Chiquita launches online game to garner appeal

The produce distributor’s tie-in with the animated movie ‘Rio’ offered badges and prizes, and it drew lots of attention to the brand’s bananas and other products.

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Let’s just go ahead and get the pun out of the way. Why did Chiquita team up with 20th Century Fox, Bunchball, and Empower MediaMarketing to create a tie-in game for the movie “Rio” this spring? And why were the winning badges shaped like Chiquita stickers?

“It was very appealing,” Steve Daly, digital technology director at Empower, says with a laugh.

The game’s badges weren’t just an end unto themselves, as they so often are in online games. As users earned badges, they gained more chances to win drawings for prizes, such as free bananas, downloads, and, for one family, a trip to Rio de Janeiro.

Players were encouraged to get their friends in on the act, too. As players earned more total badges, a counter ticked up to reveal new sweepstakes prizes. It all worked out pretty well, says Mitch Dunn, vice president of client strategy at Empower.

“There’s a million sweepstakes out there,” he says. “I think what was different about this was how much fun it was.”

‘The four legs of the stool’

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