Visualizing Persuasive Structures in Advergames

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de la Hera Conde-Pumpido Teresa
2012 DiGRA Nordic '12: Proceedings of 2012 International DiGRA Nordic Conference

Since the publication of Ian Bogost's two first books (2006, 2007), procedural rhetoric has been the focus of attention of many scholars working on persuasive strategies in digital games (e.g., Heide & Nørholm 2009, Flanagan 2009, Swain 2010, Ferrari 2010). This paper aims to demonstrate that other persuasive dimensions could complement procedural rhetoric to design games with advertising purposes. This paper initially explains the value of use for each one of the persuasive dimensions that could appear in an advergame: narrative persuasion, procedural rhetoric, visual rhetoric, audiovisual rhetoric and textual rhetoric. Then a framework to analyze and visualize the persuasive structure of advergames is proposed, explained and defended. Finally the model is applied to three case studies.

 

Together we brand: America’s Army

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Graaf Shenja van der
2003 DiGRA '03 - Proceedings of the 2003 DiGRA International Conference: Level Up

This paper signals the aesthetic and socio-economic implications of a new generation of commercial media culture in an age of computer network-facilitated participation. It explores the cultural status of the online game America’s Army: Operations (US Army, 2002) that has commerce at the core of its brand identity. The game exemplifies the linkage of commercial goals with cultural texts through creating engaging experiences, initiated by commercial corporations for reasons of promotion and profit, enabled by computer networks, and – to a lesser extent - given form by various members of the public.

 

The Ability of Branded Online Games to Build Brand Equity: An Exploratory Study

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Deal David
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

In light of the relative failures of the early forms of online advertising, many marketers are experimenting with advergames as a method of reaching the growing crowds that are turning to the Internet for entertainment. While this new advertising media offers much promise, its efficacy has yet to be thoroughly proven. Past research into interactivity, long exposure times, and positive attitudes towards an advertisement, things that are typically garnered by advergames, has shown that these attributes generate increases in brand equity for the advertised product. This study tested the relative abilities of advergames and banner advertisements to generate ad recall, a common measure of brand equity. Advergames were found to generate significantly higher rates of recall, a finding that supports the notion of their advertising effectiveness, and the need for further research into this phenomenon.