Advertising Agencies & Regulatory Bodies

W+K Amsterdam (Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam)
They've advertised: Powerade, Heinekin, Fifa 14, Nike, Coca-Cola and more. Also for FIFA 14 they created a whole videogame campaign.
I think that the Coca-Cola advert is most appealing as it adds colour to the page and stands out a lot.

Rokkan
Rokkan has been around for 14 years and is based in New Jersey. They have advertised chipotle,hyundai, nestle and more. The publisher for dishonored was Bethesda.

PEGI
PEGI is an age rating system that was established to help people in Europe make informed decisions on buying computer games (including parents of children). PEGI uses a combination of content declaration and game review to come to the conclusion of the appropriate PEGI rating for each game.

PEGI 3:The content of games given this rating is considered suitable for all age groups. Some violence in a comical context (cartoon-like forms of violence) is acceptable but no explicit language. 


PEGI 7
Any game that would normally be rated at 3 but contains some possibly frightening scenes or sounds may be considered suitable in this category that may not be in pegi 3.


PEGI 12
May contain violence in a fantasy setting, coarse language, mild sexual references or innuendo, or gambling.


PEGI 16
Depiction of violence (or sexual activity) reaches a stage that looks the same as would be expected in real life. More extreme language, the concept of the use of tobacco and drugs and the depiction of criminal activities.


PEGI 18
Level of violence reaches a stage where it becomes a depiction of gross violence and/or includes elements of specific types of violence (especially violence that would make the viewer feel a sense of revulsion).

ASA
ASA's mission is to make sure that the advertising in media is legal, decent, truthful and honest, to the benefit of consumers, business and society. Theirvalues are:
- Consistent and proportionate
- Reliable and ethical
- Fair and respectful to all
- Accessible and helpful
- Intelligent and thorough, but also timely and proportionate
- Open and accountable, acting with integrity and never being afraid to admit when we’re wrong
-An excellent team, inspiring excellence in one another

Developers and Publishers

Rockstar Games
Background: Founded in 1998 in New York, United States.
Founders: Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman, Jamie King, Sam Houser
CEO: Terry Donovan 
Most Successful Games: Grand Theft Auto, Midnight Club, Max Payne, Smuggler's Run, Manhunt, and Red Dead Revolver
Interesting fact: They have 8 studios and over 900 employees.

EA (Electronic Arts)
Background: Founded May 28, 1982 in California, United States.
Owner/Founder: Trip Hawkins
CEO: Andrew Wilson
Most Successful Games:Battlefield series, Burnout series, The sims series, Need for Speed series, FIFA series
Interesting fact: They have 9,370 employees

Zynga
Background: Founded in July, 2007 in San Fransisco, United States.
Founders: Eric Schiermeyer, Mark Pincus
CEO: Don Mattrick
Most Successful Games: Farmville 2, Cityville, Castleville, Chefville
Interesting fact: They have 2,034 employees

Nintendo
Background: Founded September 23, 1889 in Kyoto, Japan.
Owner/Founder: Fusajiro Yamauchi
CEO: Satoru Iwata
Most Successful Games: Nintendo DS family, Wii, Nintendo 3DS family, Wii U
Interesting fact: They have 5,195 internal employees and 1,988 external employees

Sony Computer Entertainment
Background: Founded November 16, 1993 in Tokyo, Japan
Founders: Ken Kutaragi, Norio Ohga
CEO: Andrew House
Most Successful Games: PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita
Interesting fact: They have 1,300 employees

Case Study - Grand Theft Auto V

Release date: 17/09/13
Developers: Rockstar North

Print
The print adverts used to advertise GTA V were billboards, posters etc.

This poster is quite different from other promotional posters as it doesn't have one main central imagine, but 7 images on the whole page which are ingame shots. Also, the title is in the Grand Theft Auto known font which lets the audience know its GTA. However, it is in the centre where the central image would normally be, and it is the only text on the whole picture. This is because the images on the poster are replacing the text and giving you the information about the game. However, no call for action is on the poster (social media, websites). There isn't a specific colour scheme for this poster, but the GTA V colour scheme is green and white, as seen on the title. 

(http://www.totalxbox.com/62433/reviews/gta-5-xbox-360-review/?page=2) The first review I looked at was the xbox review. They gave GTA 5 a good review with a result of 10/10. One thing they said about the game was "...you're looking at something that could hold up the next console generation all by itself-".

