Unilever's Axe brand is launching the Pogo Xtreme iPhone game in a play to stay relevant and appealing to its male target demographic.

Axe tapped Sony, Wild Tangent and rich-media mobile advertising network Greystripe for the multiplatform game initiative, which includes mobile, the Web and console media, as part of a campaign to educate guys about Axe deodorant body spray. This is the first simultaneous multi-platform game release for Axe, Unilever's men's grooming products brand.

"To promote their Axe body spray, Unilever is running a campaign to ?teach guys how to properly use deodorant body spray' by introducing them to the ?Double Pits to Chesty' move -- a spray under the pits and across the chest," said Michael Chang, CEO of Greystripe, San Francisco.

"Axe used Greystripe because the mobile medium can guarantee deep brand engagement, which is difficult to achieve with other types of digital advertising," he said. "In the branded iPhone game, users are prompted to perform a ?Double Pits to Chesty' when they have collected enough Axe body spray cans and are motivated to keep playing with ?sexy girl affirmations.'

"Unilever wanted to reach males 16-24 in an engaging and enjoyable manner and gaming was the perfect vehicle to do this."

Greystripe's product suite lets brands communicate their message to a mobile audience. Publishers gain advertising revenue by serving ads through Greystripe games and consumers play the games for free.

Unilever is marketing the Axe Pogo Xtreme game through Greystripe's in-game advertising network.

In conjunction with the branded game, Unilever bought both GS.Engagement and GS.Impact branding inventory in Greystripe's network to promote the free game and Axe body spray

"Greystripe is allowing Unilever to reach the iPhone audience both through a branded game and through advertisements throughout our entire network of apps," Mr. Chang said. "This maximizes Unilever's reach and engagement with iPhone users."

WildTangent claims more than 30 million unique monthly gamers, offering more than 500 online and downloadable games.

The WildTangent games console ships directly on the desktops of PC manufacturers such as Emachines, Gateway, HP and Toshiba.

Advertisers serving ads within WildTangent games include 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount, EA, Playstation, Nintendo, Toyota, Honda, P&G, Unilever and Clorox.

The Pogo Xtreme iPhone game incorporates Axe deodorant bodyspray with the "Double Pits to Chesty" move -- a spray under the pits and across the chest.

Advertising partners, Greystripe and Wild Tangent worked to develop and launch the Pogo Xtreme game on the various platforms, while Sony integrated the Double Pits to Chesty move through one of its characters in the PlayStation game Pain.

The iPhone game, developed by Greystripe, is one of the first full-length, multi-level branded iPhone games.

The mobile game is downloadable for free from the App Store.

The online game, one of three developed by Wild Tangent for Axe deodorant bodyspray's education campaign, can be played online at http://www.wildgames.com/games/axe-pogo-xtreme.

Players of the Pogo Xtreme game can post their scores on social networking sites such as Facebook.

Branded mobile games in general -- and iPhone games in particular -- are increasingly popular as a tool for advertisers to engage their audience in a cost-effective manner.

In addition to Unilever's Axe (see story), other brands that have launched and/or licensed mobile games include Campbell's Soup, Burger King, Barclaycard (see story), Nissan (see story) and Hooters (see story).

"Branded licensed mobile games have been around for quite a while, but the general impetus behind apps now is giving it new life, and it is a growing trend today," said David MacQueen, London-based director of wireless media strategies for the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics.

"I can understand why brands are interested in doing it, because costs of development are relatively low, and games provide greater engagement and more interaction with consumers than just banner ads," he said.

"Games can get across brand values, rather than just sticking a logo in a consumer's face."

In addition to free branded games, many free mobile games and applications are being monetized through advertising.

In-application advertising has to be working if top-notch brands like Paramount's Star Trek, Nestle's Lean Pockets, the U.S. Navy, Nikon, Kia, Sprint and Yahoo are relying on it (see story).

"There are various advertising-supported game systems that are springing up, and Greystripe was one of the early movers," Mr. MacQueen said. "There is a whole host of developers using its platform to deploy ads into mobile games, mostly interstitial ads that consumers see when they load the game up and in between levels.

"When brands are gauging ROI, they look at how many downloads each game gets, which simply equates to eyeballs, a conventional advertising measure you can use," he said. "Greystripe is starting to measure not just downloads, but how many times the game is being played and how often users are interacting with the brand.

"Some brands allow people to share the games via a send-to-friend mechanism and you can track whether that person become a brand evangelist by spreading the game virally."

The bottom line is that more brands are launching free branded mobile games because it's a hot category and they are seeing results.

"It's not necessarily a massive expense to launch a mobile game, especially if you're considering it as part of a bigger media campaign," Mr. MacQueen said.

"However, you have to provide a high-quality gaming experience, because you don't want users to just play it once and forget about it," he said.