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.

Comments

EA Games

[girlintraining]

Their new company slogan should be, "And You Thought Square Enix Was Evil. Muwhahahaha. Ha. ..... Haaaaaaaaaaah."

Re:EA Games

[Sponge Bath]

More like: "It's so real, you would swear you were actually watching a commercial!"

Poor Linking

[Hardhead_7]

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?

Re:Poor Linking

[MasseKid]

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?

No, no they aren't doing basic proof reading and editing. They've learned that we will accept a very low standard of editing and still visit the site. Just like EA has learned they can treat people like crap and those same people will still buy their games.

From the article

[Capt.DrumkenBum]

I know, I should not have read it. Rookie mistake.

This is clever marketing at its finest. In one swoop, EA has bracketed the untapped potential of gamers who care about dental hygiene.

What, both of them?

Re:From the article

[Kaenneth]

Well, better than urinary catheter ads...

"Why lose valuable APM struggling to fit a penis you can't even see into the neck of an old mountain dew bottle? Just have your mom insert a Steriflow brand catheter once a week, and never need to take your hands from the controls!"

Re:From the article

[mrchaotica]

If you're going to that much trouble, why not just put the computer in the bathroom?

Yawn!

[tompaulco]

Wake me up when it is NON-downloadable content and I can play it offline.

Re:Yawn!

[VortexCortex]

Wake me up when it is NON-downloadable content and I can play it offline.

Thus Rip Van Winkle slept uninterrupted for decades. He was wakened only briefly by the machine intelligences that now claimed all resources on his planet before being drugged and dragged off this very museum. That, machildren, is how we discovered the last known surviving human.

Wut? Obviously you never met a marketer

[HeckRuler]

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!

I paid $80 for this game

[addie]

And it just keeps getting stranger by the day. I have nobody to blame but myself.

You need to get out more,

[westlake]

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.

Not a good sign for gaming

[Torodung]

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.