Dell Facebook Music Promo Heads for Big Finish

Dell and Microsoft have teamed up on a Facebook-centric viral game that will offer to bring the band One Republic to play a free concert at the college that racks up the most game points.

Students can register for the “Be the Campus Rockstar” game by going through the Dell University Web site, www.delluniversity.com/onerepublic, a Dell portal for college-endorsed discounts on laptops, PCs and other equipment that is co-branded by Microsoft. From that site entrants can fill out the Facebook game sign-up, identify their school Facebook network and start racking up points. (In fact, they get 10 points for just installing the application.)

The point system is designed to maximize the viral push. Players get a point for each unique invitation they send to an eligible friend (over 18, enrolled in the U.S. in an accredited college) and 20 points each time a friend accepts that invite and installs the game application.

Players can also score 20 points by watching short videos about Microsoft products that will be delivered to the Facebook app regularly, or 30 points for correct answers to a weekly multiple-choice trivia question about Dell products.

They can earn a big 50 points the first time they click through the application either to the www.DellUniversity.com site or to Dell’s sponsored College Gaming League (cgl.delluniversity.com).

The school network that has amassed the most total points by Aug. 31 will get a free concert by One Republic, a pop-rock group that released their debut album in November 2007. The top 10-point earners from that winning school will win a chance to meet the band backstage and an 8GB Microsoft Zune media player.

The three biggest point earners from the game as a whole will also get tickets to the concert and the backstage passes, along with travel and two-night hotel stays for two wherever the concert takes place, slated for early November.

Weekly prizes during the game period include a $1,000 Target gift card and an 8GB Zune for the overall point leader during the week, and $275 Target cards for the next nine highest scorers. The game, which launched on July 7, is now in the seventh of its eight-week run.

According to SoundScan Data, One Republic’s 2007 single “Apologize” is one of only two songs to have hit the 3 million legal downloads. One Republic has been touring this summer with musician John Mayer.

The “Be the Campus Rockstar” game was designed and is being managed by Mr. Youth, an agency specializing in marketing to consumers 14 to 29.

The agency said the contest has benefited from running inside the popular Facebook social network.

“By bringing the contest within Facebook, the reach has been greatly increased through viral channels and peer-to-peer delivery of the message,” Mr. Youth managing partner Brandon Evans said in a statement. “Through a traditional microsite, 200,000 students participating in just the first five weeks would not have been possible.”