This time of years tends to be a slower period for job search Web site Monster.com since people are thinking more about the holidays and less about finding a job. That’s why John Federico, VP of online media for Monster, said the company wanted to create something viral to keep the brand on people’s minds. The company turned to Dallas-based agency Moroch Partners to create an online game to give people a fun way to interact with the brand. The resulting “Foot in the Door,” which can be found at footinthedoorgame.com, provides a quirky, somewhat addictive way for job seekers to relax and let off some steam during this hectic time of the year and at the same time remind people that Monster is ready to help them walk through the door to their next great career.
The game consists of three levels of the corporate ladder. To advance, players must fling as many feet into the open doors as they can in one minute. They can make impressions and earn bonus points by hitting potential bosses in the head as they open the doors. If players hit Monster’s trademark Trumpasaurus character when he appears, he will hold the door open for them longer–similar to the way Monster helps them get their foot in the door when it comes to making career dreams come true. At the higher levels, it becomes more difficult to score because interns, mail room guys and secretaries potentially block throws.
“We’ve been expanding our marketing portfolio. Typically as far as online goes we have focused on more direct response immediate messagin–a lot of search marketing, banner display advertising,” Federico said.
“The strategy behind games is we want to allow people to be able to interact with the brand even if they are not necessarily in the mind set of trying to find a new job. You hear people refer to them as the passive job seeker. And so that just kind of keeps Monster top of mind to them when they are able to interact with the brand and our Trumpasaurus.”
Federico was concerned about making sure the game didn’t convey the wrong idea. “We wanted to make sure it was clear to people this was all in good fun. The whole angle of throwing feet is kind of humorous, quirky, wacky, not really harmful or anything. So that was kind of the thought there–to keep it sort of light. We didn’t want it to be target practice or anything. We are also careful how we position the brand and how we use Trumpasaurus in our advertising. That’s something we had to think about and make sure it was done in a way in which we feel comfortable.”
He knew Monster was in good hands because Moroch has had success with games for other clients. According to Moroch’s Tad Perryman, account director, the game was built in Flash, making it possible for the game play to be a little faster. From a technical standpoint, the challenge was to make the feet look right on the screen and to allow for different speeds when a player throws depending on which door they were aiming for.
“Wherever the hands are that are throwing the feet, the distance from there to the door is actually an algorithmic formula. So if you are throwing to the farthest door, it is going to take a little bit longer for it to travel there as opposed to the doors that are in the center,” Perryman explained. “It makes it more fun from a movement standpoint.”
Since games lend themselves to spending more time with a brand, the goal was to make “Foot in the Door” fun and exciting but not too easy. The level of difficulty in this particular game also lends itself to part of the viral aspect of the campaign. If players can’t make it to the second or third level on their own, they can receive a cheat code to get to the next level by referring the game to a friend.
In keeping with making this campaign as viral as possible, promotion has been fairly minimal. Monster started by sending the link to the internal Monster community including its subsidiaries,
“In the first week we leaked it to the employees we had more than 10,000 people play the game. So that was great. And that’s not just employees playing–that’s people passing it around so that’s a really strong kickoff before we even promoted it externally.”
Monster is also promoting the game with banner ads inside the Monster.com domain so that if you log into Monster to open an account or check your account, you can get the banner ads.
In addition, MySpace pages have been created for each of the characters in the game, so that gamers could get to “know” the characters personally and interact with them outside of the game.
As Moroch continues to track visits and repeat visits, Perryman is happy with the results so far.
“It has received good attention and pass along. We are continuing to have 80 percent or more being new visits, which is really what you want from a viral aspect. Of course we want people coming back and playing time and time again, but the viral aspect is staying on a positive, high new visit percentage.”
Director Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Dreams (Sex Love)” Wins Top Prize At The Berlin Film Festival
A Norwegian film about love, desire and self-discovery won top honors at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday.
A jury headed by American director Todd Haynes awarded the Golden Bear trophy to "Dreams (Sex Love)" by director Dag Johan Haugerud.
Haynes called it a "meditation on love" that "cuts you to the quick with its keen intelligence."
The film focuses on a teenager played by Ella Øverbyer, infatuated with her female French teacher, and the reactions of her mother and grandmother when they discover her private writings. It's the third part of a trilogy Haugerud has completed in the past year. "Sex" premiered at Berlin in 2024, and "Love" was screened at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
The runner-up Silver Bear prize went to Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro's dystopian drama "The Blue Trail." Argentine director Ivan Fund's rural saga "The Message" won the third-place Jury Prize.
The best director prize went to Huo Meng for "Living the Land," set in fast-changing 1990s China.
Rose Byrne was named best performer for her role as an overwhelmed mother in the Mary Bronstein-directed "If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You." Andrew Scott won the supporting performer trophy for playing composer Richard Rodgers in Richard Linklater's "Blue Moon."
The climax of the festival known as the Berlinale came on the eve of Germany's parliamentary elections after a campaign dominated by migration and the economy.
The national election is being held seven months early, after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition collapsed in a dispute about how to revitalize the country's economy.
Efforts to curb migration have emerged as a central issue in the campaign — along with the question of how to handle the... Read More