Internet has already become one of the indispensible marketing tools in modern brand campaign. Official websites can be used to promote the business idea or launching of new products. Internet as a major communication tool has become a trend for years while the current trend is to combine virtual and real world. Some are moving from reality to virtual world and some are doing it the other way around. No matter what kind of method is used, the purpose is to build a deeper interactive relationship with the consumers. Now we will introduce some of these integration examples.
GT5 Banner Ads + Google Street View
In order to promote virtual car racing game,《GT5》 PS3 launched an AD declaring players may “race on Banner directly”. It might sound unbelievable but actually it uses the street view by Google Map to simulate the player sitting in the driver’s seat and driving fancy sports car around the city. What stands out about Google Street View was that Google used a car equipped with 360∘ panoramic camera to run through streets in each city and take pictures at real sites. Then the pictures were pieced together as a representation of reality. In this 3D scene, you can turn your angle 360∘, moving back and forth along the street as if you are actually there.
The feature of Google Street View happens to match the aim of GT5. The actual streets in several major cities in the world, such as London, Tokyo, Madrid, and Rome, were built in the game. Surely, the quality of dpi far exceeds than Google Map in terms of whether on the sky buildings, streets, or sights.
In the Banner of GT5, you don’t have to link to the official website before experiencing the “simulated car race”. All you have to do is using the cursor and direction keys to control your car and you can speed on the street of Rome, Tokyo, or London.
Through the Google Map Street View, GT5 could interact with players and make them want to know more about the product. Such method is much better than the traditional AD which only tells the players the features of the product, and can easily arouse the interests of consumers.
▲GT5 allows you to drive on the street of Rome without leaving your home http://www.smartnewsolutions.ru/festival/cannes/gt5/
Volkswagen Fox Planeta Terra Twitter Game
Planeta Terra Festival is held in São Paulo, Brazil every year and famous singers around the world are invited to perform in the concert. For VW Fox, whose target group is the young, first car purchaser is a great contact point to communicate with them. Therefore, VW cooperated with Planeta Terra and co-hosted an virtual-reality integrated event that also incorporated Google Map.
In addition to sponsoring the concert and exhibit the new cars, in an effort to make more people aware of this grand event, Fox also invited internet users to get free concert tickets by Twittering the key text, “Fox at Planeta Terra”.
There was a huge Google Map overlooking São Paulo in the campaign website, and the concert tickets were hidden in 10 places on the map. The map would be enlarged a little bit more whenever a person twits the key phrase, and the more people twit, the bigger the map would be. The first person who spots the hiding place and gets there would get the ticket. Then another hiding place would be announced, until all 10 places were spotted.
The entry threshold of the event was low –all you need to do is type and twit. And the participants would spread the word to get more to participate because it’s the only way to find the answer. For VW Fox, the price to pay is just a few concert tickets in exchange for the sponsorship, but what they really gained was the invaluable free promotion and publicity. The 4-day-event that coined the key phrase, “Fox at Planeta Terra”, had also easily made it go on the top of keyword search on Twitter.
▲VW Fox uses Twitter to play a game of treasure hunting with internet users.
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSYxDz22DqY&feature=player_embedded )
▲Famous singers participate in Planeta Terra Festival (http://musica.terra.com.br/planetaterra/2010/noticias/0,,OI4803264-EI16842,00De+Pumpkins+a+Mika+Planeta+Terra+agita+Playcenter+lotado.html )
About Author
Mika, Internet Marketing Observer
Born in the 60s, Mika has worked in the field of consumption marketing for decades. He experienced brand strategy, product concept all the way to official launch. He cars about traditional marketing model as well as the changes arise from Web2.0 and social media.
Blog:jabamay.blogspot.com