# Advergames that spread and convert > Short, shareable game campaigns engineered to convert in a single session — built to drop into ads, landing pages and social. Short, shareable game campaigns engineered to spread and convert in a single session — built to drop into ads, landing pages and social. Ideal for launches, promos and seasonal pushes. ## What is an advergame? An advergame is a bite-sized branded game built as a campaign — designed to be played once, shared fast and convert on the spot. It drops into the places your media already runs — ads, landing pages, social feeds, email — and turns a passive impression into an active play, so a moment of attention becomes a session, a share and a click toward your goal. An advergame is not a banner ad. A banner is watched and scrolled past; an advergame is played, and interaction buys far more attention, recall and click-through than a static creative ever could. It's also not a branded game: where a branded game is a lasting property you keep and grow over months, an advergame is deliberately short-lived — engineered for a single burst of reach around one campaign moment, then retired when the promotion ends. Choose an advergame when you need a spike of reach and engagement tied to a specific moment — a product launch, a seasonal promo, an event, a limited offer — and virality matters more than long-term retention. If instead you want an owned destination audiences return to, that's a branded game; if you want to reward repeat behaviour inside your own product, that's gamification. Advergames are the campaign-speed play: fast to build, fast to spread, measured on the push. - Viral, shareable mechanics - Converts in one session - Campaign-speed delivery ## Where an advergame pays off - **Product launch push** — A playable that turns a launch moment into hands-on attention — people interact with the new product instead of scrolling past an ad, and share their result to pull the next wave in. - **Seasonal campaign** — An advent calendar, a holiday countdown or a summer challenge timed to your promo calendar, giving a seasonal push an interactive hook that earns dwell time and repeat opens across the run. - **Leaderboard challenge** — A score-chase game with a public leaderboard that turns one play into a rivalry — friends compete, standings get shared, and the campaign spreads on its own competitive energy. - **AR activation** — A camera or filter game that puts your brand in the player's real world at an event, in-store or in-feed — highly shareable, and a natural fit for launches that want a wow moment. - **Lead-gen & sampling** — A quick game gated by a sign-up or wired to a coupon, prize draw or sample request — capturing opted-in leads and pushing players straight to a conversion while attention is high. ## Three ways to run an advergame ### Challenge & leaderboards Score-chase games with shareable leaderboards that turn one play into a rivalry. A tight single-session loop and a score worth bragging about make people replay to climb and share to challenge friends — so the campaign spreads on its own. Think a timed mini-game where beating a friend's score is one tap away from a post. ### Seasonal campaigns Advent calendars, launch countdowns and holiday games timed to your promo moments. A day-by-day or milestone structure gives people a reason to come back across the whole run, keeping a seasonal push alive instead of peaking once. Think a 12-day advent game that reveals a new offer behind each door. ### AR experiences Camera and filter games that put your brand into the player's world and are built to be filmed and shared. Best for launches and events where a wow moment drives word-of-mouth and social reach. Think a face-filter mini-game or a scavenger hunt that overlays your product on the real world through the phone camera. ## See advergames at work Real advergame campaigns we've shipped, a playable demo you can try yourself, and what we learned building AR for brands. - **Bright Antenna Records** — Sports Car — song-launch obstacle game for Meg Elsier (Casual · Musical · Web) - **Maziminds** — Image Puzzles — playable campaign demo (Photo jigsaw · Sliding puzzle) - **Maziminds** — Word Puzzles — playable campaign demo (Hangman · Word scramble) ## FAQ ### What are some famous examples of advergames? Burger King's 'Subservient Chicken' let people type commands to a person in a chicken suit and became one of the earliest viral advergame campaigns. M&M's 'Eye-Spy Pretzel' — a find-the-hidden-pretzel image game — was one of the most shared branded games on Facebook. Doritos put 'Dash of Destruction' on Xbox as a free promotional game, and Chex cereal shipped 'Chex Quest', a full game on the cereal box that became a cult classic. Each is short, built around a single brand moment, and designed to spread — the opposite of a static banner. ### What's the difference between an advergame and a banner ad? A banner is watched and scrolled past; an advergame is played. That interaction drives far higher attention, recall and click-through, because the player spends active time with your brand instead of glancing at a static image. The trade-off is production: an advergame takes more to build than a banner, which is why it's reserved for moments where engagement is worth the lift. ### What's the difference between an advergame and a branded game? An advergame is a short campaign built for a single burst of reach and then retired; a branded game is a lasting property you keep and grow over months. Same medium, opposite lifespan — reach and virality on one side, retention and return visits on the other. If you're activating one moment, it's an advergame; if you're building a destination, it's a branded game. ### How fast can you launch a campaign? Typical advergames go live in roughly 3–5 weeks; challenge and seasonal formats we've built before can move faster. Because the point is campaign speed, we scope tight, reuse proven mechanics where it helps, and align the launch to your media calendar rather than over-building. ### How much does an advergame cost? Advergames start from $2,500. Where a project lands above that is driven by the mechanic's complexity, the amount of custom art, whether you need AR, and any integrations like leaderboards, lead capture or coupon fulfilment. A single-mechanic web challenge sits near the entry point; an AR activation or a multi-day seasonal campaign is larger. We scope to a fixed price after a short discovery call so it fits the campaign budget. ### What makes a game shareable? A tight single-session loop, a score or prize worth bragging about, and one-tap sharing baked in from the start. We design the shareable moment deliberately — the result screen, the challenge link, the leaderboard position — so spreading the game is the natural next action, not an afterthought. ### Can you measure campaign ROI? Yes — plays, completion rate, share rate and click-through are tracked per campaign and tied to your conversion goal, whether that's a sign-up, a coupon redemption or a sale. Because an advergame is a defined push, you get a clean before-and-after read on what the interaction earned versus a standard ad. ### Which ad networks and platforms are supported? Major ad networks, social feeds, email and landing pages — we export to the formats your media plan needs, including playable-ad units where the network supports them. Tell us where the campaign runs and we build to those specs rather than forcing one format everywhere. ### Can it capture leads or feed our CRM? Yes — a game can be gated by a sign-up or wired to a coupon, prize draw or sample request, with opted-in leads and events flowing to your CRM, CDP or email platform via API. That turns a fun campaign into a measurable lead-gen channel rather than reach for its own sake. ### Do we own the game and its data? You do. The game, its assets and all campaign and player data belong to you, and we hand over everything needed to run or re-run it. Many clients relaunch a proven advergame for the next season or promo with fresh skinning rather than starting over. ### What do you need from us to get started? The campaign moment you're building around, your goal and KPIs, where it will run, and your brand assets. If we're capturing leads or fulfilling rewards, the CRM or coupon details; if there's a hard launch date, the earlier we know it, the tighter we can plan the build to hit it.