritten rules and there are unusual things such as "etiquette", "manners" and "ethics" -- many of which seem to have been abandoned by many MSM marketers.
The thing to remember is that the best way to engage is to share (as CK would say). Give something away first ... provide value upfront and see what comes back. We are all addicted to something and this is not always a bad thing -- the challenge for marketers is to find a win-win solution. Sure, engage in virtual worlds, market to these closed networks ... but don't be lazy -- make it a remarkable and mutually beneficial experience. That way it WON'T be a waste of your marketing budget -- and it MAY just help build your brand.