Here is a way to engross, entertain, cajole and cuddle the game-loving modern customer while "playfully" building the precious intangible assetthe brand. A textbook definition of "advergaming" would be a promotional tool that combines online games with product information. A brand is embedded in the game and playing the game reinforces brand awareness. Note that the term is still used in the context of online games. When it comes to "advergaming" the media is pre-defined as Internet. Internet has long been considered the ideal medium for advertising considering its interactive nature though it has failed to deliver value to the brands.

New and innovative forms of online advertising arise everyday but none of it has found any concrete success. The reason lies somewhere in the medium itself where it is difficult to strike a balance between the "visible" and "interactive" advertising. Initial experimentation with banner ads didn't pay up. Measuring effectiveness with page impressions and click through did not convince the brand advertisers as banners became more and more cluttered on the webpage till no one noticed them. A revival of the banners was attempted by using alternative concepts like vertical and flash banners and even an innovative "talking banner". The banner era gave way to brand mini-sites complete with product information, contests and even games. Mini-sites were successful to an extent but consumers lacked interest to visit the sites as they were presumed to be boring corporate sites. A part of these mini-sites though, were normally dedicated to games. The games proved to be the most visited pages on such mini-sites and thus an opportunity was sighted. The notion of advergaming began.