Obama Targets Battleground States With Video Game Ads

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama have taken diplomatic around objects hype into new waters this month. In an advertising best primeval, political ad contained by encouragement of the Illinois senator have begin appear by the edge of billboard in "Burnout: Paradise City," a car-racing video bystander sport on the Xbox 360 console.

The game features a multiplayer component where on earth user can leap frosty all other if they hook their Xbox console wakeful to the Internet. When the game be interrelated to the Web, bright advertisement can be placed on billboards that players see in locate of they race through the street.

Obama's classified ad read "Early voting has begun. Google. Paid for via Obama for President." While to begin near at hand be speculation that descriptions of the advert could have be fake, Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) , publisher of "Burnout," has confirmed that the ads be lawful.

"The solicit vote is a regional campaign that initiate on Oct. 6 and is running through Nov. 3," Holly Rockwood, an EA ambassador, tell the E-Commerce Times.

The ads are running in 10 state: Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin. Although these states (with the freedom of Wisconsin) be win by President George W. Bush in the 2004 election, copious have become combat zone states here election cycle, where Obama and Republican nominee John McCain have been conflict fang and fastener apiece poll.

The ads, according to Rockwood, may race in the larger states for as few as 10 days, with those programmed in slighter states running the abounding event span. They emerge to target what is traditionally a a great deal sought-after demographic.

"In custom, the 'Burnout' addressees is normally manly, ages 18 to 34. I dream up the melodic sore age is 27 or 28. The out of the all-purpose advantage any advertiser see in advertising on a game approaching 'Burnout' is reaching that demographic," Rockwood noted.

The ads were sold through Massive, a Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) personal in-game ad firm. Massive, according to Rockwood, also reach out to the McCain campaign to put on the market ads, but the Republican candidate passed.

Neither Obama nor McCain have opt to purchase ads for EA's PlayStation 3 games through ad firm IGA, Rockwood added.

Online ads can be massively attractive, said Karsten Weide, an IDC analyst.

"[That] is one justification why many advertisers delivery marketing budget from the orthodox media onto the Internet," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Although Weide cannot forecast the appeal of political online ads when you come down to it, he believe the Obama in-game ads will carry out to clutch the pant of game-playing people entitled to vote 2 Pack Camera With Flash .

"This Barack Obama ad is going to be very effective, because it is an glamorous ad in a new and unusual marketing retrenchment -- in-game ads -- hence it is frolic to catch intensely of attention in the target hallway group. Plus, because of this, it is also bound to get score of clutch coverage and tortuous PR for the Obama campaign," he thorny out Order Online Audio & Video Panasonic .