You can run a farm or join the mafia and now Facebook gamers can become ambitious young marketing execs eager to move virtual product and become president of a worldwide packaged good company.
Reckitt Benckiser has launched a Facebook game called poweRBrands that challenges players to join the “virtual RB” as a marketing executive to try and climb the corporate ladder to become global president.
PoweRBrands targets 18- to 30-year-olds and simulates the “real-life experience of being a marketing executive” at Reckitt Benckiser. It is intended as a recruitment tool more than a sales application.
“Until recently, RB has focused communications on our enviable portfolio of iconic ‘Powerbrands,'” said Andraea Dawson-Shepherd, global communications director for the U.K.-based RB which includes Clearasil, Lysol, and French’s mustard in its brand stable. “However, over the last two to three years we have been developing a series of initiatives to reach out to talented students and people early on in their career. We aim to show them how RB operates, demonstrate the global nature of our operation, and underline the RB culture and how it differs from most [consumer goods] companies.”
The game was developed with the U.K.’s Euro RSCG Riley and London agency Nudge Social Media.
Players will be challenged to complete tasks through e-mails and phone calls, “while budding brand managers can also use their team (made up of their friends) to perform additional jobs.”
After signing up, players are told: “To be a winner you need to use your innovative sales skills and marketing ideas to outperform your rivals, and work your way up to be President of the company. To speed your journey to the top, you need to think and act like an RB person–and you’ll travel the world, earning and spending lots of money as you go.
A Facebook fan page (with 745 fans by late Monday afternoon) lets players exchange news, catch up on game changes, give feedback as well as link directly to the RB careers website.
The company said an online U.S. marketing campaign is planned for late-August on Facebook, LinkedIn and Yahoo HotJobs, recently acquired by Monster.com.
