For the past few years, the company has grown its business in game currency cards for online games. Kids like these games, but they don’t have the credit cards to pay subscription fees or authenticate their identities. The gift cards get around that. And, as a result, the cards give retailers a way to embrace online games, which otherwise might be consider a threat to retail because they bypass traditional distribution.
The company has relationships with more than 60 game companies and has cards in more than 145,000 stores.
The main use for these gift cards is paying for subscriptions online and ... (drum roll, please) buying virtual goods! Just imagine, you can remember at the last minute at the checkout counter that you need to buy your nephew a gift, and you can spend money on him so he can buy a new sword to slay ogres with. You'll be the coolest uncle on the block.
People estimate the size of this "game currency" market to be $75-300 million. The overall prepaid gift card market is about $100 billion in revenue per year. Pretty impressive figures.
This gift card market is representative of the greater trend in mass acceptance of video games. Companies are doing everything they can to get on board the video game wave.
As a marketer, it could be an interesting promotion to offer coupons for free online gaming currency with Pepsi "bottle cap" promotions and the like. The more touchpoints you can get with the consumers the better. Imagine the mind share you would get from someone going to 7-Eleven to get a Pepsi, they pop the top to find out they've won $5 in Second Life currency, and then go online to some Pepsi-logo'd ATM to redeem the coupon. It would be great repetition and a creative way to get more touchpoints with consumers, increasing their awareness of and favorability toward your brand.
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