In-game advertising 

 

 

 

How ‘Company X’ can adopt an effective in-game 

advertising strategy for their ‘product Y’ based on 

consumers’ goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Management summary 

‘Company X’, subsidiary of Unilever and producer of s, is looking for new channels to 

advertise their ‘product Y’. We were asked to conduct research on this new channel and 

investigate the advertising opportunities of the channel to attract new customers for 

‘Company X’. Further, ‘Company X’ would like to know what advertising strategy best 

suites their brand. 

 

Both the number of gamers and the spending on in-game advertising are growing. Early 

adopters already had their first acquaintance with in-game advertising. Due to new 

technologies dynamic in-game ads pose a new opportunity for advertisers to pay for ads 

within the game, over a period of time, which can coincide with their actual real-life 

campaigns.  Measurement services that track gameplay and in-game advertising to give 

an analysis of videogame consumption, have already been developed. 

 

Video games are quickly becoming the most effective medium for reaching consumers 

via product integration; it may generate the best consumer recall, awareness and calls to 

action, such as purchasing or recommending the product. Results also showed that 

players do not mind in-game product placements. 

 

The central research question is: How can ‘Company X’ adopt an effective in-game 

advertising strategy for their ‘product Y’ based on consumers’ goals? A first specific 

objective is to gain insight in the consumers’ goals when consuming ‘product Y’. Second, 

the aim is to search for the underlying values that drive this consumption of ‘Z’ through 

means-end chain theory. Third, the objective is to present recommendations for the 

marketing communication through the application of the MECCAS model. 

 

Given the research objective, a qualitative or exploratory research is conducted. The 

methodology relies on the means-end chain approach with data being collected through 

laddering interviews. Based on the analysis of the strongest means-end chains and the 

list of consumers’ statements related to attributes, consequences and values, a 

MECCAS representation for ‘product Y’ will be elaborated. 

 

 

Introduction 

‘Company X’, subsidiary of Unilever and producer of s, is looking for new channels to 

advertise their ‘product Y’. There is a special interest in games, mainly to get in direct 

contact with young consumers (15-30 years). This target group is seen by ‘Company X’ 

as the most promising audience for future sales. The purpose is to increase the sales of 

‘product Y’ through in-game advertising. 

 

We were asked to conduct research on this new channel and investigate the advertising 

opportunities of the channel to attract new customers for ‘Company X’. Further, 

‘Company X’ would like to know what advertising strategy best suites their brand. 

 

First, this study gives an overview of the game industry, in-game advertising and their 

recent developments and trends. Second, a model for consumer choice behaviour is 

presented. Finally, an advertising strategy model based on consumer behaviour is used 

to present recommendations for the ‘product Y’ branded marketing communication 

activities. 

 

Based on the research, ‘Company X’ should gain more insight to the opportunities of in-

game advertising based on consumer choice behaviour when buying ‘product Y’. The 

research should help ‘Company X’ to decide whether in-game advertising can be part of 

the advertising strategy for ‘product Y’. 

 

1. In-game advertising 

There are at least 112 million gamers 13 years and older in the United States alone, 

says a Yankee Group report, and the number will grow to 148 million by the end of 2008 

(Shields, 2005). Video games have a track record of delivering significant audience, 

which includes some of advertising's most coveted consumers - men aged 18 to 34. 

According to ratings giant Nielsen, young men play an average of 12.5 hours of 

videogames each week (Ramirez, 2006). However gamers are a far more diverse lot 

than that oft-cited stereotype with women coming on strong, accounting for 25 percent of 

console participation in the U.S. The female representation is even greater in some 

international markets. In China the gainer gender breakdown is about 50-50 among 

teens and young adults (Goldrich, 2006). Gamers can be thought leaders when it comes 

to technology and new trends. And they have money to spend (Murphy, 2006). 

Types of in-game advertising 

Essentially there are three types of ads that run in games. The first, most basic 

execution, is ambient advertising. It consists mainly of hoardings, billboards and 

traditional signage placed throughout a game - for example, on the sides of buildings in 

a motorsport game. Another format taking hold is advergaming, in which agencies or 

game developers create short, simple games that revolve around the brand, and create 

an 'entertaining' environment for the consumer. But the third, most interesting format, is 

dynamic advertising. Associated with games that have online network connectivity, 

brands can pay for ads within the game, over a period of time, which can coincide with 

their actual real-life campaigns (Murphy, 2006). 

