The critically acclaimed gangster saga Public Enemies has been described as “explosive… thrilling… suspenseful,” “one of the best of the year,” and “like no other.” Those same descriptions accurately reflect the success of the wildly popular Facebook game, Zynga’s Mafia Wars, that launched an unprecedented social media campaign to promote the film’s high-profile December 2009 Blu-ray™ and DVD release.
The campaign led by appssavvy, a direct sales team for the social media space, in partnership with the Los Angeles office of Ignited, a marketing innovations agency working on behalf of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, celebrated the home entertainment release by launching this first-of-its-kind integration reaching millions of consumers.
Mafia Wars enables social gamers to start a Mafia family with friends, run a criminal empire and fight to be the most powerful family in New York City, Cuba and Moscow. Mafia Wars is played by more than 25 million monthly active Facebook users.
During “Public Enemies Week” on Mafia Wars, players completed various jobs in order to unlock Public Enemies “Loot” – items such as John Dillinger’s wooden gun, prison stripes, and Public Enemy #1 Newspaper, among others.
Additionally, special Public Enemies-featured jobs were offered for a limited time. After completing jobs (playing the game), players were able to view clips from the movie and read John Dillinger factoids.
To demonstrate the success of the campaign, Public Enemies Loot garnered nearly 55 million interactions during the week-long campaign. Not only did the game reach millions of players, but it also over delivered by a multiple of 13, which ultimately supported the film’s Blu-ray and DVD break-out during the busy holiday season.
Outside of Loot interacted with and Jobs completed, as one would expect, the integration was a viral success. Loot and Job interactions were posted to players’ Facebook Newsfeed more than 7.6 million times delivering nearly a billion viral impressions. Meanwhile the campaign generated nearly 25,000 ‘Likes’ and more than 26,000 comments on the Mafia Wars Facebook Fanpage.
