This is really interesting, OMD Digital, the digital arm of Omnicom Media Group one of the largest advertising groups in the world, penetrated a new advertising medium; games!
The first client to tap into this new digital medium is the Saudi mobile operator Mobily, which will benefit of a range of advertising options in the games like virtual banners, street signs and outdoor billboards, and at the same time it will add a touch of reality to the game, but for some it could be annoying, especially those who hate advertising.
I’m not sure how powerful is their monitoring system in order to manage the impressions, not to mention the targeting, it’s easy to target them by country cause of IP, but what about genders and age groups? It would be easy if each player had a detailed profile, or they will just have to guess based on the type of the game, but for a branding campaign for a client that targets the mass, it’s not a problem, everyone is targeted.
According to their press release: For its initial project, OMD Digital bought 250,000 impressions over two months in Saudi homes, across major X-Box and PC titles, including Burnout (X-Box 360), Guitar Hero (PC and X-Box 360), Tony Hawk’s Wasteland (PC and X Box 360), NFS Pro Street (PC and X-Box 360), Pro Evolution Soccer (PC and X-Box 360). The ads are downloaded onto new-generation game consoles and PCs linked to the Internet.
Very interesting name. OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark) was one of the interesting bands in the 80′s