Videogame Ads: A Virtual Reality?

ANCHOR LEAD IN:
VIDEOGAMES HAVE GOTTEN SO SOPHISTICATED, IT CAN BE HARD TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REAL AND 'VIRTUAL' WORLDS. AND IT'S ABOUT TO GET EVEN HARDER. REAL-TIME ADVERTISING - ADS THAT CHANGE ALONG WITH THE GAME AND THE PLAYER - ARE THE NEXT BIG THING IN VIDEOGAMES. SOME SAY THAT'S BAD NEWS FOR KIDS - OTHERS SAY - SO WHAT? VIRTUAL IS JUST BECOMING MORE LIKE REAL LIFE…THAT'S TODAY'S HEADS UP.

TRACK ONE Length: 04
SONYA PHILLIPS IS OKAY WITH HER SON, BRANDEN'S, CHOICE OF VIDEOGAMES…

SOT
KEY @ : 05 ( QUICK)Branden Phillips, Videogame Player
"The types of games I usually play are mostly sports oriented."

SOT
KEY @ : 08 Sonya Phillips, Branden's mom
"I prefer him to play those because they're less violent."

TRACK TWO Length: 14
WHAT SONYA DOESN'T LIKE IS SOME OF THE OTHER STUFF THAT BRANDEN SEES WHILE PLAYING…

SOT
KEY @ : 15 Sonya Phillips, Branden's mom
"I really don't see the need to have advertising on the videogames."

TRACK THREE Length: 13
Source: Yankee Group
ADVERTISERS ARE SPENDING 56-MILLION DOLLARS ON VIDEOGAME ADS TODAY. NOW, IN ORDER TO CAPTURE ATTENTION, THEY 'RE GOING ONE STEP FURTHER…USING'REAL-TIME ADS' THAT ARE UPDATED AUTOMATICALLY WHENEVER THERE'S A CONNECTION TO THE WEB.

SOT
KEY @ : 38 Justin Townsend, CEO IGA Worldwide
"We can literally feed the ads in then, over the Internet straight into the
gaming environment itself. So you might switch on the game, play it one day, and see big name sports brands, and the next time you play you might see big name drinks brand."

TRACK FOUR Length: 06
TOWNSEND IS THE HEAD OF ONE OF THE LARGEST IN-GAME AD COMPANIES IN THE WORLD. HE SAYS THESE ADS MAKE THE GAMES MORE FUN....

SOT
KEY @ : 54 Justin Townsend, CEO IGA Worldwide
"When the brands are contextually relevant to the game and placed in a contextually relevant manner within the gaming environment, then it actually enhances the game play itself for the consumer."

TRACK FIVE Length: 11
BUT NOT EVERYONE 'BUYS' THAT… DR. SUSAN LINN, CO-FOUNDER OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR A COMMERICAL FREE CHILDHOOD, SAYS MANY YOUNG CHILDREN AND TEENS PLAY THESE GAMES, AND SHOULDN'T BE EXPOSED TO CHANGING ADS…

SOT
KEY @ : 1:12 Dr. Susan Linn, Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood
"Advertising to children has been just escalating exponentially over the
past decade."

TRACK SIX Length: 06
LINN WORRIES ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE ADS ARE HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW…WITH ADULTS NONE THE WISER…

SOT
KEY @ : 1:23 Dr. Susan Linn, Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood
"The ads change all the time so, you know, parents have no idea what's being marketed to their kids."

TRACK SEVEN Length: 04
TOWNSEND SAYS ADVERTISERS CAN CHOOSE WHEN THEIR ADS WILL BE SEEN - AND THE GAMES ARE ALSO RATED

SOT
KEY @ : 1:32 Justin Townsend, CEO IGA Worldwide
"Kids are going to be exposed to advertising wherever they go, but part of our role is not specifically to target children."

TRACK EIGHT Length: 04
MEANWHILE, BRANDEN ISN'T TOO CONCERNED…AS LONG AS IT DOESN'T AFFECT HIS PLAY…

SOT
NO KEY
"When I'm playing a videogame, I'm just there to play the videogame."

ANCHOR TAG:
ANOTHER CONCERN HAS BEEN THAT THE GAMES INCLUDE 'SPYWARE'. TOWNSEND SAYS THAT'S NOT THE CASE. THE ONLY INFORMATION GATHERED IS THE I-P ADDRESS TO TELL ADVERTISERS WHERE USERS LIVE IN ORDER TO DELIVER ADS THAT ARE GEOGRAPHICALLY RELEVANT.

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Revenue from in-game advertising was $56 million last year, but that figure is expected to grow to at least $732 million by 2010, according to the
Yankee Group. The influx of money couldn't come at a better time for the game software industry.

Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/06/12/BUG4MJBPKD1.DTL&type=business

Justin Townsend
Justin Townsend is Founder and CEO of IGA Worldwide. IGA is a company that provides advertisers and game publishers with a one-stop solution for all in-game advertising activity, including aggregating a leading range of ad formats within a portfolio of multi-platform computer and videogame titles via its proprietary Radial Network. Before founding IGA Worldwide, Justin was Head of Online Business and Member of the Board within the McCann Erickson Worldgroup,
Germany. Prior to this, Justin was Director of Consulting at Zentropy Partners, Frankfurt. He has held a number of senior positions with major European Digital and Classic agencies for the last 10 years, including forming his own interactive agency in the UK in the late 90's.

Justin Townsend's office:
Angela Peretti
111 Broadway Suite 602.
aperetti@igaww.com

Steve Capaccio
Lewis PR
917-667-7465
steve@lewispr.com

Dr. Susan Linn, EdD
Susan Linn is Associate Director of the Media Center of the Judge Baker Children's Center and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She has written extensively about the effects of media and commercial marketing on children. She is the author of Consuming Kids: The hostile takeover of childhood (The New Press) and her articles have been published in the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.

Dr. Linn is a co-founder of the national coalition Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. In 2000 she was appointed to the American Psychological Association's Task Force on Advertising to Children.

Judge Baker Children's Center
3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115
617-232-8390 x2328
Fax 617-232-7343
susan@susanlinn.net