Perfect Branded Promotion.
Finally, an interactive video game manufacturer is running a promotion that leverages the game content AND the DNA of the game itself. It is, in a word, perfect.
It’s MLB2010 from 2KSports. The first person to pitch a perfect game wins $1,000,000. Simple. And by rewarding actual gameplay, it’s a natural, organic extension of the brand.
The only drag is requiring players to record the entire game on video to ensure legitimacy. (That’s the long-accepted rule of high-level videogaming, but you’d think by now there would be a live interface that could record it for you). And, you have to FedEx a bunch of forms to prove compliance–it would be a lot more fun to automate that process digitally as well.
Still, this promotion provides a direct reward for players to engage with the game. That’s much better than hidden codes and random draws that reward luck over proficiency. And it appeals directly to the their target. I love that there’s only one prize, and it goes to the first gamer who can a) master the game and b) prove it. Finding and exploiting an organic part of the product to reward loyal users should be the goal of any brand promotion. In this case, it’s perfect.
Side note: there’s an awesome documentary about mastering a video game, and the intense rivalry and cheating that can occur, that’s worth watching even if you don’t care about gaming. It’s called King of Kong. If nothing else, it proves that gamers are a little different than the rest of us.
