While many core gamers might be familiar with the Backbreaker game for Xbox 360 and PS3, there’s another version for the iPhone. NaturalMotion offers both a free and a paid version of the iPhone app; a recent sponsorship with KFC gives the free version of the game Facebook integration, an email bragging system, dedicated leaderboards . . . and a chicken dance touchdown celebration. We talked with Torsten Reil, NaturalMotion CEO, about this unique partnership.
How did the sponsorship opportunity come up with KFC?
The introduction to KFC was made by Tim and Lou at Butter Inc. They worked closely with KFC and us to generate the campaign, source the required assets and collect all relevant statistics.
Why do you think KFC is a good partner for the Backbreaker product?
Through Backbreaker on iPhone, we are able to reach a large number players that match KFC’s target demographic. And since Backbreaker is a sports game, it was easy to achieve integrated and effective brand exposure through banners and sponsorship messages. On top of that, we were able to integrate a signature ‘chicken dance’ as the touchdown celebration, which was a bit of light-hearted fun, and seemed to go down well with our users.
Tell me about how the community has reacted to have access to the free Backbreaker Lite.
Just don’t call him a ‘chicken’…
We’ve been very happy with the community reaction both in terms of iTunes comments and ratings (which remain as high as ever), as well as download numbers. In fact, downloads for both the light and paid versions went up when we started the campaign.
Is the timing of this during the build up towards the pre-season the perfect timing for this?
Yes, it certainly helps that the season is about to start. Having said that, Backbreaker has sold well throughout the year, so we’re not quite as exposed to the seasonality of the sports as one would think.
Would you look to do more sponsorship opportunities like this in the future?
Definitely. Obviously, it always depends on how we feel we can integrate a sponsor into the game. It doesn’t work if it feels forced, or if the user experience gets compromised. But overall, there are great opportunities for brands in iPhone games.
Tell me about the social media additions to the sponsored app and why you think that’s so key for promoting the product.
We’re supporting Facebook Connect as well as direct email challenges to friends. The latter in particular has proved very effective at creating word of mouth, presumably because it is so targeted and very much controllable by the user. Having said that, we have anecdotal evidence that a lot of word of mouth is non-electronic: people show the game to their friends on the bus or in a bar, and it spreads from there.
Do you think the value offered in the product has attracted new customers to Backbreaker?
Yes, downloads of Backbreaker went up when we introduced the KFC-sponsored version. I think the brand added value to the game, be it in terms of real-world authenticity, or through the additional features we included.
