Once you’ve settled on a specific game, there are multiple opportunities to reach fans of this title, which we reviewed more closely in my previous piece. Certain factors like timeline and budget will narrow this list down, but here are game marketing ideas using our Top Spin 2-energy drink case:

• Product Placement/Static Billboards: Fixed integration of the product into the game experience or environment.
• Game Content Websites: Targeted sponsorship of content surrounding this title on leading gaming websites like GameSpot.com.
• Gaming Tournament Sponsorship: Sponsorship of offline or online tournament involving players and spectators of this game.
• Dynamic In-Game Advertising: Your ads change on the same billboard in a game. This requires billboard space insertion into the game, as well as a broadband-connected gaming system to work.
• Sponsored Extra Levels: An extra level of the video game can only be accessed/downloaded via a special code on your product (for example, Burger King did this by inserting The King into EA's "Fight Night Round 3.") The downside is that this can take months of scheduling and preparation.

And the options for marketing your brand with games will only increase: the past few weeks have brought two exciting new developments. First, Microsoft opened up "XNA," making its game development tools available to all for the first time, which means that everyone from marketers to hobbyists can now develop Xbox 360 console games. Then, last week, Electronic Arts Inc.(EA), Microsoft Massive subsidiary and IGA Worldwide Inc. signed a deal to deliver advertising to console games dynamically, rather than have the same ads static for the life of a game.

While video games as an advertising medium are still in the formative stages, there are already tools, data and different tactics for marrying the right game sponsorship with your brand. And many of the same rules for selecting marketing vehicles from other media apply here.