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Facebook and Real-World Marketing

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  limcollege.edu staff Staff Profiles Desktops & Documents lola.rephann My Documents website BLOGS Hubspot Blogs Short Takes JenaGlickFarm Ville. Mafia Wars. Yo Ville. Facebook in the 7-11 aisles?  Facebook’s addictive games have invaded the well-known convenience store. Consumers may be concerned.  Will the games be delicious? You bet your bottom dollar! Slurpees, ice cream and the cultivation of crops and murder of enemies in one-stop shopping for the late-night customer.

Will this business partnership raise consumer awareness of the convenient corner store and Facebook? Heck to the yes. Facebook’s popular games are a worldwide craze that spread from friends to families to discussion boards and websites. Now, the games have leaped from the computer into real-world marketing. 

So what does this mean to consumers as they go their daily existence? 

Well, Zynga Inc., the owner of some of Facebook’s most popular games, has linked up with 7-11 to extend both brands. By purchasing game items at 7-11, you receive codes to enter into your games that will unlock a special task that you can perform to win yourself 7-11 items in the game world.

Already groups have formed to trade not only game world cattle, crops, and other Farm Ville items, but also the coveted 7–11 codes. However, the popularity of the Facebook games at 7-11 grew out of another partnership between Zynga Inc. and the convenience store. Farm Ville game cards were sold at the retailer two months before Farm Ville ice cream hit the shelves. The company has even ventured to begin other games on MySpace, including Mafia Wars in Bangkok. 

Such game partnerships are only part of the story. Facebook seems able to crush other social-networking sites around the world.  But could such partnerships enable rival companies to stay alive?  Will the partnerships play a great part in fusing life online with life in the tangible world? Are they the leading edge of the marketing strategy for Facebook, which in the near future has to earn real-world profits aside from those pesky ads?  What do you think?

--Jena Glick

An article about the film based on the creation of Facebook: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/facebook-500-million-friends-and-a-few-enemies/19558931/

An “all Facebook, all the time” sites on what social-metwork marketing has meant to Starbucks: http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/07/23/starbucks-becomes-the-most-popular-brand-on-facebook/

One of College Humor’s discussions of Facebook:
http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1738630

Topics: fashion industry, social media

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