YOU CAN spot them anywhere - teenagers clutching their mobiles and furiously racing or scoring goals on the handsets, while they wait for a train, bus or a friend. They are in fact sitting game for `prowlers’ of the marketing kind.

In case if you have not noticed, advertising is making way into the world of video games. Maybe you’ve seen those advertisements surrounding your favourite online poker game and didn’t think much about it. Or you’ve noticed a billboard advertising your favourite soft drink when playing a game on your Xbox. Suddenly you realise that the game world is becoming much more real. And, in keeping with our daily reality, this virtual world is marketing to you just as the real world does. Is it effective? Probably. Is it the way of the future? Definitely. More and more companies are testing the waters with a method of reaching potential customers called advergaming.

Advergaming is the practice of using video games to advertise a product, organisation or viewpoint. Advergaming is an immersive mix of advertising and entertainment that takes the form of video games.

In 2001, the term ’advergames’ was coined in Wired Magazine’s ’Jargon Watch’ column. Since then, it has been used to describe the free online games that many major companies are now using to promote their products.

Video games are used at trade shows to effectively convey new product release information to potential customers and used for hand out media. The Domino’s Pizza chain shipped a game called Avoid the Noid for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The McDonalds characters (Ronald, Grimace, etc) starred in MC Kids for the NES, programmed by Virgin Games.

As long as the game delivers a fun pay off, consumers consider it a relevant and valid cultural experience. In recent brand-impact studies, associating a brand with the fun of gaming is known to lift brand metrics such as brand awareness, message association and purchase intent. After playing a game, consumers are more likely to remember not just the brand or product itself, but to associate specific brand attributes with it.

The advergame industry is expected to generate $312.2 million by 2009, up from $83.6 million in 2004, according to Boston research firm Yankee Group.

Creative ideas flourish best in a shop, which preserves some spirit of fun. Nobody is in business for fun, but that does not mean there cannot be fun in business. Advergaming is most apt mixture of fun and business.