Korea-based Kakao has partnered with IGAWorks today to integrate the firm’s adPOPcorn mobile advertising solution into its popular cross-platform mobile messaging app.
adPOPcorn delivers in-game and in-app incentivized offers, as well as pop-up adverts that link through to social and mobile media channels. Players are rewarded with new items or content, such as levels or characters, in return for tapping on any of these links.
Kakao Talk separates itself from other mobile messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Skype, by offering a number of video games that are connected to its service through leaderboards and a shared log-in. IGAWorks will be offering adPOPcorn to every developer that has released a video game through the Kakao Talk platform to date – so the new adverts will likely be widespread across the service.
The idea is to offer video game developers and publishers a lucrative new source of revenue for their titles. This in turn should encourage more game releases through Kakao Talk, attracting new users to sign-up and engage with the mobile messaging app.
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“(It) will also beef up the service’s cross-promotional opportunities while leveraging KakaoTalk’s massive traffic,” Heita Miyoshi, executive vice president of IGAWorks said. “With this partnership, adPOPcorn will substantially cover most of South Korea’s mobile traffic, thus becoming a ‘one-stop marketing gateway’ to East Asia.”
Kakao Talk recently updated its Plus Friend advertising platform with dedicated homepages and custom design tools aimed at brands and celebrities.
The company has also inked a deal with Evernote, which will add the startup’s note-taking services to the in-chat window found within Kakao Talk. Users will be able to access notes with a sideswipe while chatting to a friend and jot down useful information either via text, their device’s camera or a voice note.
Kakao Talk is yet to gain the same momentum and public awareness enjoyed by WhatsApp and Snapchat in the US, but if it can continue to improve its product – and find a viable monetization model in the process – it’ll only be a matter of time.
Image Credit: PARK JI-HWAN/AFP/Getty Images
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