Using Games to Boost Your Fan Base

Hundreds of companies are using Facebook games to promote their product, message, or service. Even more impressive, a handful of them have been very successful in reaching their audience as well as getting some media attention.

Making Waves Game

The family-oriented boat dealer Discover Boating took one of the more direct takes on gamification: it literally made a game comparable to traditional video games.

Making Waves is a series of mini-games all related to boating (see Figure 13.1). One features players dodging buoys through a river, while another focuses on catching fish. The controls are simple enough to learn within seconds, but the art design, sound, and animation are high quality.

Making Waves works in two very important ways: First, Discover Boating took the time to create a very polished product. Second, the game itself makes boating seem fun and easy.

And when the visitor wants a break, she can just click on the info page to learn more about the Discover Boating business.

Whopper Sacrifice Game

Easily the most controversial brand-related Facebook game was also one of the most successful. In late 2008, fast-food chain Burger King launched Whopper Sacrifice.

The rules were simple:

More than 200,000 people were defriended for a Whopper within a matter of weeks. Making matters even worse, when someone was defriended, Burger King would send him a notification that the friend chose a juicy whopper over his friendship.

The ruthless, sociology-driven marketing campaign got lots of coverage in the press. Some of the reports focused on the meanness of the game.

Unfortunately for Burger King, the game violated one of Facebook’s terms of service. Essentially, an app cannot tell a person that she has been defriended—it is a violation of Facebook’s privacy agreement.

WATCH OUT

A multi-million-dollar company, Burger King no doubt had a cadre of lawyers who let them know ahead of time that the game violated the Facebook terms of service (or at least we hope so). Burger King probably weighed the consequences and determined that it would earn enough promotion and lifetime Whopper customers to justify the risk.

Before you start your Facebook marketing campaign, make sure your plans don’t violate the Facebook terms, U.S. law, or your company’s ethics. Second, if you do decide to make a risky move like the Whopper Sacrifice, make sure that your company can withstand the potential fallout to your reputation, your finances, and your clientele.

Rather than change the game, Burger King opted to shut it down in early 2009. According to The New York Times, the chain honored the roughly 24,000 free Whopper coupons players earned during the game.

Ford Fiesta Movement

The Fiesta is one of Ford’s newer car models. Compact and affordable, the car’s target market is definitely the young and hip. The Ford Fiesta Movement tried to turn the car-buying experience into a big, nationwide game (see Figure 13.2).

Ford lent 100 Fiestas to a select group of people. Each one was given a “mission”—essentially a road trip—to document with photos and video. Ford also paid for the gas. The best overall documenters would later compete to win a Ford Fiesta of their own.

FRIENDLY ADVICE

Ford was unusually bold about its intentions. Here’s an excerpt from the Ford Fiesta Movement website: “For the next chapter of the Fiesta Movement—and in anticipation of Fiesta arriving in the United States—we’re letting our fans take a crack at advertising. They’ll use their creativity to promote the new 2011 Fiesta. And you get to be the judge.”

Ford’s approach is an excellent example of marketing transparency (for more on this, see Chapter 17). In short, Ford was upfront about its intentions, and its Facebook followers respected the company for it.

Set up like a real-life video game, the Ford Fiesta Movement came to America in 2011, but it previously had a successful run in Europe.