 

Early adopters of in-game advertising 

Growing number of companies are putting their product placements in video games 

(Bannan, 2002). Companies like Coca-Cola, Paramount and DaimlerChrysler advertise 

in the videogame Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory where the secret agents encounter Sprite 

machines, film promotions and billboards with Jeep trucks (Shields, 2005; Ramirez, 

2006). DreamWorks plans to employ in-game advertising to promote its coming 

animated film, ‘Flushed Away’ (O’Malley, 2006). And T-Mobile UK even committed a six-

figure budget to an in-game ad campaign (New Media Age, 2006). 

 

In-game advertising spending 

Spending on in-game advertising and product placement amounted to $56 million last 

year. Thanks to new ad-serving technology, next-generation gaming consoles and new 

metrics to measure both, spending will reach $730 million by 2010, according to 

research firm Yankee Group (O’Malley, 2006; Ramirez, 2006). One reason for the 

projected jump in spending: new tools that could make advertisements in games more 

effective by tailoring them to players' ages or locations, or even the time of day that a 

game is played (Hershman, 2005). 

 

New technologies 

In-game ads have been around for nearly 20 years, but two problems kept the market 

from growing very large. Before 2005, ads were "static," meaning they were built into the 

code when the game left the factory and couldn't be changed or updated. Game makers 

were missing out on at least 50 percent of ad dollars that came from time-sensitive 

promotions for products like new movie releases. The second problem was metrics. How 

would advertisers know if a gamer ever proceeded to level 10 and actually saw the ad 

they had paid for? (Ramirez, 2006). 

Both problems are now being solved. Next-generation consoles like the Xbox 360 and 

the PS3 are built from the ground up for broadband support, making dynamic ads just as 

viable as they already were on Net-connected PCs (Ramirez, 2006). Massive, an 

advertising agency specialized in in-game advertising, has developed software for 

serving dynamic ads (Adformatie, 2006). The consoles’ internet link lets Massive's 

software modify ads as players progress through game (Richtel, 2005). 

Nielsen announced a new videogame-measurement service that will track gameplay and 

in-game advertising to give an analysis of videogame consumption (Ramirez, 2006). 

This new all-electronic ratings service, Nielsen GamePlay Metrics, will establish new 

metrics for the buying and selling of advertising in video games (Gaudiosi, 2006). 

 

DoubleFusion takes the technology even further, presenting advertisements as video, 

audio, and 3-dimensional objects woven seamlessly into games' virtual worlds. A player 

driving around a racetrack might pass a billboard advertising Tom Cruise's latest movie, 

hear Metallica's new single, or get extra points for driving over a Pirelli tire (Hershman, 

2005). 

 

Gaming and consumer behaviour 

Nielsen Entertainment reports that video games are quickly becoming the most effective 

medium for reaching consumers via product integration. The study found that product 

integration in video games may generate the best consumer recall, awareness and calls 

to action, such as purchasing or recommending the product (McClellan, 2005). Results 

also showed that players do not mind in-game product placements (Hein, 2005). They 

are choosing to play these games, so its imperative the advertising does not detract from 

this experience (Murphy, 2006). 

 

According to its supporters, game advertising can provide hours of interaction between 

the brand and the consumer. Advertisers can use this medium to drive 10 or 15 minute 

experiences. For example, imagine a game where you can order a pizza in-game, and it 

arrives at your door 20 minutes later (Murphy, 2006). 

2. Conceptual framework   

To investigate the opportunities for ‘Company X’ to add ‘product Y’ advertisements in 

games, we first have to know what the underlying mechanism of consumer choice 

behaviour is. Consumers pursue certain goals when they are consuming ‘product Y’ s. 

These goals are investigated through means-end chain theory. Finally, the MECCAS 

model (‘Means-ends Conceptualization of the Components of Advertising Strategy’) is 

used for advertising message development. 

 

Means-end chains as goal hierarchies 

Goals are pleasant consequences (end states or otherwise) to be desired or unpleasant 

consequences to be avoided (Winell, 1987). Goals are organized in hierarchies to 

facilitate their accomplishment (Gutman, 1997). Lower-level goals (subgoals) are 

subordinate to higher-level goals (Bandura, 1988; Beach, 1990) and serve as means to 

achieve higher-level goals (Bettman, 1979; Newell and Simon, 1972). This means that 

satisfying lower-level goals helps in achieving higher-level goals. Higher-level goals 

represent the deep layer of consumer motivation (Pieters, Baumgartner and Allen, 1995; 

Reynolds and Gutman, 1988). Goals are the essential regulators of consumer choice 

behaviour and influence both the direction of and the intensity of behaviour (Carver and 

Scheier, 1981). 

