By: Lara Jensen
Fun and games have become serious business these days for a growing number of marketers who are turning to computerized games to drive customer engagement and brand awareness.

In the early days of computer and video games, brands were fairly minor players. Occasionally, virtual versions of well-known cars and airplanes may have surfaced in certain popular titles, but there was scant else in the way of identifiable marketing.

Those days are gone. Marketers’ interest in games, both online and console-based, has exploded in recent years. And – if the millions of ad dollars now being poured into this still-evolving platform are any indication – the big brands are not playing around.

Clothiers, beverage makers, restaurants, media conglomerates – all are part of the throng of companies pushing their products through the pixels and polygons of video games. As a consequence, the games – some of which have been combined with direct mail promotions – are producing results that may already rival the impact of some traditional media.

“We’re seeing product- and brand-recall levels for games that are unheard of in classic media,” boasts Justin Townsend, CEO of IGA Worldwide, an in-game advertising network that specializes in in-game product placement. Townsend and others contend that the recall levels are high because the active participation most games demand makes the images and messages more memorable.

Generally, there are two types of electronic entertainment: console games, which can be played on devices such as the Microsoft Xbox 360, and online contests – known as “advergames” – which are played on PCs and feature a brand-marketing component.

One of the most successful campaigns kicked off during the Christmas holiday last year when a major fast-food chain created three games for the Xbox 360. The games sold 3.2 million copies and helped drive sales and traffic to the chain’s fast-food outlets and its Web site. In addition to being heavily promoted in-store, the games garnered a significant amount of press attention, including reviews in many gaming publications and Web sites, as well as mentions in mainstream publications.

Even as some marketers have blended video games with a Web strategy, others have used direct mail as a prominent part of successful gaming campaigns. Last fall, for instance, game developer Traveller’s Tales teamed with LEGO Systems to promote the video game “LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy” in the autumn, winter and holiday editions of LEGO catalogs.

The catalogs also plugged the company’s loyalty program, LEGO BrickMaster, which costs $39.99 annually and includes five LEGO models that arrive by mail; six LEGO BrickMaster magazines; a two-disc CD-ROM featuring a mini-movie, behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the world’s largest LEGO minifigure scale model, and video game demos; coupons; and a ticket to LEGOLAND California.