Macca's Chicago have just teamed up with Zynga (creators of Farmville + other social media games) to launch a one-day campaign whereby Macca's branded and launched a neighbouring farm on Farmville that enabled players to earn virtual points via McCafe etc to spend within the game. Very cool.
According to Brandchannel:
It’s a significant crossroads for in-game branding and a first-of-its-kind campaign for McDonald’s. McDonald's currently serves 26 million customers daily, while Zynga attracts more than 215 million monthly active users, and FarmVille remains its most popular title.
Dubbed a “neighbor farm” for the one-day campaign which ran yesterday, Farmville highlighted the MacFarm and visitors who helped grow tomatoes or mustard seed crops received in-game rewards dubbed FarmVille McCafe Consumable.
The Consumable is a valuable virtual good that makes game-play easier and delivers energy to players that doubles navigation speed and awards McDonald's Hot Air Balloons for decorating one’s farm.
7-Eleven ran a similar promotion this year (see pic above) when they teamed up with Farmville and integrated Farmville codes onto real products which were sold in 7-Eleven stores (think "Farmville Slurpee")
It allowed customers to "bite - earn - play" as they put it. This was another potent example whereby a brand facilitated the intangible (virtual online game) becoming real.
You know my passionate stance about retail being "anywhere a transaction happens" .......well digital convergence is making this happen (and it's only going to keep getting faster).
This latest Macca's example is further proof that the lines between online and offline have blurred. Savvy brands will continue to find even more ways to create experiences of value within and across these two arenas.