 

Thus, goals provide the primary motivating and directing factor for consumer behaviour. 

Consumer choice can be regarded as a person’s movement through a goal hierarchy 

(Bettman, 1979). The elements in a means-end chain – attributes, consequences and 

values – can be considered to be elements in a goal hierarchy. The goal hierarchy final 

goal can be at the personal values level. When the final goal is at this values level, 

relevant attributes and desired consequences are the goal hierarchy’s subgoals. Thus, a 

means-end chain can be conceptualized as a goal hierarchy with product goals at lower 

levels linked to important goals at higher levels (Gutman, 1997). 

 

This conceptualization of consumer goal hierarchies bears close resemblance to the 

notion of means-end chain structures of consumers’ product knowledge (Gutman, 1982; 

Olson and Reynolds, 1983). The objective of means-end theory is to understand what 

makes products personally relevant to consumers by modeling the perceived 

relationships between a product (defined as a collection of attributes) and a consumer 

(regarded as a holder of values) (Pieters, Baumgartner and Allen, 1995). It proposes that 

consumer product knowledge is hierarchically organized, spanning different levels of 

abstraction (Howard, 1977; Gutman, 1982). 

 

Means-end theory treats attributes, consequences and values as basic content of 

consumer product knowledge stored in memory. Attributes are features or aspects of the 

product or brand. The personal consequences associated with an attribute provide the 

personal meaning of that attribute to the consumer. Consequences represent the 

reasons why an attribute is important to someone and why it is positively or negatively 

valenced (Reynolds, Gengler and Howard, 1995). Consequences acquire meaning 

because they are seen as instrumental in achieving values central to the self. In this 

sense, product attributes are the “means” by which a consumer is able to achieve the 

desired “end” state of existence associated with value satisfaction. Values are assumed 

to provide the motivation for choosing a product with certain attributes, and the aim is to 

relate product attributes to the self via consequences of product use (Walker and Olson, 

1991). Self-relevant and desirable product meanings are presumed to be the basis for 

consumer preferences and choice (Gutman, 1982; Claeys, Swinnen and Van den 

Abeele 1995). 

 

MECCAS advertising model  

Building on the means-end chain theory, Reynolds and Gutman (1984) have proposed 

the “means-end conceptualization of the components of advertising strategy” or 

MECCAS model. This model offers a framework to integrate the consumers’ perceptual 

orientation (including the personal motivations embedded in the means-end chains) with 

the current strategic positioning of a product (Vanoppen, Verbeke and Van 

Huylenbroeck, 2002). The MECCAS model comprises elements of the advertising 

strategy corresponding with each level of the means-end chain. In order to be effective, 

the ad’s content elements should link message elements (describing product attributes) 

to consumer benefits and the more abstract consequences. The ad’s content that 

evokes these psychological consequences is crucial in activating the consumers’ 

motivational network, hence the term ‘leverage point’. If it works, the audience is brought 

to ‘closure’ and eventually to the decision to buy (Vanoppen, Verbeke and Van 

Huylenbroeck, 2002).  

 

The MECCAS model recommends that an advertising message must (Bech-Larsen, 

2001): a) be based on the message-relevant knowledge (cognitive structure) of the 

recipients, b) create or enforce a full means-end chain in the minds of the recipients, ie. 

a cognitive chain that contains product attributes and consequences as well as personal 

values, and c) anchor this means-end chain to the object (ie. product, brand) of the 

message by exercising creative talent in the design of the linkage strategy and the 

executional framework. 

 

The following table presents and defines the various levels of the MECCAS model. The 

driving force is the consumer value or end-level that the advertising strategy focuses on. 

Every other level is geared toward achieving the end-level (Shimp, 1993). 

