Situation: Zynga is a highly successful social media gaming network behind huge hits such as Farmville and Mafia Wars. They boast over 65 million daily active users and $350 million in revenue for the first half of 2010. Their addictive, engaging games can be played on Facebook, Myspace, iPhone, Yahoo!, and MSN. Founded in 2007, in just three short years they’ve managed to become a buzz-worthy, cultural icon. Thanks to Farmville. And if you’re not one of the millions who play a Zynga game, you’ve certainly been annoyed by one of them.
When it came time to promote their new Mafia Wars release, Mafia Wars Las Vegas, Zynga had to go big or go home. The marketers needed to cook up a promotion that would not only attract attention to the game launch but directly incentivize new and current players. What’s a social media giant to do?
Solution: Blow up a truck live on the Internet of course. On August 4th Zynga opened Mafia Wars: Las Vegas to the public and announced a special incentive – once 10 million players visited the new city, the company would blow up a four-ton armored truck in the Las Vegas desert (mimicking a feature in the game that lets players band together to perform a similar act of pyrotechnics.)
Shortly thereafter, the game hit 10 million players and Zynga made good on their promise. The company drove a four-ton armored truck painted with Mafia Wars graphics to a Las Vegas desert, enlisted Snoop Dogg to promote and host the event, and then let him blow the thing up. The whole ordeal was broadcast live on Ustream on Thursday August 19th at 6 pm.
Results: With the help of Snoop’s vast social media reach (1.8 million Twitter followers), his synergistic gangsta image, and the game’s built in draw, the truck-exploding event attracted 2 million live viewers on Ustream, breaking the record for most viewed original event in the site’s history. In comparison, Sunday night’s episode of Mad Men received about the same numbers, on television.
Two million people tuned in to watch a live event exclusively on the Internet. If that isn’t a signal of changing trends, we’re unlikely to ever see one. What’s more is that the content was branded entertainment, brought to you by a specific company promoting a product. A commercial, essentially. Not every company can pull off such a large scale stunt, complete with celebrity endorsement, but for those that can there’s a brave new path ripe with visibility and opportunity.
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