Australian product placement agency In Shot and leading Australian mobile applications and games developer Kukan Studio have announced an exciting new content partnership to develop mobile branded games for advertisers.
As part of its push towards offering further branded entertainment content opportunities to advertisers, In Shot will work closely with Kukan at the client contact stage to initiate and develop concept ideas into production.
?Mobile branded games provide the first real opportunity for brands to actually advertise and monetise their IP all at the same time,? In Shot Managing Director James Grant Hay said. ?The potential revenue share for fully branded games is enormous.?
Advertisers will have several options in which to take part in the revenue share of mobile branded games, including outright or partial ownership.
Kukan Studio is an Australian market leader in the development of mobile digital content for 2G, 2.5G and 3G networks. Its content is designed to work on as many retail handsets in the market as possible to ensure the widest possible audience is reached.
Kukan's games are driven by compelling characters and a strong narrative. A unique game engine developed in-house enables the user to update games on the fly. Metcalfe says, ?This increases longevity and heightens the users' experience.?
In fast moving consumer markets Kukan's game engine shortens production times and allows advertisers to rapidly adapt to changing market trends. With almost instant distribution online, fully branded mobile games are sure to become an attractive proposition to advertisers.
Kukan research has shown that while traditional games have been predominantly taken up by young males, mobile games are being adopted at least as quickly by young females. The mobile game platform therefore provides a unique opportunity for advertisers targeting the younger generation.
Kukan's star lineup this month will include the release of mobile game Ted Go Home. Metcalfe describes Ted Go Home as a ?multidimensional casual game that will appeal to all ages?. Ted Go Home is due for online release later this month via Kukan's online distribution network across Asia. Online sales in the Asian market alone are expected to reach 50,000 to 60,000 downloads per month.
Kukan's current distribution covers China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines ?where the market for mobile games is massive,? said Metcalfe.
Negotiations are also under way to add Australia, Europe, North America and South America. ?The addition of Europe and America should at least double sales,? he said.
James Grant Hay said brands must now begin to think of themselves not just in terms of the products and services they sell, but as ?a wealth of IP talent? in which the brand can now choose to partner with new media content to license and own themselves. He said up until now, traditional advertising had not provided this model.
?All brands together with the products and services they sell possess inherent qualities, values and characteristics that appeal to consumers in much the same way an actor appeals to the public on screen,? he said.
?Branded entertainment is about tailoring the personality of the brand with the right content. There is no reason why a brand cannot own its own content to promote the core values of its products and services.?
Grant Hay said his company was already witnessing the trend in cross-licensing and merchandising of brands in consumer products. ?Branded entertainment is simply an extension of that,? he added.
Che Metcalfe said there are currently about 12 million mobile phone subscribers in Australia. According to the new global report prepared by Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Group and Deloitte Research entitled Moore's Law and Electronic Games, the expected number of individuals worldwide with access to multimedia mobile phones that could support game downloads and mobile game playing would reach one billion users by 2010.