Branded mobile apps are nothing new and neither are branded games. But increasingly, big-name consumer brands are inching toward Angry Birds territory with mobile games that bear their names yet only loosely incorporate their products.

Take Mentos’ Spider Swiper app or Brisksaber from PepsiCo’s Brisk Iced Tea. Both apps, which launched in January, have been downloaded more than 1.5 million times. Red Bull, which was an early entry in the content and gaming world, launched its racing game Red Bull Kart Fighter World Tour at the end of last month, and as of last week, it was among the top 10 most popular free games in Apple’s App store. Even Diageo’s Captain Morgan is getting playful with Captain’s Conquest, a social mobile game launched a few weeks ago.

At play here is the fact that as millennial consumers become harder to reach via traditional media, brands are realizing that they need to reach their audience on their own terms.