I know what you’re thinking.  You log in to your Facebook account and all you want to see in your News Feed are status updates of what your friends are doing.   Or what events you’ve been invited to.  Or fun pics you’ve been tagged in from the crazy night before.  And you’re totally irritated when you see my Mafia Wars achievements.  Or a photo of my farm.  And you join groups like “I don’t care about your farm, or your fish, or your park, or your mafia” to make your annoyance heard.  Unbeknownst to you, those games aren’t just fun and games anymore.

Mafia Wars Helps Drive Sales for Public Enemies DVD and Blu Ray

To help promote the December 8 DVD and Blu Ray release of Public Enemies, an ingenious cross promotional campaign was created, led by Appsavvy, a direct sales team for the social media group Zynga (creators of Mafia Wars), and by Ignited, the marketing innovations agency working on behalf of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.  “Public Enemies on Mafia Wars is the blockbuster social media campaign of 2009,” says Chris Cunningham, co-founder and CEO of Appsavvy.  During “Public Enemies Week” on Mafia Wars, (there are currently 25+ million monthly active players), users could complete jobs in the game to unlock Public Enemies Loot, which featured virtual items featured in the film.  Users could also view actual clips from the movie, as well as Public Enemies factoids, of course, along with friendly reminders of the DVD and Blu Ray release date.  So the question is – did the campaign work?

What is now been called a “viral success,” Appsavvy recorded nearly 55 million interactions with Public Enemies Loot.  The Loot and Job interactions in Mafia Wars showed up in News Feeds more than 7.6 million times, generating nearly 25,000 “Likes” and 26,000 comments.  And although that’s all fine and dandy in the world of social media, what does that translate into in terms of DVD and Blu Ray Sales?  For a movie that was considered a box office disappointment (grossing only 97.1 million in theaters), it sold over $15 million in DVD and Blu Rays its first week, (coming in second only to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). And it did score a win debuting ahead of Harry Potter at number one for Home Movie Rentals.  Coincidence?  Or just plain creative advertising.

“This effort with Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Zynga demonstrated these fundamentals of social media marketing to perfection,” Chris Cunningham continues.  According to Mike Wokosin, VP of digital marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment, “Mafia Wars was an incredibly dynamic environment to seamlessly integrate our property and to effectively engage a significant and relevant audience.”  Although this campaign was the first of its kind, we should expect to see similar promotions as the right opportunities arise. And if you have to know…although I did not buy the movie, I made it #1 in my Netflix Queue.  And yes, I was thinking of all of my Mafia Wars items as I watched the movie.  More proof that, if done right, advertising through social media outlets can and does work!