Gen Wow

FarmVille, Mafia Wars: Big Money From Free Social Media Games (Not All Of It On The Up-And-Up)

Seriously people. I am always mystified by how much time and effort - and personal information - people will put into all those Facebook games, like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Restaurant City and others.

Turns out they're big money generators for the companies behind them, too. Like $75 million for Playfis, maker of games like Pet Society and Restaurant City - and $200 million for Zynga, the company behind FarmVille and Mafia Wars - all from in-game advertising.

But not all approaches are on the up-and-up. TechCrunch reports, in a story called "Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem of Hell."

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Inside 'HBO Imagine': Interview With Alison Moore, VP, Brand Strategy & Digital Platforms, HBO (Part 1)

HBO gave itself a tough act to follow - and it's working to do just that.

During the last few weeks, HBO has launched an ambitious sequel to its double Cannes Grand Prix winning "Voyeur Project," called "HBO Imagine."

Not to be outdone by "Voyeur's" projection of dramas on New York City buildings, "Imagine" features, among other things, a giant video cube that displays scenes from a mini-drama shot from four different perspectives, so you have to view each side of the cube to get the big picture.

At hboimagine.com, viewers can unlock each of these video sequences as they progress through a broader narrative, with a pay off for people who unlock each of 37 complete scenes.

It is a massive new undertaking for HBO, which hopes to top the number of impressions it earned for "Voyeur," as well as reinforce its brand positioning in a compelling new way.

In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (AMACOM/McGraw-Hill, Spring, 2010) I talk to Courteney Monroe, HBO's executive vice president of consumer marketing - and a newly minted Brandweek Marketer of the Year - about the brand's approach to efforts like "Voyeur" and "Imagine," and why they're so central to creating consumer marketing that's as inspired as it is effective. (Despite the recession, HBO's subscriber numbers are actually up, to 27 million.)

In the days just after "Imagine" launched, I also spoke with Alison Moore, vice president of brand strategy and digital platforms for HBO, about why this campaign is such an exciting successor to "Voyeur," and about her views on how this initiative will fuel subscriber growth (and reduce churn) in the year ahead.

Part One: "Imagine" That: HBO's New Take On Making The Physical/Virtual World Connection (approx 7:33)

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Are Video Games Just As Important As The Movie for Horror Franchises?

You'd be forgiven for thinking as much, judging from the killing video games based on several Hollywood horror franchises are making - including those from "Saw" for Xbox 360 and PlaySTation 3 and the evergreen "Resident Evil" series (which actually started as games before movies).

As Freddy actor Robert Englund of "Nightmare on Elm Street" tells reporters, "Halloween gives fans the chance to dress up in costumes and celebrate horror, but videogames are the best way for fans to actually participate in these worlds."

Scare up the details, here.

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ABC-TV's Reboot of 'V' Includes Online 'Peace Ambassador Program'

The Visitors are back, in a new series from ABC.

And since the show (starting tomorrow) faces a still hill keeping the action alive over a long period of time (unlike the 1980's NBC miniseries), marketers at ABC are working overtime to develop online initiatives to keep viewers interested over an already-planned hiatus that will hit after only four episodes. (In fact, it's reportedly not coming back until March.)

First among them: The Peace Ambassador Program. So far, that means registering for news updates. But given this is from ABC - home of online alternate reality games for "Lost," you can bet efforts will get far more ambitious over time. 

Start your orientation, here.

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Back from Digital Hollywood

Just don't call us the Digital Hollywood Squares.

I was in Santa Monica this week to participate in a panel discussion on games as an advertising and marketing platform for entertainment and consumer products brands.

It was a lively discussion with executives from several of the online and mobile gaming outfits, and hosted by James Green, CEO of Giant Realm. Great group of people, and an interesting debate.

Some really intelligent (and funny) people aboard - which made it feel like a game show.

Peter Marshall, eat your heart out.

Read more, here.

