Upstream’s marketing philosophy concentrates on leveraging common, natural but rarely combined human appetites: our love for games, flirting with luck, our attraction to high-value prizes and our inclination for personal and entertaining interaction. The “play for real” approach to promotional game design has been doing just that using familiar, low-tech interaction media such as premium SMS. Signature campaigns such as “100 days 100 SLK” for Vodafone Italy have proven that Upstream’s mix of gaming, prize winning and 1-to-1 marketing works wonders for consumer marketing and revenue generation.
Only recently, with the advent of devices such as the iPhone, did mobile phones start to offer the potential for more engaging gaming experiences. For a company so versed in mixing game with prize, promotion with interaction, entertainment with brand consumer connection, smartphone gaming is the logical next step. Combining gaming with actual prizes, casual thrills with real-world competition, is not just a twist in play, but a truly distinct genre of entertainment. In-game action is extended and enriched with thrills beyond casual gaming, as players can take their game to a new level by competing against other players for real-world prizes. Brawn GP Racing will be the first such genre-defining title that embodies Upstream’s “play for real” philosophy.
To create the most exciting racing game, one needs not only a great development team, but also an indepth understanding of how real racing works. For this reason, Upstream partnered with the Brawn GP Formula One Team, current leaders of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship, and Fishlabs, one of the premier iPhone developers, known for some of the best 3D gaming titles on the platform. The result is the best Racing game on the iPhone. With 4 original tracks, combining some of the most challenging GP track elements, realistic 3D graphics and life-like GP handling, the game is a treat for both hardcore Brawn GP fans and casual gamers alike.
A great performance in-game should also be awarded in real-life. A brand new Mercedes SL roadster is the grand prize for one lucky winner! While not quite as fast as the Brawn GP cars, the Mercedes SL provides unparalleled performance on the road, and will provide real-life thrills to our lucky winner.
Qualifying to win the Mercedes SL is easy: With every lap completed, players get ranked on a global online leader-board, available on-line at www.brawngpcontest.com
The game literally puts you into the driver’s seat, and the stakes are really high. Racing takes a whole new dimension when you know that the prize is real. Remember that you don’t have to be the best player to win – while skill is rewarded with more chances to win, anyone can be the winner, even after completing a single lap. It’s marketing! The best of its kind.
This is not merely a branded piece of merchandise. The unparalleled experience offered by “Brawn GP Racing” puts the consumer in the exciting world of Brawn GP by combining racing with a vivid sense of competition. Emotional engagement of consumers brings them into Brawn GP’s world and state of mind, helping the brand connect with the audience, while, at the same time, strengthening brand awareness in the gaming audience – a segment that is getting increasingly out of its teens, more affluent, and largely overlapping with the racing fandom sphere.
The game is now available on Apple’s AppStore for £2,49 (€2,99/$3,99) – so you can download it yourself today and get the thrills of the Brawn GP Racing experience. While this may be the first game in this new genre, it is certainly not the last; Upstream is already looking into several new titles that will once again up the ante with innovative game concepts, more chances to win, more prizes and more fun!
