To play, kids needed a code from inside a cereal box to access Nick's Web site and build their own rocket. To sweeten the offer, Nick promised that some of the rockets would be chosen at random to race on-air.

Kids called it fun. In marketing, it's called an advergame, the marriage of advertising to computer games. In Nickelodeon's summer-long promotion, more than a half-million people played its game, and the series launch was the highest-rated in the network's history. That's not a bad payoff for a modest investment.

Through advergames, companies can collect a database of personal information that allows them to "build a dialogue" with adult consumers. What that means is you register to play a higher level of the game, or you fill out a survey, or you enter your score in a sweepstakes -- and they get your age, your location and your e-mail address. They know where you live. The "dialogue" consists of sending consumers advertising e-mails.

Advergames also have the advantage of spreading by what one marketer called "word of mouse." You like a game, so you e-mail it to a friend. They might get the game, or a link to the game site -- always with an ad. At virtually no cost to the marketer, the consumer is doing the work for them.

By Ellen Edwards

Source: http://www.bizreport.com/article