Pepsi launches five viral football games

The partnership between PepsiCo and Microsoft, which launched last month, targets the international football loving audience and features exclusive content from eight international footballers including star players; Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba, Thierry Henry, Ricardo Kaka, Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres, Andrei Arshavin, and Michael Ballack. It also leverages six-time Grammy nominee, Akon's charity single "Oh Africa" that accompanies PepsiCo International's exciting campaign materials - all of which will be hosted on a dedicated PepsiCo International 'Football Hero' website.

Within the Football Hero website the five games allow users to embark on the journey of a zero to hero footballer. Versions of the five games also appear on Windows Live Messenger and are being deployed virally by Kempt to reach the maximum possible audience.

From 'waterboy' to star

Within the games, players start as a talented but overlooked 'waterboy' to the local team, who then goes on to impress the coach, the crowd at a beach bar and a Pepsi agent, who invites you to star in a Pepsi ad shoot alongside major global Pepsi football talent, with a soundtrack by Akon . Then, it's a race against time to reach the stadium and take the shot of a lifetime in the hero-making finale game. The games are supported with MSN-produced intro and outro videos, plus plenty of exclusive, un-lockable Pepsi content resulting in rich and immersive branded experience.

In early tests the games generated average dwell times well in excess of 10 minutes (source www.memecounter.com).

Online games have a key role in audience's life

Martyn Bentley of Kempt says "we are absolutely thrilled to play a key role in such a significant piece of work, with two of the world's leading brands. Working with Microsoft, Pepsi and our partners has been a great experience and the emerging statistics absolutely vindicate Pepsi and Microsoft's choice to use the power of games to engage and persuade consumers".

Tom Brunner, brand strategist from Microsoft Advertising said: "Online games are a key part of our target audience's day-to-day life on the web and the synergies with Pepsi and the forthcoming sports events are obvious. This set of games will give our users an engaging and immersive experience whilst aligning us with a key, global branded entertainment experience."