(http://www.edge-online.com/review/grand-theft-auto-v-review/) The next review I looked at was the edge online review. They again gave a good review with again a result of 10/10. One of the things they said about the game was "As we stand on the brink of a new generation, GTAV sends an intimidating message to the rest of the industry. Beat that. "

(http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/review/gta-5-ps3-review-grand-theft-auto-v-score-from-official-playstation-magazine/3/) The last review I looked at was the PlayStation review. This again gave an amazing review with a score of 10/10. One thing they said was "This is going to make the next-gen look bad for a long time to come." 

Broadcast

                                      

The official TV advert was very different to normal ones. This is because its being advertised more like a movie. There is no-one playing the game, its all ingame video, telling a story of one person in the game. This is effective in the promotion of games so that the audience can get more of a look at what the game will look like while they're playing. Also, the things they can do so that when they place they already know what to do etc. Without the adverts/trailers, the audience wouldn't have an image of the game in their head and wouldn't know as much about it. 

E-Media

GTA V used E-Media quite a lot to advertise this game. From Twitter (Hashtags, Pages, etc.) to their own website. Twitter and Instagram had the hashtag "#GTA5" which then drew attention to the game once the hashtag was trending. Once it trended, even people outside the target audience was interested by GTA V. 

With pages like twitter and Facebook, they were used to put up pictures, videos and links and also to interact with the audience more. To interact they would ask them questions, which made them feel more involved, had competitions and counted down the days for the release of the game.

User generated content, like game-play, help to promote the game because they show the audience what the game is like before it has been released. People may not want to purchase it until they see what the game is like and the advert, like on YouTube, makes it clear on what the point of the game is and what its going to be like for the audience when they play.

Case Study - Wii Party

Release Date: 08/10/10
Developers: Nd Cube, Nintendo
Copies sold:

Key Conventions of a TV video game advert:
-Title
-Slogan
-Celebrities

Broadcast

The setting of Wii adverts are normally in the celebrities' houses, with their friends/family. This is used to get the attention of the target audience and make the audience feel more apart of the game in the ad.The setting may appeal to the target audience because its a family setting. In a house, the living room, where the family spend time together. Also, when watching the advert its a form of connection with the audience as its as if the celebrities are inviting us into their house. The adverts feature popular celebrities that not only relate to one group of target audiences, but more than one. For example, the redknapp family ad, there are different ages and genders, therefore that ad goes out to those ages and genders. Also, the JLS ad is not only to young men/boys, but also to teenage girls as they would be fans of JLS. I think these particular celebrities were chosen because of their popularity in society. Normally in video game adverts the celebrities used are not in fancy, expensive clothes, but regular clothes that regular people wear. This is good because it makes the audience feel more comfortable, and they can relate to the ad. The target audience is going out to everyone. No matter what age, gender, social class, everyone. Overall, I think the adverts for Wii Party were effective because they were many adverts with different celebrities to relate to different target audiences. This is good because it makes the audience feel more apart of the game and be able to relate to it.

Print
I think that magazine reviews are effective as they have a slight influence on what other people decide. For example, if a game gets bad reviews, they are most likely to lose some of their profit as people would end up not buying the game. However, if they have good reviews, people would end up buying the game. 

E-Media
The wii party website attracts some of the target audience such as children as it is very colourful and bright which would interest them. It is unlikely for older generations to visit the website, however if they did, I dont think they'd like it as much as there is quite a lot going on on the webpage. They also have a Facebook page with 11,226 likes.

The images on the website show equality to all people no matter what age, gender or ethnicity as it shows all those. The words "family" and "friends" appear on the website quite often. It keeps on emphasising that idea since the brand wants to show the game is appealing for everyone and targeted at every age, gender and ethnicity. The theme colours used for the website are white and pink which are bright colours which could signify that the audience is mostly kids and probably more female than male.

There arent that many social networking sites for Wii Party, and even the few that they have dont have much of an audience. This may be because the main target audience (kids and elderly) are not likely to be on computers and go on social networking sites therefore, they don't waste their time/money on them.

Overall, I think that the best way to advertise Wii Party is with Broadcast. This is because the main target audience arent as in touch with social media therefore, it wouldn't have an affect. However, kids and elderly do watch a lot of TV, and them seeing adverts would appeal to them, also others. Lastly, it is most likely for everyone to have a TV rather than everyone to have social networking, therefore it would reach out to the whole target audience.

Case Study - FIFA14

Release date: 27/09/13

Institutions behind the game: Developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts.

