Having been born in the 1990s, I grew up during an era of growing availability of home computers and internet. Each new piece of technology, software, and online game was a novelty. I remember buying the Catz 5 and Dogz 5 games before we had a computer capable of running them and reading the manuals over and over until I could finally play. The advent of online gaming sites, especially those geared toward children, holds the most nostalgia for me. While I could wax poetic about my memories of that era, I’ve been thinking lately about the ripple effect of something a little more divisive that found its root in these early online games: immersive advertising.
Neopets was a gaming staple of my middle school years. It had everything: pet care simulation, customizability, socialization, an extensive economy, lore, daily activities, games, and more. Many of us even took our first foray into HTML coding in Neopets. Neopets was also one of the early leaders in immersive advertising in a game that, while not necessarily exclusively for children, was one that surely attracted lots of kids. Immersive advertising was a buzz-phrase coined by the company under Doug Dohring’s tenure to reflect its approach to advertising. The phrase was actually trademarked with a 2001 filing that lasted until 2009. It encompassed the company’s strategy of using product and brand placement within the game itself as a way to engage players with those products and brands in a more interactive way.
Immersive advertising exhibited itself most obviously through in-game products. You could virtually own Capri Sun juice pouches, Lunchables, Oreo snacks, and more. To live your true early-2000s dreams, you could even pick up some EZ Squirt Blastin’ Green ketchup or a Pokémon 2000 poster for your Neohome. Some brands like McDonald’s or Zazzle even had their own stores in the game. The products weren’t the only brand placements. According to the Neopian Times, the Disney Theater offered opportunities to “play the latest Disney themed games, or pop by the screening room to watch trailers from new releases.” There was also a game called Adver-Video that provided opportunities to earn Neopoints watching advertisements. Neopets was the home of a variety of Flash games that also provided an opportunity for brands to get involved, spawning games like Pikachu’s Pika Seek at the Pokémon Factory, General Mills Cereal Adventure, Coca-Cola Bubble Pop!, Apple Jacks Crashers, and Attack of the Plaque! (promoting Crest’s SpinBrush).
While Neopets was a leader in immersive advertising in the children’s gaming sphere, a larger ecosystem was evolving online with this model in mind. Brands were realizing that people like to play games, and an engaging Flash game or two could keep kids coming back to their websites again and again. “Advergames” weren’t new. The arcade game Tapper was originally sponsored by Anheuser-Busch to sell beer and Polo was created by Carol Shaw to promote Ralph Lauren’s cologne of the same name (though it was cancelled before release). However, the ease of producing Flash games for wide consumption spurred the production of these advergames. Some sites released a few games and others released entire online arcades like Post’s Postopia which had games like Kool-Aid Jammers: Apple Harvest and Honeycomb Factory Frenzy. My after-school routine often took me on a tour of the websites for Barbie, Bratz, My Scene, and Disney Channel, all of which were stocked with games to play.
What I remember most, though, are the brands that took this to the next level and developed immersive gaming worlds, that just happened to be all about their brand. Instead of paying a company like Neopets to include their brand within their world, they just made their own. I was actually a Millsberry player before I was a Neopets player. Launched in 2004 by General Mills, players could customize their character, decorate their house, go shopping, and of course play lots of General Mills themed mini-games featuring brand names like Lucky Charms and Reese’s Puffs. Maybe I’m just another cleverly netted consumer, but I dream of Millsberry resurrecting from its 2010 sunset. Lesser known, but firmly planted in my memory, was Gusher’s Re-Do Your Room which was created to promote the Gusher’s 2005 room remodel sweepstakes and provided players an opportunity to decorate their rooms and visit their friend’s rooms. Though less expansive than a site like Millsberry, it still engaged players with customizability. Is it a surprise that General Mills is also behind that brand?
Moving forward in time, more brands picked up on the successes of the MMO (massively-multiplayer online) game format. Nicktropolis, by Nickelodeon, was launched in 2007. Build-a-Bear launched their online world Bearville in 2007 to allow customers to bring their purchases into a virtual world—likely inspired by Webkinz, a brand of stuffed toy that took the market by storm with its digital component when launched in 2005.
Fast forward to the present and the results of the immersive advertising testing field that was the aughts can be seen in many of today’s most popular games. Fortnite is known for brand collaborations, particularly in cosmetic items and special locations. The game has included skins and characters from Marvel, Star Wars, The Walking Dead, Street Fighter, Naruto: Shippuden, and more. There have been locations related to IPs (intellectual properties) like Batman’s Gotham City and Iron Man’s Stark Industries. Items have been made available from fashion brands like Ralph Lauren and Nike and partners like the NFL. Fortnite has also been host to special experiences like Stranger Things-inspired Upside Down portals, Ferrari’s in-game test drives, and concerts from the likes of Marshmello and Travis Scott. The addition of Fortnite Creative and Unreal Editor for Fortnite has expanded branded opportunities by enabling the creation of custom islands like One Piece—Straw Hats vs Marines, Coachella Island, and Whataburger Breakfast in Bedwars.
Roblox has also created the perfect platform for advergames. As a “virtual universe,” Roblox hosts a variety of virtual worlds and allows users to create their own. As a result, it’s become the perfect launching platform for brands to meet kids right where they’re already playing. They even have a whole subsection of their website dedicated to helping brands utilize Roblox, with the tagline “77.7M users, 2.4 hrs daily. Only on Roblox.” As a site with its own infrastructure and tools, it also allows brands to be flexible, responsive, and current. Netflix recently created Nextworld, Nicki Minaj launched Gag City in late 2023 to promote her new album, last back-to-school season Walmart teamed up with various brands for Supercampus, and Nickelodeon had Nickverse until pivoting to specific brand activations like SpongeBob Simulator and TMNT: Battle Tycoon.
While Neopets has largely moved on from their days of immersive advertising and brand partnerships—many of the branded in-game items have since been converted to more generic equivalents—its impact is still seen. Today, many of the branded Flash games, gaming websites, and immersive worlds of my childhood are gone, but the advertising philosophy isn’t. With the popularity of games like Fortnite and Roblox and their metaverse approach, brands have been given the tools to meet players within their favorite games in the next generation of immersive advertising. The gaming world may continue to evolve, but I suspect that meeting players where they play, in the multi-billion-dollar gaming industry, will continue to be a successful brand strategy for many years to come.