Business model
Some notable ARGs have been produced by traditional agencies to promote products such as automobiles. But the most celebrated ARGs have been created by a new breed of interactive production companies whose work is primarily focused on the player's entertainment experience. These companies do not necessarily approach their work as advertising campaigns but rather as interactive stories (though these can, of course, incorporate sponsorship). It's a situation analogous to the early days of television in which a number of different business models co-existed, ranging from outright sponsorship to TV and film marketing initiatives to productions supported by the sale of game cards.
ARGs, notes Szulborski, are traditionally conceived of as community experiences -- they're designed to create and foster a community of involved players working collaboratively to discover and experience the story. Having an active community is not only a key goal but, "often plays a critical role in the experience itself, in the sense that the community's discoveries and activities drive the story of the game forward," he says.
Bonds says it's paramount to focus on creating positive entertainment experiences that communicate the core value of the brand -- "experiences that can engage consumers for extended periods of time and shift brand perceptions significantly. Companies are telling the audience that 'you are important to us,' and 'we have a brand with depth and creativity that deserves consideration.'"
The brand payoff
Bonds adds that although the value proposition for ARGs has yet to be fully explored, the format is currently being utilized to bring consumers into a deeper connection with creative properties and brands. For example, with "Dead Man's Tale," an interactive experience designed to showcase both Windows Live Messenger features and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," more than four million consumers spent an average of 35 minutes playing the experience.
"This level of extended interaction with brands, properties and products has enormous value for brand perception shifting and increased consideration," Bonds says.
This might be true even if the brand sponsoring the game isn't the game's focus. McDonald's, for example, currently is sponsoring an Olympic-themed online game called The Lost Ring, in partnership with the International Olympic Committee. The game's websites, described by The New York Times as "mysterious and hip, like 'Lost' mixed with 'The Blair Witch Project,' don't reveal McDonald's sponsorship until players, while searching for clues, stumble upon the game's terms of service.
"I think finding out that it was McDonald's was kind of a big shock for everyone," Geoff May, a player in Ontario who founded a website on the game, told The Times.
McDonald's says the game, created by AKQA/San Francisco, had attracted 150,000 players by April 1, with 70 percent of traffic from outside the U.S.
Will the quiet sponsorship pay off for McDonald's? Sean C. Stacey, the founder of the gaming fan site Unfiction, thinks it just might, creating a strong bond between the youthful players and the brand that gives them a fun gaming experience -- for free.
Metrics
Because most ARGs are primarily web-based campaigns, most use standard web tracking methodology as a starting point for their metric analysis -- web page visitors, activity, duration of involvement with content, etc. But Szulborski says if the goals include brand perception changes, spawning online discussion groups, threads about a new product release, etc., "then a campaign is best served by employing standard web statistic models supplemented by some type of buzz tracking designed to locate and even analyze any discussion going on via the internet as to your target words or concepts."
As an example of how effective metrics can be in gauging campaign effectiveness, check out these stats from McKinney, a Durham, NC-based ad agency that created the ARG "Art of the Heist" for the Audi A3 in 2006. That campaign, according to BusinessWeek, attracted more than two million unique visitors to the Audi website, resulted in seven fan sites tracking the program for interested participants and generated more than 45 million impressions. The campaign also created more than 10,000 sales leads and 3,500 test drives, putting the A3 on track to beat its aggressive first year sales goals.