CBC championship curling game

Who’d have thought there was such a demand for a virtual curling game? CBC Sports Online turned to Ottawa-based Launchfire Interactive to design a game to make its curling page stickier and more fun. ‘Curling has a really strong and loyal audience,’ explains Andrew Lundy, senior producer at CBC Sports Online, who adds curling fans tend to skew older. ‘We wanted to reward that loyalty.’

The game debuted Feb. 23 and attracted 15,000 game plays in the first five days. The average visitor spent 20 minutes playing, compared with the advergame industry average of four to five minutes. CBC plans to keep the game online until at least the end of April. www.cbc.ca/sports/curling

CanWest CanSpell: Can you spell it?

Spelling bees have been en vogue since the documentary Spellbound hit it big. CanWest has taken advantage of the trend and launched the CanWest CanSpell Cup, to be held April 16 in Ottawa. To promote the event, Toronto-based advergame designer Splashworks.com was asked to develop an online game. Co-branded with Saturn, it launched Feb. 28 and generated over 1,000 registered users in the first week, while the mini-site for CanSpell is averaging 15,000 unique visits per day. The spelling bee is open to kids 12-14.

www.canada.com/national/features/canspell/canyouspellit_1.html

Perrier tastes victory

Perrier launched a text, Web and advergame campaign on April 1 to promote its sponsorship of the Molson Indy (Toronto and Montreal) and the Edmonton Grand Prix. Toronto-based JAMZ Marketing co-ordinated the promotion, and partnered with Charlottetown-based gaming gurus Magnet Mobile Media to take care of the tech end.

The game, which will advertise Perrier and other Nestle brands on billboards and on racecars, is being promoted via 10 million Perrier and Montclair packs. Meanwhile, a contest allows consumers to text in or enter online for a chance to win a trip to the racing event closest to their home. The target demo is 18-34, skewing slightly male.

www.tastevictory.ca