Zynga: Mafia Wars Campaign
- Zynga
Mafia Wars Las Vegas Game Launch - PROBLEM
Known for online social games like FarmVille, Zynga has over 300 million monthly active gamers worldwide on popular sites like Facebook. The game Mafia Wars attracts a male user base that spend hours in their virtual crime world with the goal of building an empire to take over an entire virtual city. A large number of gamers had lost interest in Mafia Wars, dropping out altogether. Zynga sought to reactivate previous gamers as well as attract a new audience who had never played Mafia Wars, with the launch a new in-game city. They set the goal at 1.8 million gamers.
SOLUTION
Research indicated that the tech-savvy male gamer doesn’t respond to typical marketing hype. A stunt never before attempted in the online gaming category was required to legitimately speak the language of our target. The experience of Mafia Wars was brought to life leveraging the launch of the new in-game City of Las Vegas. A tease video trailer, wildposting, window clings, fake money street art, radio spots and web banners all sent the viewer to a landing page with a call to join the world’s largest mafia to “destroy the evidence” of a crime spree.
RESULT
After two weeks, the reactivated and new gamers totaled 2.2 million combined. This exceeded Zynga’s goal of 1.8 million. Mafia Wars received 84 million newsworthy impressions. And our live detonation of a real armored truck broke viewer records for a one-time live event with more than 2 million live views globally. 
Activation Truck
Activation Truck
Activation Truck
Vehicle Window Cling
Vehicle Window Cling
Guerilla Street Decal
Guerilla Street Decal
Wild Posting
Wild Posting
Microsite
Project Information
PROBLEM
Known for online social games like FarmVille, Zynga has over 300 million monthly active gamers worldwide on popular sites like Facebook. The game Mafia Wars attracts a male user base that spend hours in their virtual crime world with the goal of building an empire to take over an entire virtual city. A large number of gamers had lost interest in Mafia Wars, dropping out altogether. Zynga sought to reactivate previous gamers as well as attract a new audience who had never played Mafia Wars, with the launch a new in-game city. They set the goal at 1.8 million gamers.
SOLUTION
Research indicated that the tech-savvy male gamer doesn’t respond to typical marketing hype. A stunt never before attempted in the online gaming category was required to legitimately speak the language of our target. The experience of Mafia Wars was brought to life leveraging the launch of the new in-game City of Las Vegas. A tease video trailer, wildposting, window clings, fake money street art, radio spots and web banners all sent the viewer to a landing page with a call to join the world’s largest mafia to “destroy the evidence” of a crime spree.
RESULT
After two weeks, the reactivated and new gamers totaled 2.2 million combined. This exceeded Zynga’s goal of 1.8 million. Mafia Wars received 84 million newsworthy impressions. And our live detonation of a real armored truck broke viewer records for a one-time live event with more than 2 million live views globally.
Known for online social games like FarmVille, Zynga has over 300 million monthly active gamers worldwide on popular sites like Facebook. The game Mafia Wars attracts a male user base that spend hours in their virtual crime world with the goal of building an empire to take over an entire virtual city. A large number of gamers had lost interest in Mafia Wars, dropping out altogether. Zynga sought to reactivate previous gamers as well as attract a new audience who had never played Mafia Wars, with the launch a new in-game city. They set the goal at 1.8 million gamers.
SOLUTION
Research indicated that the tech-savvy male gamer doesn’t respond to typical marketing hype. A stunt never before attempted in the online gaming category was required to legitimately speak the language of our target. The experience of Mafia Wars was brought to life leveraging the launch of the new in-game City of Las Vegas. A tease video trailer, wildposting, window clings, fake money street art, radio spots and web banners all sent the viewer to a landing page with a call to join the world’s largest mafia to “destroy the evidence” of a crime spree.
RESULT
After two weeks, the reactivated and new gamers totaled 2.2 million combined. This exceeded Zynga’s goal of 1.8 million. Mafia Wars received 84 million newsworthy impressions. And our live detonation of a real armored truck broke viewer records for a one-time live event with more than 2 million live views globally.
Fields
Integrated Campaign
Date
2011
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