Print
The print adverts used to advertise FIFA 14 were advertisements like billboards, pitch side adverts etc.

Even though there is barely any text on this advert it still promotes the game well as it shows you the main key conventions which help you get to know the game. Firstly, such as the product name which is shown three times (top left, centre and the bottom on the picture of the game cover). Secondly, the font used is all clear sans serif which shows that this advertisement is advertising a fun, laid back product. Another key convention is the colour scheme which is red and white. These are quite cool colours, the red gets your attention and the white represents the freedom in the game. Thirdly, the slogan. This is a really good slogan as it says “we” meaning the fifa 14 community as a whole. This is a good slogan as it means no matter who you are, how rich you are or where you come from you’re the same as any other fifa 14 player. Lastly, the central image. This is one of the main ways the game is being promoted as it has a famous footballer on the front however, he is not seen as being famous. He is seen as being just like an ordinary person as he is wearing a normal t-shirt. It’s not designer, expensive or a football shirt. This is a good thing as it shows you he is just a regular person, and not a famous footballer while playing fifa. This again relates to the slogan as well.

(http://www.xb1.co.uk/reviews/xbox-one-reviews/fifa-14-xbox-one-review/) The first review I looked at was the Xbox One review. This gave a good review on the game with a score of 9/10. A quote they had said was “…You may come to the conclusion that this is easily the best FIFA yet-” This shows they gave a good review as they mentioned it was no doubt the best fifa yet. 

(http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2013-09/24/fifa-14-game-review) The next review I looked at was the GQ review. Again, this was a good review. One of the things they had said was “All in all, FIFA 14 feels a lot closer to realistic. It's less 'the beautiful game', and more of what you see in the Premier League weekend: a hard-tackling, unpredictable, hugely exciting spectacle.” Overall, they said how it was more realistic and didn’t seem as if it was a videogame, more like real football.

(http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/review/fifa-14-ps3-review-official-playstation-magazine-score/) The last review I read was the PlayStation magazine review. This was again, a good review on the game, giving them a score of 9/10. With them saying “Whatever your thoughts on annual sports games, you really mustn’t miss this one unless you want to spend the next nine months feeling like a defeated play-off finalist.” Overall, they said the game was something people should get.

The effect that magazine reviews have is a lot. This is because, before they buy the game, they want to see if it’s actually worth it. If they read reviews and they’re all bad, there’s a chance the target audience may not get the game. Also, if the review has been written by someone who is a target audience to FIFA 14, and it is a bad review, the target audience would feel to trust the reviewer could get put off buying the game. This could lead to the audience contemplating whether or not to buy the game, and some people may choose not, which affects the EA Sports (loss of money). However, it doesn’t look like FIFA 14 has go any bad reviews.

In my opinion, I don’t think print is as effective as e-media when promoting this specific game. This is because, gamers are most likely to always be on the internet and see different posts than see posters, flyers, etc. Unless, they drive and see billboards.

Broadcast
The advert attracts the audience as it has an audience of different people coming together into the FIFA 14 community as one. Celebrities, footballers, normal people, children etc. This shows that all of us are the same, and play the same and are treated the same while playing FIFA 14. Which makes it a welcoming game to everyone. Lionel Messi is driving the van as he is one of the main promoters of FIFA 14 as he is the best footballer in the world. The advert is similar to the print above as it has the main star (Lionel Messi), the van he’s driving, the slogan, title and the same font is used. Lastly, the trailer is effective in promoting the game as it gives you a feel of what the game is like, and shows you clips of the real game being played. Also, it helps you know the type of people that play fifa, from celebrities to regular people, and the different ways people play.

E-media

The Facebook page has got a total of 21,345,799 likes.

This post appeals to fifa 14 target audience as this was decided by the audience, and for the audience.

This is a post where the fifa 14 facebook page are promoting a footballer, Eden Hazard, in some way. They tagged his facebook page, so people can go like his page also, attached a clip of him scoring a goal which shows his skill.

Here is another, however they are promoting a retired footballer. They’re promoting him by saying he was one of the best footballers, which leads on to people wanting to watch clips of him play and see if he was the best etc.

The current twitter hashtags for FIFA14 are #FIFA14 and #ItsInYourHands. Recently, they have been tweeting about the premiere league games. Also, new things that are coming to FIFA14 along the way. For example they’re promoting the new FIFA World Cup with pictures and posts

Also, they communicate with their fans asking questions, giving them codes for the game, etc

Here, they are willing to give away codes for the fifa world cup to the twitter fans. 

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