WeChat has been the epitome of innovation in China. The social media giant has been having a whirlwind of a year after it was valued to be over $500 billion dollars.
The Viral Game
The game,Tiao Yi Tiao a.k.a Jump was released late December. The game instantly became a hit and had gathered around 100 million players within 2 weeks. The game has a simple agenda. The user has to get the little black figure to jump from one block to another. The blocks are positioned at different distances so the user has to control the leap by holding down onto the screen. The player earns a point for every successful jump. Needless to say, the users couldn’t get enough of the game!
Branding Opportunity
Viewing this as a perfect branding opportunity, Nike and McDonald’s were the first two companies to jump on the advertising bandwagon on the WeChat game. Reports state that the ads are allegedly priced at 5 million yuan (almost $791 thousand) per day or 20 million yuan (around $3.2 million) for five days.
The question is how uniquely did McDonalds and Nike advertise their brand on this game. The brands let the players customize their own blocks and add special effects to it. For Nike, the block would feature the words “Nike React” when a player jumps on it. They even earn an additional bonus after the word “Go” appears.
Brand Gamification
McDonald’s designed its block to feature their world famous slogan, “I’m lovin’ it” when a player lands on it. It is even followed by a sound effect if the user stays on a block a couple more seconds. The bonus from this brand features a burger or french fries popping out of the block.