Monday, July 19, 2010
by Amar Toor — Jul 16th 2010 at 9:11AM
As far as agriculture goes, FarmVille's pretty environmentally friendly. After all, everything "grown" on a computer screen is about as local as it gets. And the only thing a user could possibly waste, besides money, is an entire social life. Soon, however, the game's agrarian community will have a whole new way to raise pretend plants... and hemorrhage even more cash.
As the New York Times reports, Zynga, the company behind the still-inexplicably popular game, has now inked a deal with Cascadian Farm, an organic food company owned by General Mills. Beginning next week, users will be able to grow their own organic blueberry patches from Cascadian Farm, marking the first time that Zynga has promoted a branded food product within FarmVille. Both partners say that the initiative is geared toward raising awareness about organic farming and green living, while exposing Cascadian Farm's brand to a wider audience.
Unlike real life organic farming, Farmville's digital crops will reportedly grow faster, bring bigger cash returns and, presumably, allow organic FarmVillers to look down upon their less green counterparts in smug condescension. Users will also be able to grab a $1 coupon for Cascadian Farms products, redeemable at any real-life stores. The promotion, though, will only run from July 19-26, since, as Cascadian Farm marketing manager Tim Goldsmid says, "We don't want to overextend our stay."
Zynga, of course, is no stranger to brand-based partnerships. In the past, the game company has launched brick-and-mortar based promotions with Green Giant Fresh, and, most recently, with 7-Eleven. This in-game partnership with Cascadian Farms, however, marks new corporate territory for Zynga, and we're willing to bet that it won't be the last brand FarmVille's farmers see pop up on their screens. From a business perspective, the union makes total sense. We already live in a world where people pay real money for fake things. Why wouldn't a company target such a large demographic of pre-determined suckers? If Farmville's gamers are willing to buy a two-dimensional tractor, they'll certainly buy a sack of non-organic, "organic" blueberries, right? Whether or not they'll have enough money left over to afford the overpriced organic food of the real variety, on the other hand, is less certain. [From: New York Times]
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