Results for articles with tag 'farmville' (2 total)
11/23/2010 08:25:28 AM 
Mark Pincus, the founder of Zynga, recently announced to The Daily Telegraph that he wants Zynga to become a verb.
"I want people to ‘Zynga’ each other and for the word to become completely aligned with gaming."
This is quite a big shift from where he's been and where gaming has been traditionally. Like record labels, gaming brands have had a tough time trying to create strong parent brands, only Rockstar and EA have managed to do it.
It's likely that many of the million of Farmville players don't even know Zynga is behind the game and even if they do, they aren't likely to substitute Zynga for Farmville anytime soon.
It's also somewhat arrogant to believe that Zynga will eclipse all other gaming brands in other categories and seems unlikely that the brand will dominate the social gaming sphere for ever.
However, stranger things have happened and maybe Pincus is planning an advertising onslaught with a global television campaign supported by online takeovers, spectacular billboards and events. Who knows? But Zynga's going to have to do something radical, if it wants that verb status.
Posted by Ed Cotton
01/26/2010 10:56:53 AM (1)
(1) Farmville, Zynga's game wasn't launched until June 2009 and has grown rapidly to reach 10 million active daily users by August of 2009 and onto 27 million where it stands today.
It demonstrates how building on people's existing ideas can be a succesfull formula, but more than that, it shows how gaming is evolving from high powered consoles to social experiences. The Wii showed us the power of social gaming in a physical context, but Farmville shows us how mass social gaming can truly become a phenomenon.
Disecting the elements that make Farmville such a success would be a lesson in how things become social and something a number of brands could learn a lot from.
Posted by Ed Cotton
Articles for tag farmville (2 total).