Alternate Reality Advertising

Most people don’t pay attention to any of the hundreds of adverts that get heaped upon them every single day, and, usually, I don’t pay attention either. Every so often, though, I feel compelled to stop and flip off whatever company is trying to convince me that their product is as necessary for life as my own beating heart. Basically, I hate being advertised to.

But sometimes even I have to appreciate the lengths some of these corporations are willing to go to just to get me to buy their shit. Case in point: the alternate reality game, or ARG for short. What the heck is an “alternate reality game,” you ask? Great question. I’ll try to explain.

ARGs are fictional narratives that are told through the real world. Imagine that you and five thousand other kids open five thousand boxes of Froot Loops one morning and find decoder rings that you can use to solve puzzles on the back of the box. Now, instead of five thousand kids solving cereal box puzzles, you have five thousand grown adults breaking CIA-level ciphers. And instead of walking away with a handful Froot Loops themed puns, you’ve solved a murder mystery. For maximum immersion, it’s tradition for the writer (or “puppet master”) to never let on that the game is, in fact, a game. At least, not until the end. Also, there is no “cereal box”—part of the experience is stumbling upon the first clue by accident.

For a more apt description, I recommend you read this article on ARGNet.

So it’s kinda like that. Doesn’t seem like a good framework to advertise or building a brand with, does it? And yet, some of the most infamous ARGs have turned out to be elaborate ads, like this one for The Dark Knight, or this Stranger Things/Baskin Robbins crossover ARG. In that first link, Alyssa Mertes lists a number of benefits of ARG advertising such as creating loyal fans, increasing brand awareness, and changing how consumers view your brand. Using ARGs for branding comes with some very obvious risks, but the payoff can be astronomical, as it has been for A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Halo 2, Lost, Nine Inch Nails, and a growing number of ventures. In the future, we may very well see a rise in corporate branding through ARGs.

…Or maybe we’ll just be better at finding them.

Sources:

Getting Started with ARGs. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.argn.com/getting_started_with_args/

Mertres, A. (2019). Alternate reality games: Intense and immersive viral marketing. Retrieved from https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/alternate-reality-games-immersive-viral-marketing/

Nelson, S. (2019). How Baskin Robbins built a Stranger Things alternate reality game using 1985 tech. Retrieved from https://www.gamingstreet.com/baskin-robbins-stranger-things-arg/