Saratoga, CA and Maui, Hawaii – September 24, 2003
– MauiGames Inc., a Hawaii-based developer focused on world-class
video game products, announced today an embedded advertising
initiative for its cell phone games and applications.
MauiGames is offering advertising opportunities in
its “Just for Fun” applications and extreme outdoor sports-themed
games for the more than 37 million people in the United States who play games on their cell phones.
The initiative gives advertisers the opportunity
to embed static or interactive visual placements, “sound
effect” placements, as well as the ability to customize
ads for online, seasonal and local promotions.
“MauiGames’ embedded placements enable advertisers to closely tailor product
and brand placements to dovetail with localized consumer
preferences, seasonal promotions and product features most
compelling to their target audience, at rates far more cost-effective
and with significantly higher impact than TV, radio, print
or online media,” said David Fradin, president, MauiGames. “We are pursuing consumer retail goods companies
in the initial stages of our advertising sales strategy.”
“People playing games on cell phones are totally immersed, and if an ad
is appropriately embedded, the impact is significant,” Fradin
continued. “Downloads of individual games are approaching
hundreds of thousands per month; the total worldwide market
for cell game enabled phones will reach 150 to 300 million
by the end of the year.”
“Embedded advertising leverages the power of interactive immersion--the
intense engagement that occurs when players play video games;
therefore video games with embedded advertising represent
an important new advertising medium,” said Dr. Michelle
Nelson, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism &
Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and
author of “Exploring Consumer Response to Advergaming’,
to be published in Online Consumer Psychology (Lawrence
Erlbaum Publishers) Fall 2003. “Our studies have also found that players welcome
ads in certain types of games because the ads provide greater
realism,” said Nelson.
Description
of MauiGames’ titles
MauiGames “extreme outdoor sports” games, developed for both
console and cell phone platforms, include such sports as
mountain biking, downhill skiing, running, skiing, skate
boarding, snow boarding, and others.
Because game actions include jumping, turning, twisting
and gravity-defying feats, players are closely engaged for
maximized ad impression and recall and players like ads
embedded in the games because of the realism they add.
The first product of MauiGames’ “Just For
Fun” series --“Encore…Encore” -- was recently released at
Handango (www.handango.com), a leading supplier of phone
software. For a more detailed description of MauiGames
advertising opportunities visit http://www.mauigames.us/cellads
About MauiGames LLC
MauiGames (www.mauigames.us) was formed in April 2002 to develop video games for a variety
of platforms including consoles, internet, mobile devices
and others. With Hawaii’s reputation as a quality
place to live and work, MauiGames has attracted world class
game developer talent. Leading
this combination of world class talent and technology is
an experienced management team of senior game and Silicon Valley executives.
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