• April 11, 2011

Carl's, Jr. Dr. Pepper, Sony, Vitaminwater, GNC, popchips and Sephora are among the advertisers on board as Kiip, a game-based advertising network that rewards players with real, advertiser-sponsored items, launches today, according to Wired. 

Started by Brian Wong, a 19-year-old wunderkind now backed by $4 million in venture capital, the HTML5-based system can be used in almost all Internet-connected game platforms.

Kiip is not based on earning points to redeem merchandise, a la Microsoft's Club Bing. Instead, when a player clears a certain level, an alert for an advertiser-paid reward pops up. Examples include mascara from Sephora, a box of Popchips or more expensive items at higher levels of play (like a Sony Dash).  The rewards offered are mostly determined by the type of game, which match up well with demographics.

To redeem a reward, the user must supply his/her email address, which is used to send a redemption code to the player (who can then resume playing).  The player needn't sign up for a Kiip account, and emails aren't given to the sponsoring advertisers.

In limited real-word tests, 50% of those who supplied email addresses clicked into the emails to get their codes and redeemed their prizes, reports Wired.