Why Are We Using Digital Media To Send Gamers To Retailers?

Online ad campaigns for video games can certainly be creative. I’ve seen some cool concepts over the years, usually they have a level of engagement that only digital can offer too, whether that’s by adding interactivity to a takeover or by using a clever page destruction effect its fair to say that the boffins at the creative agencies have always been able to find a way to one-up themselves. So while the creativity and the technology behind digital ads is changing and getting more ambitious I’ve noticed that one thing never seems to change and that is the choice of landing page.

When I say landing page what do I mean? I’m referring to the destination the advertiser chooses to send you to when you click on an ad. This is almost always a retailer page. Like this one. Obviously I know why a brand manager might want to send people off to retailers at every possible opportunity – because he or she is hoping Johnny Consumer will pre-order the game (if you’re not aware, pre-orders are absurdly important these days – if a game hasn’t seen enough pre-orders retailers may lose confidence in your game and choose to buy in less stock for day one).

Here’s the thing though.