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Volkswagen To Rely Exclusively On iPhone App For New GTI Launch

Hey, if it's the most cost-effective way to reach your demo, why not lean heavily on an iPhone app?

But exclusively?

That's what VW plans for the launch of the new GTI. I'm having a hard time believing the total universe of GTI's prospective buyers own iPhones, but let's get to that in just a bit.

According to Automotive News, the marketer spent $60 million launching the GTI in 2006. Now it thinks it can do better on a $500,000 iPhone budget, which will include a Real Racing GTI game for the IPhone and iPod Touch, a virtual showroom, and (this is cool), the ability for users to send video clips of races game play to YouTube and messages via Twitter.. The agency behind the effort is AKQA (I interview founder Tom Bedecarré at length in my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (spring 2010, Amacom/McGraw-Hill).

The game isn't even built from the ground up; it's licensed from an existing game, saving the brand a lot of money.

But an iPhone/iPod only approach? Automotive News points to the fact that there are 50 million iPhones and iPods in use worldwide, but only 21 million viewers watch CBS' "NCIS," the most-watched TV show for the week ending October 18.

Still. The game won't be on every iPhone and iPod Touch - 50 million is the total number of users, not the universe of potential GTI owners therein. And you can't compare usage to ratings for one show. In terms of reach and frequency, GTI's target demo watches any number of shows during a one month period.

Not that the game doesn't sound cool, and the PR value of an iPhone-only approach will resonate with the target audience. But mobile is one touchpoint in integrated campaigns. Not THE touchpoint.

Time will tell if, or how well, the strategy pays off.

Hopefully it will be a major win for the brand, and that the company best known for innovative print and television ads like "Lemon," this campaign won't bring unintended meaning to that age old tagline.

Read all about it, here.

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Oh, Thank Heaven? 7-Eleven Has Cheesy New Advergame

Speaking of branded games, none other than 7-Eleven has a new online game out called "The 711 Club." 

I'm not even clear on what the game is from this post...but a quick look at the game seems to indicate it involves a "mojo meter," pick-up lines (look out for "Amp Up Before You Score" controversies), the objective of hitting on a "Hot Brazilian." and the chance to win a free cup of 7-Eleven coffee (Brazilian, of course).

Can a Circle K game be far behind?

Read more, here. 

Play it yourself, here.

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Back from DTC; Next Up: Digital Hollywood

Been a crazy month: Spoke at the Global Retail Executive Council event at CTIA in San Diego, then this last week, at the DTC Fall event in New Jersey. This week: a panel on gaming as an advertising platform at Digital Hollywood at the Loews Santa Monica Hotel in Santa Monica.

Should be a lot fun...and games. (Sorry.)

I'll post about it all next week.

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See Rick at DTC Fall Conference: Top Digital Marketing Trends for Pharma Marketing in 2010

DTC's is having a decidedly tough year, what with the economy, reform measures like the "Just Say No To Drug Ads Act" and other reform measures, and new FTC rulings of search engine marketing and social networking.

So on Thursday, I'm going to be addressing the second day of the Fall DTC conference on ways to leverage the power of digital to reach consumers in amazing new (and highly ethical) ways.

This is the second time the conference has asked me to speak, and if it's anything like last time, it should be a lot of fun. Read more about the conference, here. 

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First Look: The Cover of My New Book, 'The On-Demand Brand'

Forgot to mention that during my speaking engagement at the Global Retail Executive Council at CTIA this week, I was able to share the first glimpse of the cover art for my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (Amacom/McGraw-Hill, Spring, 2009). Be sure to read all about the book, here. 

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Coke Zero Finds Your Double Via Facebook

Coke Zero wants to find your opposite number via Facebook.

As part of a new promotion called The Coke Zero Facial Profiler, a new Facebook app uses next generation facial recognition technology to find people who look like you based on your profile page picture, and that of others around the world.

