It's time for another terrible example of an advergame. These are frequent enough that I'm inaugurating a new sub-column under the Advergames topic: Another Lousy Advergame.

Sharpie (you know, the permanent ink pens and markers) commissioned the Sharpie Mini Bust Out Game, which is a break-out clone with a $1,000 Visa gift card sweepstakes attached.

I learned about the game via email from its creators, HyperDrive Interactive, who told me that they lured 125,000 players in the first week. The game is the most rudimentary of Breakout clones, and I can't imagine playing just an idle match of it, but amazingly Sharpie is asking players to register to play (not just to be eligible for the contest). To register you must enter and email address and birth date (the latter is presumably for COPPA compliance). Worse yet, the game doesn't seem to recognize the Flash 8 player; I get a "you don't have the latest version" page with both browsers and I have to click an arcane link to get to the game.

Maybe it's better not to get to the game, because once you do, you'll be faced with a terribly mundane version of Breakout. The game is supposed to promote Sharpie Minis, which "go anywhere you do." They're short versions of normal Sharpie pens. The role of the pen in the game is to stay emblazoned at the top of the screen while you play Breakout. And a paragraph of text introduces the product.

The typical rationale for this type of promotion is that the game will populate an email database that can later be used for direct marketing purposes. And usually the justification for using a game is that players of (casual) games are particularly desirable for the brand in question. But, come on, Sharpie? Everyone uses Sharpie. It's the eponymous permanent pen. Playing a lousy version of Breakout won't change or cement any consumer's position on permanent pens. A game could tell consumers something about new or little-known Sharpie products, but of course this game doesn't do that. What's the benefit of a short Sharpie? Why do I need one to go anywhere I do?

Promotions and give-aways are valid marketing strategies, but this game ads nothing to the experience of the product or the promotion. It's empty fluff, and mangled, gnarled fluff at that. Whether the promotion is successful or not has nothing to do with the game, which is simply forgettable drivel.