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Weirdest DLC Sponsorship Ever: SimCity, Brought To You By Crest
MojoKid writes "When it comes to creative advertising potential, it's hard to beat a game like SimCity. In most titles, the idea of in-game advertising makes little sense. Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret, Booker DeWitt is an unlikely fan of Coca-Cola, and the post-apocalyptic setting of Metro 2033 isn't exactly prime McDonald's turf. But SimCity? SimCity is a game where it makes perfect sense to integrate real-world brands. A city filled with familiar logos and advertising is a city that more closely resembles the real world. That's undoubtedly why EA decided to partner with Crest Toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste. And not for in-game advertising, either. The Nissan Leaf DLC that the company launched a few weeks back at least made sense in some context; EV charging stations are going to be an increasingly common site in cities in the future. But the five new SimCity Attractions that the company added in the Crest partnership boggle the mind."
The Escapist points out that this partnership also extends to The Sims Social, one of EA's Facebook games... which is getting shut down in a few months.
Their new company slogan should be, "And You Thought Square Enix Was Evil. Muwhahahaha. Ha. ..... Haaaaaaaaaaah."
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
I know Slashdot likes to confuse us with it's hyperlink placement, but I just feel like pointing out that puting the link to TFA on the text "a city that more closely resembles the real world" makes absolutely no sense. That's where a link to a story about the Nissan Leaf DLC should go, at best. The very next sentence, "That's undoubtedly why EA decided to partner with Crest Toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste." is where the hyperlink to go since the hyperlink leads to.... a story about Crest Toothpaste DLC!
I mean, come on! Is no one doing basic proofreading here?
What, both of them?
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Wake me up when it is NON-downloadable content and I can play it offline.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
In most titles, the idea of in-game advertising makes little sense. Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret, Booker DeWitt is an unlikely fan of Coca-Cola, and the post-apocalyptic setting of Metro 2033 isn't exactly prime McDonald's turf.
Ok, work with me here. I've got money on the table and I WANT to give it to you. Just keep an open mind. Roll with me here. Ok ok, here we go:
1) The queen of blades is casually strolling through the ruined husk of a terran world she just devistated. Fires and corpses everywhere. Zerglings scootin about everywhere. She looks around with a faint memory of a previous life. Her eyes focus on something. She smirks. The last scene is her walking into the mostly intake Victoria's Secrets store.
2) It's a cold unbearable post-apocalyptic Moscow. Your health slowly comes back as you fight you way through Icouldn'tbebotheredtoreadtheplotsummary. Sure, medkits can heal you to full, but what's better than a meal chock-full of preservatives? Every now and then you can find an old abandoned Micky-Dee's, salvage some old patties, and give your health a minor boost to regeneration.
3) Ok, ok, this last one is easy. Booker DeWitt scounges around some trashcans for food all the time right? All we ask is that a cocacola be in there. Easy as pie. Easier then pie. Pie has that flakey crust. All we want is a simple aluminum can in the trash. Is that too much to ask? There's all sorts of reasons it could be in there. Come ON baby, work with me here!
This does surprise me. Although the deal has probably been in the pipeline for months I would have thought that Crest would have realised that SimCity is pretty much become a toxic brand at the moment and will taint everything associated with it. Pulling out from the deal, or convincing EA to move the deal to another game would have made a lot of sense.
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And it just keeps getting stranger by the day. I have nobody to blame but myself.
...why does my city now look like Toothopolis? And who are these creeps always trying to storm my city walls?
Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), which is basically anything that you find in a supermarket, has always struggled with how to approach the internet/digital. Their model for the last fifty years has been to blast ads all over TV, which was easily segmented into specific groups depending on the product. I spent some time working with these companies, and by and large they are not sure how to approach the internet.
Buying up lots of banner ads isn't the same as buying lots of time during specific shows. No one wants to sit through their commercials, and tracking Return on Investment on their ads is entirely different than what they are used to, and the jury is still out on effectiveness of those ads. Facebook lets anyone come along and build out some very, very specific segments and advertise their niche product. Also, as TV watching drops, CPG HAS TO find a better way to reach people online.
Because CPG still hasn't found something that "clicks" in the online space, and this looks like an experiment for Crest to see if this is an area that makes sense for them to explore long term... they can't reach people on TV because people are playing games, so why not advertise to them in the game?
Like previous attempts, it just doesn't really make sense to the audience. CPG still has some work to do to find a way to reach people, and there is a LOT of money to be made by the person that figures it out.
I would have thought that Crest would have realised that SimCity is pretty much become a toxic brand at the moment and will taint everything associated with it.
The download of the new SimCity is #3 in PC game sales at Amazon,com The SimCity 4 download edition is #5. The Sims 3 and its - many - add-ons are well placed in the top 50.
Bioshock Infinite, with a Metacritic rating of 95, is #14.
On top of that, I don't see any sign of "in-game" crest marketing in TFA:
Unless the Giant Garden Gnome has a shiny smile, it's not in-game advertising, it's just cross promotion.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Similar things began to happen just before the big video game crash of 1983. I think it was even Crest proof-of-purchase tags that got you the game.