"If Coke Zero has Coke's taste, is it possible someone out there has your face?" shouts a trailer for the intiative, from Crispin, Porter Bogusky, in what's touted as a "worldwide social experiment."

I'm not sure what it all has to do with drinking a Coke Zero, but you just know this is the kind of thing Zero's target demographic's going to drink up.

Find out more, here.

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Doritos 'Mystery Flavor' Revealed

That cool interactive video game for Doritos UK - the one where you try to discover the Doritos "mystery flavor" for the chance to be entered into a drawing for 1,000 pounds has reached its conclusion. And the mystery flavor (not always a good term to use with foodstuffs) is: Chicken Balti. I have no idea what Balti is, but the promotion was bad ass work from UpsetTV. Read more, here.

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Hasbro Launches 'Monopoly City,' Mixes Game With Real World via Google Maps & Earth

Would-be moguls can now play their favorite game on a much bigger board.

Hasbro is launching "Monopoly City Streets," a four-month online campaign that takes the game into the real word through Google Maps and Google Earth.

According to reports, players can purchase and construct 3D buildings on any street in the world using $3 million in virtual cash, and then rent 'em out to earn more dough.

It's all part of a push from DDB London to promote the new Monopoly City Edition, presumably meaning editions built around real world cities, which hits stores next month.

Get the full scoop here.

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Axe In The Dark: Advergame For Psychos?

Axe's various advergames have all been arguably chauvinistic in a Maxim-laddy-mag kind of way - from Dirrty Rolling to Chocolate Challenge. But this new game from Japan, called "Axe In The Dark," may take it all to a new level.

While meant to evoke slasher films, the various games included here pit girls against monsters and madmen that in one, ends with the girl being offed by a Ninja. I'm not sure what the product tie-in is supposed to be, either - though some say you're supposed to be able to smell the monster in order to get away, presumably because he/it doesn't use Axe.

Something definitely seems to have been lost in translation.

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Interview: The Guys Behind Doritos' New Interactive, Video-Based Advergame, 'ID3'

If you haven't had a chance to check out "ID3," the new interactive, video-based advergame from Doritos in the UK, you definitely want to do so.

In "ID3," players get "lives" from codes on specially marked Doritos, and then try to make their way through three episodes that follow a police effort to recruit you to capture an international identity thief. Humorous and fun, the game enables you to choose the path you take through the video as you interact with a bevy of quirky characters.

At the time of this post, exact numbers of people who have played episode one are hard to come by. But episode two, launching the day of this interview, saw over 5,000 by lunchtime.

In an interview, Matt Cook and Toby Cook (they're not related) talk about what it was like for their firm - Upset TV - to create the videos, and what such experiences mean to consumers and brands alike.

As Toby (pictured here in the blue shirt) tells me, "Consumers are more savvy to advertising and are, these days, presented with so many  more options of similar products that in order for a brand to maintain love and loyalty, they must stop asking their customers for things and start offering them something instead - a true experience totally separate and memorable to the product itself."

UPSET TV INTERVIEW (approx. 10:25)

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Discovery Channel's New 'Frenzied Waters' Advergame

It appears the new SHARK WEEK mobile TV channel was just the beginning.

Now, word's out that network has created a new alternative reality game (ARG) to promote its Shark-infested TV show "Frenzied Waters."

The game starts when you arrive at the show's official website, where you see four bottles floating on a placid sea. click on the bottles, and you are instantly a participant (or victim) in a kind of flashback involving mysteries at Ashbury Park in 1916; the Coral Sea, 1942; Florida, 1956. There's also a bottle labeled "My Story" that prompts you to log onto Facebook to share your story, though at this point, I'm not sure what story I'm supposed to share - a shark attack?

The first three mysteries span Twitter, blogs, Facebook, Flickr, the channel's website and more, though I'm not sure how. I take it the marketers will seed clues around the web, ala "The Lost Experience." Some people have even received jars and bottles with cryptic messages and newspaper clippings to get the game going.

