Valérie HEMAR-NICOLAS Université de Paris Sud, RITM.

1. Mobile Advergames targeting childrenA “portable playground” to build brand relationships with young consumers? Valérie HEMAR-NICOLAS Université de Paris Sud, RITM. 4th ICBR Conference, 21-23 May, 2015. Porto, Portugal

2. Context A fast-growingusage of tablets by children • 75 % of 8-11 yearold British children have access to a tablet at home (2014, a). • 29 % of 7-12 yearold French kids owntheirtablet(2015, b). • Tabletswidelyused for gaming. Brand communication: a shift from TV advertising to digital advertising content. • Advergames: free brand-produced video games embedding marketing messages in entertaining animated (Moore and Rideout, 2007 ; Blades et al. 2013). (a) Source: Ofcom 2014 ; (b) IPSOS Junior Connect’, 2015

3. Researchpurpose • How do children “read” and appropriate mobile advergames? • To what extent may these branded mobile games contribute to build a “fair” brand-child relationship?

4. Theoretical backgroundChildren’sadvertisingliteracy • Advertising literacy in a cognitive psychology perspective The advertising-related knowledge, ie the ability to • distinguish advertisements from programs, • understand the advertiser’s motivations. • Children’s understanding of advertising intents depends on their age and the persuasive tactics. • No evidence that conceptual knowledge of advertising decreases children’s susceptibility to its effects. (Martin, 1997; Nairn and Fine, 2008 ; Livingstone, 2009 ; Rozendaal et al. 2011)

5. Theoretical backgroundChildren’sadvertisingliteracy • Advertising literacy in a cultural studies perspective “The skills of analyzing, evaluating, and creating persuasive messages across a variety of contexts and media” (Livingstone and Helsper, 2006: 562). • How children “read” and interpret advertising. • How children make use of media/advertising in their own perspectives. • The use of advertising as a social resource within the peer group. (Lawlor and Prothero, 2008 ; Hémar-Nicolas et al. 2013)

6. Theoretical backgroundDigital advertising to children • More engaging and interactive brandedexperiencesthan the traditional 30-second TV advert. • In-app advertising, in-app purchases and links to social media. • The gaming: in-game product placement, advergame. • An immersive environment, source of entertaining experiences. • brand recall and recognition, • Implicit persuasion processes. (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski, 2001 ; Dias and Agante, 2011; van Reijmersdal et al. 2012 ; Rifon et al. 2014)

7. MethodologyHow do children “read” and appropriate mobile advergames? • A child-orientated qualtitative methodology to observe children’s own advergames experiences. • Multi-methods: discussions, observations, drawings. • Two age groups: 10 1rst/2d grades – 10 4th/5th grades. • Data collection by pair of 2 friends or individually. • A content analysis.

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9. Findings • A daily practice of mobile devices for gaming. • Source of interaction and recognition within the peer group, especially among boys. “This game is awesome! We really have a good time!” (Jean, 9 years old) “We talk about the new games. If you don’t play certain games, you’re a loser” (Florian, 9 years old). • Yet, no child mentions advergames spontaneously. • A good understanding of advertising intents. Yet, a definition of advertising based on the traditional 30-second format. “When you watch a movie on the iPad, before there is an ad, and then you can watch the movie”(Ava, 6 years old).

10. Findings • 14 in 19 children’s drawings included brand.

11. Findings • No attention paid to sidebars and interstitial ads. “On the iPad, when you play a game, at the beginning there is an ad. You click on the cross to remove it”(Anouk, 8 years old) • A pretty good identification of the informative and persuasive intents of the game “It [Babybel] is made with 98 % of milk. It is written.” (Jovan, 8 years old) “There is a Mc Donald’s game to make people feel hungry” (Zoe, 7 years old). “The game where you need to launch the smile into the box is an ad for McDonalds” (Solal, 10 years old). Yet,an ability to identify the advertisingintents first in the case of brand familiarity?

12. Findings • The game used to promote the brand OR the reverse? “[They made the game McPlay, because] many people eat at Mc Donald’s, so maybe these people would be interested in playing McPlay”(Livna, 10 years old). “Fanta [the advergame] is first a game. They put the game on an app store to sell it!” (Raphael, 10 years old). “This F stands for Facebook. Some people play the game and display their scores on Facebook in order to show them to other players. Thanks to Facebook, Babybel game can have more players” (Flavie, 9 years old).

13. Findings • The children first interested in the executive elements and game contents, regardless of the brand • Few attention paid to information included in the game. • Advergamespreferences according to the entertaining features and the challenges. “I like McPlay, because you need to think over like in Lego Star Wars” (Florian, 10 years old, who told us at the interview that he did not like McDonald’s food). “I enjoy playing Fanta game, but I don’t like the beverage” (Raphael, 10 years old).

14. Conclusion & Discussion 4 key takeaways to study further • A good ability to identify advertising intents only when brand is familiar. • A pleasure-based relationship with brand, suggesting implicit persuasion processes. • Gaming: a social resource. • Advergames: not simply an ad, but a branded product on its own. What about the cognitive defenses based on advertising knowledge?

15. Thank you very much for your attention.