Audience Planning
Part of Creative localisation for game audiences
Localising a gaming offer for Australian users
Verify an Australian game ad offer’s eligibility, total cost, dates and claim route before adapting its wording.
Use this four-step method to verify an advertiser’s gaming offer, then adapt its wording for Australian users. Confirm who can receive it, what they get, what they must pay or do, when it applies and where they can claim it. Australian spelling or an AUD label cannot make an unavailable offer suitable for Australian users.
Establish the offer terms
Step 1: Ask the offer owner for the current source of truth. Record the benefit, eligibility, minimum total cost, claim period and fulfilment route. Note the applicable time zone and any login, location or purchase condition. If a material term is unconfirmed, hold the claim until it can be checked.
Step 2: Match each advertised claim to confirmed offer terms. ACCC guidance says claims should be true, accurate and based on reasonable grounds, and businesses must be able to prove claims they advertise.
Keep a publisher's in-game reward separate from an advertiser's customer offer. For example, viewing a rewarded ad might earn an in-game item while the advertiser offers a discount at its own destination. The copy should make clear which action earns each benefit.
For online and mobile games, check claims about the game description as well as the advertiser’s offer. The ACCC says developers and retailers must not deceive consumers with false or misleading claims about game descriptions.
Key Compliance Points for Australian Gaming Ads
- ACCC Guidance on Claims
- Claims must be true, accurate, and supported by reasonable grounds.
- Price Display Requirements
- Prices must be clear, accurate, and not misleading.
- Google Ads & AdMob Support
- Follow platform-specific rules for ad creatives and destination pages.
Write a claim that fits Australia
Step 3: Use terms an eligible Australian user can verify at the destination. If only new customers qualify, put that limit where it can be understood with the headline. Check a stated saving against the real offer, and check the displayed price and qualifying conditions against the Australian purchase route.
For a “was/now” claim, verify that the higher reference price reflects a genuine prior selling price. ACCC price-display guidance says prices should be clear and accurate and must not mislead consumers.
Check local currency, dates, product name and availability rather than carrying them over from an overseas asset. An offer that begins or ends on a stated date needs a clear time zone if timing could affect eligibility.
Worked example using placeholders: change “Save [amount]” to “Eligible Australian users can claim [benefit] for [price] until [date and time zone], subject to [conditions].” Use this wording only if the benefit, price, eligibility, timing and conditions match the current offer and claim route.
Match the ad to the claim route
Step 4: Follow the route an eligible Australian user would take. Compare the creative with the first destination screen, eligibility checks, total price and final benefit. Check each campaign asset against the current offer and the route users take to claim it. Record any step that materially changes what the ad appears to promise.
Recheck the creative and destination together when the offer changes. Approve the localised version only when the visible claim and current claim route agree.
The ACCC can require businesses to back up claims and may investigate misleading claims or take compliance or enforcement action. It does not provide legal advice or resolve individual disputes.