A few years ago, Discovery ran an online game called Shark Runners that blurred the real world with the virtual world, by enabling you to take part in shark research following coordinates of real sharks tagged in the wild.

This new game seems to span the real world (there's a geographic component) and social networks. In hopes that is, to create a frenzy of its own.

Read all about it, here.

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Doritos Launches 'ID3' Interactive Video-Based Advergame In UK

First there was the Augmented Reality experience. Now there's the alternative reality game.

Doritos is launching a campaign to promote a new limited-edition "mystery" flavor, "ID3." And as you can see form the trailer, the idea is that you've got to guess the flavor by taking part in a highly-interactive video experience.

I hope it's not anything like The Quest mystery flavor contest (think Mountain Dew Flavored Doritos) from last year.

I can't tell if Goodby did this, as it's UK-based. But for a certain segment of Doritos' key demographic - mostly young, mostly male - this could make for some fun.

Check it all out, here.

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Fight Alongside Your Favorite Heroes In 'DC Universe Online'

Comic book fans know that for all its good intentions, something sinister always happens at S.T.A.R Labs. Now they'll be able to get personally involved.

Wired is reporting that DC and Sony have teamed up to launch DC Universe Online, a massively multiplayer online game that will let players team up with their favorite DC heroes (it of the Superman-Batman-Green Lantern-Wonder Woman ilk) as things go haywire at Metropolis's S.T.A.R. Labs, set to hit the Net next year.

I've been wondering when DC was finally going to get its online act in gear. But I was hoping it would make a good non-Batman movie release first (is it too early to reboot "Superman Returns"?).

I guess a session at Comic Con tomorrow, called The Stories of DC Universe Online, featuring Jim Lee and Marv Wolfman (if you don't know, don't ask...though I will say Wolfman had something to do with giving the laboratory a high profile during his legendary run with "The New Teen Titans."

This is a great way for DC to extend the brand into the online space, and really quite true to the audience.

Still, about that "Superman" reboot....

Read all about the "Universe," here.

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See Rick At Digital Hollywood

Looks like I'll be part of a panel discussion on gaming as an advertising platform at Digital Hollywood this fall at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel.

The specific title for the discussion is "Advertising, Games and Game Networks - Mobile, Broadband and Console - Serving Individuals and Communities of Interest." 

As it happens, I devote a chapter on the subject in my new book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (out in the spring, from AMACOM Books), and for mobile games specifically, I devote a fair amount of space on the topic in my book BRANDING UNBOUND.

Longtime readers know I'm more an advocate of branded games as part of integrated communications initiatives over in-game advertising, though you can bet there will be differing opinions on that in the discussion.

I'll post more details on the Digital Hollywood session as I have them.

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'Got Milk' The Advergame

Well, more like "White Gold" The Game.

Goodby is launching a new advergame called the "Thrashteurizer" tied to the faux rock band White Gold the agency created for the California Milk Processor Board last year. At stake: A Gibson Guitar, among other prizes.

What's perhaps most striking about the effort is the fact that, as ADWEEK reports today, it symbolizes the dramatic shift underway in CMPB's efforts to market milk.

According to the pub, CMPB has gone from spending 60 percent of its budget on TV spots three years ago to about 35 percent today.

It rolled out the White Gold effort on MySpace. And the new game is now available on the White Gold Facebook page and by texting "Thrash" via mobile phone.

"We're going [online] where we believe our eyeballs and hearts and minds are," Steve James, executive director for CMPB tells the pub.

That jives with a conversation I had last week with Derek Robson, managing partner for Goodby Siliverstein & Partners, which has likewise been working to become the kind of powerhouse in digital as it has been in television.

In fact, Robson tells me, roughly 60 percent of its billings - spanning CMBP, HP, Frito-Lay and many other major brands - are likewise in digital. That's nearly a complete flip flop from just a few years ago.

I guess CMPB's not the only brand that feels the battle for eyballs, hearts and minds are online. 

Rock on.

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