It's good to be leaving for OMMA Hollywood this weekend, when we're getting a return to oppressive gray weather after a short spring tease. As a beat reporter, I never made it out to the West Coast
for MediaPost's annual shindig, but this year I snuck myself into a moderator's chair, meaning I'll be basking in the L.A. sun come Sunday.
On my panel, which is dubbed "The Challenges of
In-Game Advertising," we've got a pretty good cross section of the various ways in which advertisers can get close to video gamers. The panelists are:
Jay Sampson, Head of Sales, Massive
Incorporated Dave Roberts, CEO, Popcap Mike Sepso, CEO of Major League Gaming Justin Townsend, CEO, IGA Worldwide Zack Zeiler, CEO and President, VPI.NET Matt Story, Associate
Director, Denuo Play After a quick overview of what it is these guys do for advertisers, we'll go into the whole "challenges" part. This is my first time moderating a panel, but I've covered
them many times, and I've found that the best stuff comes out when the moderator brings a little bit of skepticism -- and even a touch of antagonism -- in the spirit of getting a good discussion
going. So, I plan to ask the in-game ad network folks about the study released this year about low recall numbers for in-game ad spots.
I'll ask the Popcap folks about building a name for their content, when it's a common and easy practice in the casual games world to knock off popular titles. I'll ask the fellows from Denuo and
VPI.NET how much success they've been having pitching in-game ads, placements, and product tie-ins to more traditional advertisers. And I'll ask Major League Gaming who, exactly, is watching.
And this is where you, dear reader, come in. If you have any questions, antagonistic or otherwise, that you'd like me to ask, post them below in the comments. I'll post the choicest bits of the panel
in next week's column.