In my last article, I set out to acquaint you with the concept of advergaming – the use of video games for advertising purposes. Here I explore the practicalities of having such a game, or branded app, developed. The ‘data’ for this article come from a series of interviews with specialized developers as well as professional experience in the field.
When you are in the business of pet products (or any non-digital goods industry for that matter), having a branded app or video game developed for the proliferation of your brand can seem like a daunting task. How do I materialize my vision into a functional product? How can I best allocate my financial resources? And, how will I yield the biggest return from my investments? Notwithstanding the medium’s sticky and viral nature, if you don’t have the right ingredients to work with, you are poised for costly failure. Although nobody really knows what ultimately drives the adoption of creative goods such as video games, there are certain guidelines that facilitate a smooth development process and which may increase your chances for success. In this article, I highlight four such guidelines. (meer…)