Multiplayer Marketing

Confession time: I have a FarmVille addiction. It started a little over a month ago when I read a blog post about it being the No. 1 game on Facebook and I thought I would try it out. Just, you know, for professional "research." Next thing I knew, I was hooked. I'll probably check on my crops three times before I finish this article.I've played tons of casual games online (and made a few), but this sort of game feels different. It's the newest blockbuster in the coming wave of casual social multiplayer games and I'm starting to think it has a few interesting lessons for marketers.If you've never played FarmVille, the idea is simple: You tend to and decorate a farm where you can raise animals, plant different crops and trees, and harvest them after various time periods (between four hours and four days). The basic game is a solo affair, but if you have other Facebook friends playing there are multiple levels of possible collaboration (or collusion!). Mainly though, it's a simple game that makes you feel you've progressed each time you return to it.The lessons this farming craze might hold for marketers have less to do with integrating brands into existing games (although that's an interesting area still relatively unexplored), and more to do with how game mechanics can be applied to marketing.The most compelling aspect of this type of game is that the long-term driver is not winning, it's "leveling up." The closest thing to this in the real world that I can think of is flight rewards programs, in which you can "level up" by getting miles and elite status translates to tangible rewards like flight upgrades. I know a lot of people who do some crazy, obsessive stuff to get miles. The interesting thing here is that the rewards are directly related to the product experience. That system gets harder to implement, however, when you get away from travel and hospitality, and apply the approach not to service-based businesses but to products.I say "service based," but really, the service is an experience. And isn't so much of marketing about creating experiences? Let's say a long-term, brand-marketing campaign is a series of experiences. Ideally, the experiences are so compelling your audience develops not only brand affinity, but affinity to the marketing itself. "Hey, a new ad! I liked the last ad, I'll pay more attention!" This is great in a storytelling medium, but in an interactive world, couldn't there be more?What in the interactive world helps make brand experiences more game-like? Hardware works. Nike made a device to make running more game-like. Could Crest do that? Would it work if it made some kind of cyber toothbrush so you could win at brushing your teeth? Branded games are obviously game-like. Coke made a game where you could outfit your Sims apartment with virtual goods when you bought real soda. However, in the case of Coke, you had to have been marketed to elsewhere (unlike FarmVille, which I found through other means). For Nike, its marketing drove you to buy the shoes, the device makes you use the product more.What about taking the games to a more mass level, where the mass marketing has game-like elements? There's a lot of technology around ad serving that makes it easy to target ads to certain demographics, and there are cookies that track consumers online. Is there a game in there for brands? Is there a way to tie together ads over time on a user-by-user basis that makes a cumulative experience out of interacting with ads? Can interactions with a series of ads become a way to level-up, so you feel like you're achieving something?Some of this isn't possible now, such as user-by-user ad serving on the general Web. But user-by-user data sent to us in a Facebook app (like FarmVille) is. And that's not the only medium that has this potential. In any case, it's less about the technology than it is the frame of mind. Delta Platinum status is about deeper engagement and the desire to obtain a higher status. It would be like a brand-Tide, Starbucks, whatever -- having the equivalent of the American Express Black Card. During my few weeks of farming, I've noticed that a chunk of the time I might have spent browsing the Internet, seeing ads in the process, has been usurped by sowing and planting. I got hooked on the cumulative feeling of progress and achievement. Why have I never felt that from a brand?Benjamin Palmer is co-founder and CEO of the Barbarian Group.

Brand Marketing

Multiplayer Marketing

Benjamin Palmer

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Benjamin Palmer