Play 'punch buggy' online with Facebook, Google Street View

Created by Volkswagen South Africa's (VWSA) long-term agency, Ogilvy Cape Town, the digital team is showing just how prolific Volkswagen is in South Africa.

By pinning the vehicles, players increase their points and win weekly prizes from Apple and a chance to play in the Grand Final. This event will take place in Cape Town and see the four weekly winners take to the streets to 'pin' Volkswagens in a live playoff armed with a camera, a full tank of petrol and a film crew.

Street Quest game screenclick to enlarge

An immersive gaming experience

In existence since May 2007, Street View is a feature of Google Maps that allows people to explore the world through 360-degree high-definition street-level photographs. Because of this level of detail, it lends itself perfectly to creating an immersive gaming experience.

"The platform has not received much attention from marketers locally and we've not used it in this way before. While this has meant that there were a number of new challenges, by using it we were instantly provided with hi-definition images and scenery that would usually have to be painstakingly developed at huge expense," comments Nicholas Wittenberg, head of digital at Ogilvy Cape Town.

The campaign has allowed the agency to kick-start the client's Facebook brand page and social media presence and engages with the fans and customers by meeting them on their territory, on their terms. Since the launch of the game three weeks ago, the Facebook fan page has received over 10 000 likes, over 250 000 cars have been pinned in the game and, due to popular demand, the game is now also available to play on android phones, iPhones and tablets.

The campaign runs until late August. For more, go to www.facebook.com/VWSA.