It has been reported in a variety of popular media outlets that United States presidential candidate, Barack Obama, has purchased advertising in nine Electronic Arts video games prior to this November’s election. This marks the first time that any person running for the presidency has used in-game advertising to sway the electorate. You can see an example of what the ‘billboards’ look like here – in an image from the EA game ‘Burnout Paradise’.

As a professional marketer, I am always fascinated by advertising campaigns that push the envelope – either in terms of money, creativity, or pure brashness. This move by Obama is less tactical marketing and more advertising theater. Which is precisely why it is so brilliant. What do I mean? Consider this, the number of young males, age 18-36 (the demographic reached by the video games) who will be truly impacted by these advertisements and actually switch to candidate Obama as a direct result of the in-game ads is minuscule. However, the press coverage generated by this interesting use of campaign funds has (to date) generated over 107 news articles by major news outlets as covered by Google News. These are major news outlets reaching literally millions of registered voters – many of them in a younger demographic which finds video games appealing. For example, I notice articles from: The NewYork Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, FoxNews, MTV.com, Wired News, and Business Week – just to name a few.

By my conservative calculations, this campaign will be hugely ROI positive (Do you know what it costs to advertise in The New York Times or The Washington Post?). The second stroke of genius here is that – as all advertising should – this campaign is an enormous differentiator between John McCain and Barack Obama. It really points out the generation gap that separates the two candidates. Web hosting marketers could really learn a lot from this great use of ad dollars.

FAKE INTERVIEW BELOW:
Question: ”Senator Obama, how is the campaigning going? Are you wiped out from all the travel and speaking engagements?”

Senator Obama: ”Heck no! I just sit down each night and play some Xbox 360 – usually ‘Burnout Paradise’. That really helps me relax and forget about all the financial crises and campaign retoric.”

Question: ”Senator McCain, what do you think of that EA game ‘Burnout Paradise’ for the Xbox?”

Senator McCain: ”What’s an Xbox?”

My point is that no one would associate Senator McCain with a youthful, modern, technology driven activity. So the Obama campaign has artfully exploited that very perceived difference by purchasing these ads. In the final few weeks and days leading up to the presidential election, any extra boost in positive publicity may swing the votes of those undecided voters. John McCain had better look into sponsoring ‘Guitar Hero’ or ‘Rock Band’ really quickly.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and appears courtesy of the budget hosting experts at 34sp.com.