The  Game Connection Europe networking event will take place in Lyon, France from November 16- 18, 2010.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet key players from every stage of the production process face-to-face, including professionals in finance, development, publishing, distribution and outsourcing.

This year, deal united Sales Managers Eliane Zeba and Melanie Richter will attend this event and present deal united’s alternative payment method PAY.BY.SHOPPING.

For further information, please contact merchant@dealunited.com

Festival du Jeu Vidéo will take place from September 10 to 12, 2010 in Paris, France. It is an event by Games Fed, a French video game focused communication agency.

deal united Sales Manager Eliane Zeba will be present. To make an appointment with Ms. Zeba beforehand, please contact merchant@dealunited.com. or call +49 (0) 89 381 649 360.

Sucessfull advertising on the internet has become more and more difficult. Internet users tend to simply ignore banner promotions and close pop-ups and pop-unders without bothering to read them. As a result, companies are now approaching potential customers with guerilla-like marketing strategies: video commercials laid over the largest part of the website or hidden close buttons on pop-ups that force users to click on the advertisement, not to mention the seemingly infinite range of ads that flash, blink, vibrate and somersault around the user’s browser window.

While those kinds of advertising grab attention, they fail to leave a positive impression. Why? Because watching and listening to those ads is truly annoying for the users who are forced to do so against their will. Even if many companies think differently, the benefit is not worth angering most of the potential customers: If you put a big ad in front of 100 people, you will might get 2 of them to click on it. If you make it emit annoying sounds and hide the close button, it might get 5 clicks — or you might lose users who migrate to sites that don’t bombard them with frustrating ads. As a company you should ask yourself: is it really worth it to spend a ton of money on a marketing strategy that may get 10% of the users to click while 90 % of them leave angry and annoyed?

A completely different approach to address users comes from offline retail: advertising at the point of transaction. In every supermarket or shop selling physical goods (books, clothing, electronics and so on), the customer is presented with a range of products displayed near the check-out. Everyone has seen the sweets, packages of batteries, beauty products and various accessories, and everyone has been lured in by the strategically placed candy and last-minute oh-I-forgot-that items. Why shouldn’t eCommerce adopt this strategy, too?

deal united’s PAY.BY.SHOPPING allows online shops and services to advertise at the point of transaction. How? PAY.BY.SHOPPING is a cross selling marketing solution: Customers, like players of online games, can get virtual currency for free if they make a purchase at one of the advertising partners’ shops. To take part in the offer, the player goes to the payment section of the game, clicks the button for deal united, is presented with a range of advertising partners and selects one of them.

It’s a lot like what stores do at the check-out, but instead of goods, users are presented a wide range of shops. They have already selected a product (free virtual currency/software) and in order to redeem it, they go shopping in an online store that has no connection to the original business (gaming, software, online services). Imagine standing in an electronics store and someone offers you a free coffee machine if you buy a book at the store across the street!

All deal united campaigns are based on CPO (cost per order). This means that every advertising partner only pays for customers who really come into their online shops through a deal united campaign and actually buys something. No money is exchanged when someone simply clicks on the displayed advertisement.

E3 Expo, the world’s premiere trade show for computer and video games and related products, will take place from June 15-17, 2010 in the Los Angeles Convention Centre. The show is owned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers and the Internet.

deal united senior sales manager Torsten Bongartz will be present on the event. To meet with him, please contact merchant@dealunited.com.