(openPR) - The 4th GfM World Congress, which takes place in Berlin on 29th and 30th March 2007, will be an event of international appeal.

At the 3rd GfM World Congress in Berlin e-game advertising stepped into the limelight. For the first time major players in the industry like Microsoft, Jung von Matt, Atari, IGA, UFA and ORF took up on the new advertising channel. With more than 80 attendees, GfM World has become one of the most important forums for brands, media, advertising agencies and publishers.

Top-class speakers and attendees from all areas of the industry met at the 3rd GfM World Congress in Berlin on 30th March 2006. The luxurious ambiance of the Grand Hotel Esplanade set the scene for intensive discussions on the development of in-game advertising and current activities. The different requirements on advertising and its quality were clearly exemplified: IGA Worldwide, one of the first in-game advertising agencies worldwide, illustrated how advertising can be placed and measured easily in e-games even today. The organizer of the 3rd GfM World Congress, 11 Prozent Communication, a consulting agency specializing on e-games and mobile entertainment, offered a general market survey and explained the different characteristics of the involved industry areas. Jung von Matt defined future requirements on this new form of advertising and Microsoft presented its vision of media networks in future households. ORF demonstrated that a convergence between classical media and e-games can already be realized perfectly at present.

Because of the extremely positive resonance the 4th GfM World Congress on e-marketing (29th/30th March 2007) will be arranged as an international event for the first time. In addition to e-game advertising topics like networking with online, mobile media and PC as well as consoles will be discussed. New chances for advertising are evolving in these areas and should be taken into account. For detailed information on the agenda of this year´s GfM World Congress please refer to www.gfm-world.de.


Short summary of the 3rd GfM World Congress on 30th March 2006 in Berlin.

In-Game Advertising Becomes Reality

In order to cover the permanently increasing costs for developing computer games, in-game advertising will become a crucial factor. This is the result of the 3rd GfM World Congress, which brought together game developers, advertisers and agencies in Berlin to discuss the topic “Games for Marketing”.

The e-game market with its current and future advertising possibilities will become more and more attractive, especially as TV is losing ground as an advertising platform. New technologies enable us to place and measure advertisements “live” within the game. This is the result of the 3rd GfM World Congress which brought together media, brand managers, advertising agencies as well as e-game and mobile publishers.

At the beginning Carsten Szameitat, general manager of 11 Prozent Communication, offered a neutral survey of the entire e-games market. Based on several studies and special polls he laid the stress on the following aspects: Brand managers are better informed on the new forms of in-game advertising than agencies. Yet he also stated that agencies are catching up because of the active demands of the brands. On the other hand, publishers have mixed feelings concerning this new source of revenue. They do not want to put off gamers with excessive advertising. Considering the steadily increasing developing costs, in-game advertising can be an acceptable way of generating additional revenues. Therefore there is a demand for intelligent programs and consultants who can tell where, when and what amount of advertising is feasible in games, said Carsten Szameitat.

IGA Wordwide, a globally acting in-game media agency, showed how e-game advertising can be measured even today. André Sonder reckons that in-game advertising will play an attractive role in the brand marketing mix.

Peter Kabel, general manager of the communication agency Jung von Matt, took up a very critical stance. The image of computer games and players would pose an inhibition threshold. The range of coverage of computer games would only be of interest for a small minority of brands. Andreas Wochenalt of ORF Online, who sees himself committed to the TV mass audience, rebuted this argument with the example of ORF´s Ski Challenge. More than 2 million users downloaded this game. An enormous range of coverage had been achieved and it was possible to implement adverts very effectively without reservation. Kabel agreed that traditional TV advertising would become less influential sooner or later, but the TV representatives from broadcasting corporations under public law showed perspectives for future solutions.

Lutz Anderie, marketing manager of Atari, stated that in Germany – after Scandinavia the most important „PC region“ in Europe with a user base of 50% - racing games are still leading among PC games with a share of 10% and are the perfect genre for beginners. Although racing games would be well suited for marketing issues, automobile manufacturers do not like to see their cars damaged in crashes – quite contrary to the gamers. However, advertising messages – especially in the form of product placement – have already become an important factor for financing the development of games.

Up to now the TV has been the media centre in almost every house-hold. In the future it will be a monitor which can display TV programs among other things. The new possibilities of home entertainment, with an increasingly important role of games, will be made accessible to a broad audience through a new generation of devices and broad-band networking, said Martin Bachmayer, marketing manager at Microsoft. Since Microsoft had established computers in every office and almost every home, the next challenge would be to equip every person with a mobile computer, Bachmayer went on.

UFA and Incom Mobile reported from the mobile world. UFA presented a multi-player technology fit for future requirements. As the first new development platform, Incom Mobile demonstrated new possibilities in mobile media marketing and its advertising formats. This might be an additional source of revenue that could be applied straightaway especially in the TV and film industries.

Very satisfied with the growing interest in in-game advertising and mobile advertising formats, the organizer of the event announced that the congress would be extended to one and a half days and arranged for an international audience in 2007. It would be increasingly important to offer a platform for the exchange of ideas between international brands and publishers.

More information and specimen copies: 11 Prozent Communication, St Paul 15, D-85435 Erding, Germany, Tel: +49 (0) 8122 – 95 56 25, Fax: +49 (0) 8122 – 95 56 27,
E-Mail: a.szameitat@11prozent.de, contact: Angelique Szameitat
Web: www.gfm-world.de

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11 Prozent short profile: 11 Prozent Communication, situated in Erding, Germany, is a well-established neutral communication platform for the world of brands and media as well as for the e-game and mobile entertainment markets. The agency offers consulting services and provides companies with detailed and comprehensive information on the market. In addition 11Prozent organizes events dealing with media and e-game topics and offers highly proficient and extensive PR services drawing on top-quality data.