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AdNectar Brings Together Hot Pockets And Meez
Meez recently concluded its first branded virtual goods campaign, conducted with AdNectar to promote the Hot Pockets brand of microwaveable frozen turnovers. The campaign was centered around virtual gifting, encouraging users of the Meez virtual world to give each other branded goods that their avatars could wear or otherwise show off. Many of the goods were pizza-themed, since one of the most popular Hot Pockets flavors is Pepperoni Pizza.
Goods used in the Meez Hot Pockets campaign included virtual replicas of Hot Pockets turnovers, “pizza eyes” that turned an avatar’s eyes into slices of pepperoni, and t-shirts including Hot Pockets logos and the slogan “live a cheesy life.” Users could send the gifts from their Friends pages, then see a video ad from the Hot Pockets “Eat Freely” campaign.
The campaign ran for about three weeks in the month of February. While AdNectar could not divulge total number of gifts sent, the company did state that the number was roughly double their initial expectations. Meez users were reminded that the virtual items would only be available for a limited time, which can help to drive engagement in online campaigns. In a virtual world setting like Meez, branded items can become more desirable when users believe they’re rare.
The Meez campaign was very significant for AdNectar, as it marked their first campaign conducted within a 3D virtual world. For AdNectar this meant shifting its approach to be more focused on the teen demographic that Meez serves. On Facebook, where AdNectar usually conducts its campaigns, most campaigns target a more general audience.
“I think this whole industry began with Facebook since it has the largest audinece,” said Paul Martecchini, Vice President of Marketing at AdNectar. “Now, people are looking for less scale and different environments that are contextually relevant. They’re looking for very high engagement stats, and Meez is known for having some of the longest times of consumers engaging with content of any social network.”
AdNectar partnered with Meez to create the 3D assets for the virtual gifts, so they would fit seamlessly into the Meez virtual world. AdNectar anticipates conducting more off-Facebook campaigns in its future, using similar methods. In particular, Martecchini expects AdNectar will eventually conduct virtual gift campaigns in both online games and on mobile platforms.
Meez has conducted campaigns involving branded virtual goods before, but not branded virtual gifting. Last December Meez conducted a campaign with virtual goods licensor Virtual Greats to promote Snoop Dogg’s Malice in Wonderland album. The Malice in Wonderland goods were available for purchase at premium prices by Meez users, rather than something users were encouraged to give each other.
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