• by Christopher M. Schroeder , June 28, 2004

One of many surprises I had during a fascinating trip to Japan and Korea was how little new and innovative content uses there were considering how prevalent broadband is in both places. In a world of easily accessible download speeds from 20-100 mbps, I expected to be wowed.

In fact, many content developers over there first, and foremost think of the fat pipe as a way to distribute more efficiently that which we already know and love. I was told repeatedly, "Business models for broadband will all make sense when the movie and entertainment companies are comfortable distributing this way and fill up all that pipe."

So while most of the sites offer services and user experiences much like our own meager, sub-1 mbps world, there is one explosive exception: interactive games.

Much is being written about this whole phenomenon. Games in Asia are light years from the knock-'em out, video arcade stuff we focus more on in the U.S. They are, instead, highly sophisticated, collaborative experiences. Communities and relationships develop and the players evolve the rules over days, weeks, months and even years, like open source software developers. Broadband allows them to become extraordinary visual, interactive and relationship-building experiences. Powerful wireless capabilities allow players to check in on the progress of their games during the day. In Korea there is not one, but TWO 24-hour cable stations dedicated to interactive gaming!

Interactive games are, therefore, addictive. They are taking time away from where people of all ages, but especially males in their 20s and 30s, used to spend their time-especially television. They are, now, becoming mainstream in the U.S.

Are there lessons for marketers in the States?

Here's a provocative story from my own home. I recently introduced my 7-year-old son, Jack, to Neopets.com. The site is not yet the elaborate experience I described above (visit Everquest.com for a taste of the best in sophisticated gaming). Neopets is a more static, but still fascinating community. Kids create fantasy, animated "pets," build identities around them, communicate with other "Neofriends" from the off- and online world, and earn "Neodollars" winning arcade- like games that can be spent buying their pets fantasy clothes, food and other activities.

So since I can't figure any of this stuff out-I'm about to turn 40-I sat and watched my son for 45 minutes as my focus group of one. His favorite activity was to fill his "Neobank" with "Neodollars!" Exciting, challenging games called "Trix" and "Lucky Charms" wrap branded entertainment into gameplay. And where did he spend several minutes buying food for his Neopets? "Neo McDonalds."

As a parent, I don't love the idea of my kids engulfed in these games, but I liked Neopets. As I watched Jack creatively inventing his "Neoworlds" and asking me thoughtful math questions about his "Neosavings," this experience was better, and even more educational, than most of the programming for kids on television. In fact, Neopets will be looking to introduce some educational tools in the future. And the branding was astoundingly unobtrusive-present, but merely embedded in the experience.

Once critical mass is reached, are marketing dollars better spent here, or in remote-controllable, PVR-able 30-second spots? Are "ad placements" more effective in a drive-by moment on a TV drama, or as part of an engaged, interactive experience in a game?

The challenges are legion and risky. First, there is a strong anti-advertising bias in the ethos of gaming. Second, the most popular games today are inventive fantasies, intentionally developed to be NOT of this world. Hard to offer a Dark Magician a Coke after a hard battle. Third, players build separate identities for themselves in these games, so the ability to target is limited.

But as games, truly interactive and scenario-building, become more mainstream, might marketing opportunities, implemented sensitively, flourish? Couldn't Sim Cities offer useful opportunities for local advertisers? Keep an eye on the "Lord of the Rings" game about to be released. Are games tailor-made to be ways for people to continue the story lines once a movie has ended? Might game as advertising creative explode? My friend Keith Ferrazzi, who founded Ya-Ya, built "advergaming" products, online ads and microsites where targeted audiences not only saw, but engaged in a company's brand. Perhaps he was ahead of his time, but the idea sounds perfectly suited to our medium, especially in a broadband world. And, by the way, the idea could be perfectly viral.

We are today in interactive gaming about the equivalent of television in 1951. Stay tuned!