Chris Schroeder's Digital Frontiers: Do gamers have something to teach marketers?

By Chris Schroeder
vice president, strategy, The Washington Post Co.

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.

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.

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?

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

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