Outdoor Advertising And It’s Relationship With The Gaming Industry

The gaming industry continues to grow rapidly in Asia. Companies are buying more outdoor advertisements for games in Singapore in Asia in general. Companies utilise many ways to advertise their games, such as video advertisements, social media advertising, the list goes on and on. One of the major advertisement techniques is of course outdoor advertising, which includes billboards, banners, digital screens, etc. Out Of Home Advertising plays a crucial part in a successful gaming advertising campaign.

Recently there has been an influx of outdoor advertisements for mobile games. One notable outdoor display here in Singapore was for the famous mobile game Genshin Impact. Large murals were seen on the walls of the linkway between the North-East Line and Circle Line platforms at Serangoon interchange, as well as at the Dhoby Ghaut and Jurong East MRT stations. (Comment on the article “Mobile gaming ads abound as popularity grows” by Straits Time.) Another example of a video game being advertised in an MRT station is the latest instalment in the gargantuan Call Of Duty Franchise.

Display on MRT for the new Call Of Duty game

Judging from recent case studies one can see that video game companies that are advertising their game in Singapore prefer to place their displays in train stations. This could probably be due to the fact that commuters are usually looking at their phones while in MRT stations. These commuters will look at this advertisement and there is a decent chance that they decide to download the game to curb their boredom on the ride home. Just like that the advertisement has done its job and gained a consumer.

There are outdoor advertisements for games all across Asia. In Hoi Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a striking display was placed on a bus for a mobile game, Free Fire. This mobile game is gaining a ton of buzz as it stars global superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Free Fire advertisement in Hoi Chi Minh City

TPM made a LED advertisement for a Blackpink and PUBG collaboration. Everyone knows how famous PUBG and Blackpink is respectively, so this was certainly a big deal. Blackpink has been a worldwide phenomenon and PUBG is one of the biggest mobile games right now. Thus, the event had to be promoted in an appropriate fashion, with advertisements all around Vietnam. You can read more about this advertising campaign and the collaboration here.

Blackpink x PUBG LED ad at Hoang Dao Thuy- Le Van Luong Intersection

Blackpink x PUBG ad at Phu Dong Roundabout

Money invested and ROI are both important aspects when a company chooses their preferred advertising medium to best reach their audience, while being cost-effective. OOH is proven to be just that. PJSolomon’s report in July 2019 reported OOH’s Cost Per Mile/Thousand Impression (CPM) rate has a much better percentage of advertising effectiveness when compared with a mix of 4 other main advertising channels (print, online, radio, and television). Even in the case of digital OOH with a higher cost than billboards, it is the most effective way to make consumers remember a product or service.

Now with Microsoft and PlayStation announcing the all-new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X respectively, we can expect even more video games and, thus, more game advertisements.

Advertising for the PlayStation 5 in particular was truly ingenious. Commuters in central London were quick to spot that three of the four main entrances to an underground train station had their circular signs altered to represent the PlayStation’s famous controller symbols. Commuters and social media users have described this as one of the most unique pieces of advertising they have seen, and we definitely agree.

The biggest video game company in the world, Rockstar, consistently utilises outdoor advertising with massive billboards for their games, such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. With that, it really is no surprise to see other gaming companies follow suit.

Massive banner display for hit game Grand Theft Auto (credit: Daily Billboard)

The gaming industry is changing constantly and becoming one of the main entertainment outlets in modern society. By taking advantage of Out Of Home Advertising’s features both by itself and in a media mix, a game campaign can easily reach its target audience and leave a lasting impact.

You can read more about games and their links to advertising in our previous blog. Contact us now for any further enquiries at +65 8812 0555 or ask@tpmoutdoor.com. We will be happy to assist in terms of providing our expertise, ensuring that you will maximise your reach and build brand awareness.