 

Level 

Definition 

Driving force 

The value orientation of the strategy; the end-level to be focused on in the 
advertising 

Leverage point 

The manner by which the advertising will “tap into”, reach, or activate the 
value or end-level of focus; the specific key way in which the value is linked 
to the specific features in the advertising 

Executional framework 

The overall scenario or action plot, plus the details of the advertising 
execution. The executional framework provides the “vehicle” by which the 
value orientation is to be communicated; especially the Gestalt of the 
advertisement; the overall tone and style 

Consumer benefit 

The major positive consequences for the consumer that are to be explicitly 
communicated, verbally or visually, in the advertising 

Message elements 

The specific attributes or features about the product that are communicated 
verbally or visually 

Table 1: Percy and Woodside (1983) in Shimp (1993) 

 
In conclusion, the important point to remember about the MECCAS approach is that it 

provides a systematic procedure for linking the advertiser’s perspective (the possession 

of brand attributes and consequences) with the consumer’s perspective (the pursuit of 

products to achieve desired end states, or values). Effective advertising does not focus 

on product attributes/consequences per se; rather, it is directed at showing how the 

advertised brand will benefit the consumer and enable him of her to achieve what he or 

she most desires in life (Shimp, 1993). 

 

3. Research objectives 

The overall objective of this case study is to conduct research on the opportunities for 

‘Company X’ for placing ‘product Y’ advertisements in games based on the goals 

consumers pursue. The central research question is: 

 

How can ‘Company X’ adopt an effective in-game advertising strategy for their ‘product 

Y’ based on consumers’ goals? 

 

A first specific objective is to gain insight in the consumers’ goals when consuming 

‘product Y’ s. Second, the aim is to search for the underlying values that drive this 

consumption of s through means-end chain theory. Third, the objective is to present 

recommendations for the marketing communication through the application of the 

MECCAS model. 

 

4. Research methodology 

The case at hand includes the assessment of features in combination with specific 

product attributes as antecedents to consequences and values that consumers strive for. 

Given the research objective, a qualitative or exploratory research is conducted. The 

methodology relies on the means-end chain approach with data being collected through 

laddering interviews. Laddering refers to an in-depth, one-on-one interviewing technique 

used to develop an understanding of how consumers translate the attributes of products 

into meaningful associations with respect to self, following Means-End Theory (Reynolds 

and Gutman, 1988). Laddering is a frequently used approach for eliciting means-end 

chains and is used to derive aggregate value chains - i.e., prototypical sequences of 

attributes, consequences, and values for a sample of consumers (Pieters, Baumgartner 

and Allen,1995). In a laddering interview, subjects are first asked to identify salient 

attributes that distinguish choice alternatives in a product class. Next, they are prompted 

to verbalize sequences of attributes, consequences and values, creating a chain of 

elements with each element being directly linked to the element adjacent to it (Gutman, 

1997). 

 

The laddering interviews will be conducted one-on-one in an in-depth format, gathering 

information through 40 personal laddering interviews. All respondents should be 

experienced gamers. Attention will be paid to obtaining a sample with a wide diversity of 

socio-demographic characteristics. 

 

Using the Laddermap software (Gengler, 1997; Reynolds, Gengler and Howard, 1995), 

each ladder recorded during the interviews will be encoded, whereby each statement will 

be labeled as attribute, consequence or value. The software counts the number of links 

between the encoded concepts and visualizes them in an implication matrix (showing 

how frequently each concept implies another one). This implication matrix forms the 

basis for drawing hierarchical value maps (Reynolds and Gutman, 1988; Vanoppen, 

Verbeke and Van Huylenbroeck, 2002). Hierarchical value maps or consumer decision 

maps (Reynolds, Westberg and Olson 1994) show the salient linkages between 

attributes, consequences and values. The map indicates which values make products 

personally relevant, and this information is useful in developing advertising strategies 

(Reynolds and Craddock, 1988; Reynolds and Gutman, 1984; Reynolds, Westberg and 

Olson 1994). 

 

Based on the analysis of the strongest means-end chains and the list of consumers’ 

statements related to attributes, consequences and Values, a MECCAS representation 

for ‘product Y’ s will be elaborated. 

 

5. Planning and budget 

We are able to conduct this research in a period of 13 days. The specific planning will be 

preparation (3 days), interviews (2 days), analysis (5 days) and conclusions / 

recommendations (3 days).  

 

The budget for the study will be: 13 days * 8 hrs. * € 100,- = € 10400,- 

 

6. Conclusion 

This preliminary study shows that there still is a lot of research to be done on effective 

advertising in games. We are convinced that the results of the proposed research will be 

able to give ‘Company X’ more insight to the opportunities of in-game advertising based 

on consumers’ goals and corresponding values. The research will help ‘Company X’ to 

decide whether to adopt games as a new channel for advertising. Therefore, 

recommendations on how to create an effective advertising message, given the 

technological possibilities at present, are made to support marketing communications. 

 

We would like to thank you for the opportunity to write this research proposal.  We look 

forward to continue the cooperation with ‘Company X’. 

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