EA Donates Funds For Cancer Research

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Coming off sales of $10.5 million from its recently released package of downloadable games via Humble Bundle, Electronic Arts has donated $1.65 million to the American Cancer Society.

“So proud of Team EA in raising $10.5 million from the Humble Bundle, $1.65 million of which goes to the American Cancer Society,” tweeted EA COO Peter Moore.

The Humble Bundle for EA Origin games included quite a number of hit titles for dirt cheap, including a trio of Dead Space games, as well as Mirror’s Edge, Crysis 2: Maximum Edition, Medal of Honor and Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box.

In addition, EA has also donated to other charities with the proceeds, including the Human Rights Campaign, Watsi, San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the American Red Cross. No specific amounts were given for these groups.

Source: GameSpot

Axe Effect Hits ‘Battlefield 4’

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Axe is working with EA to cross promote Battlefield 4, and that includes specially marked AXE packages at Walmart giving away free stuff. Additionally, there’s this great ad put together in the style of Axe ads (though somewhat apocryphal, since female soldiers aren’t in Battlefield 4).

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Pantene Ad Fights Gender Labels

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While the Philippines is ranked in the top ten globally on gender issues, gender inequality is still very much an issue in the country. In support of the #WhipIt movement, Pantene released this ad to emphasize that there’s nothing wrong with looking good and being successful as a woman.

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[Sponsored] How ‘New Influencers’ Are Changing Online Marketing

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This sponsored post is produced by Ayzenberg Group and was originally published on Venture Beat on December 2, 2013.

As advertisers struggle to increase engagement with their online and digital campaigns, a solution is needed, which may involve a new approach to social and earned media.

Heavy social users are gravitating towards niche nets and have become selective about what they post and share. Brands are also placing greater importance on the content they create, making sure it’s entertaining, timely, useful, and easy to share – but still that’s not enough to drive up engagement.

The key lies in how digital natives, especially millennials, increasingly seek out product information from online experts with common interests. Online bloggers/vloggers, commentators, product reviewers, social media gurus, and even bona fide celebrities have gained online clout and have increasing reach and authority on the Internet.

They’re the new influencers.

For many, these influencers have become celebrity product endorsers, speaking directly to an audience through the various channels they’ve come to trust for information, often playing a pivotal role in their purchase decisions.

We’ve seen proof that harnessing digital influencers can propel campaigns to far exceed expectations.

We recently ran a digital campaign for Warner Bros.’ Injustice: Gods Among Us, a fighting game based on the DC Comics universe. We mixed digital influencers with comic book experts and celebrities to promote a virtual tournament dubbed “Injustice Battle Arena,” where the game’s superheroes and villains squared off in face-to-face battles and fans voted on the outcomes. The campaign garnered nearly 19 million views over 10 weeks and more than 850 percent ROI in earned media value.

For another campaign we ran for a large interactive entertainment company, we supported the launch of four of their products with an online video and social media program built around four YouTube stars. Each ‘YouTuber’ delivered a live cast show featuring one of the products, with promotions targeting their subscriber base and social networks.  Engagement was through the roof, and two of the games set launch sales records for the company.

As a result of these and other campaigns, we’ve charged up a new weapon aimed at the new influencers – the Influencers Outreach Network, or [ion]. It’s the product of three years of experience running these types of programs, but it’s more than a wrapper on proven methodology. It’s a proprietary platform designed to first connect brands with the right influencers, then accurately measure results.

There are currently more than 7,000 affiliate influencers who are part of the [ion] program – and this number is growing daily.  These are YouTubers, bloggers, industry professionals, theatrical, television, and other social media influencers. Their reach is staggering, with audiences in the hundreds of millions and engagement metrics measured in billions.

To support our growing network, we’ve expanded our technology platform to include content curation, sharing, gamification and analytics – resulting in an online media exchange for our premium inventory of influencers to amplify results.

We know how fast targets move when it comes to digital and social media. Influencer outreach isn’t a silver bullet, but it’s a powerful way to engage consumers. It’s a system that sets the community up to not only generate significant awareness but to engage and grow through its own volition.

Wearable Tech Market Could Grow Fast

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A report from Berg Insight is betting that wearable tech will continue to proliferate in the coming years. They are forecasting that by 2017, 64 million units will be sold worldwide, making wearable tech on track for the next tech boom.

The report shows that between 2011 and 2012, devices like smart glasses, watches and wearable fitness trackers like the Fitbit and Nike’s FuelBand were snatched up, with sales growing by almost 168 percent.

While sales of these smart devices are growing at breakneck speed, so do the concerns over privacy and it’s easy to see why. When these watches can monitor your heart rate, the caloric content of your food and act as your windows for everyday life, the fusion of oneself to so many computers can be approached with caution.

 

A poll in September of this year from Survey Sampling International showed that about one in three Internet users in certain countries were trepidatious about the invasion of privacy that wearable tech could pose. Australia is the most concerned of these countries, with 46 percent wary of the wearable tech invasion, with France and the UK a little bit more open to the idea.

Source: eMarketer

‘Clash of Clans’ Now Worlds’ Best Grossing Game In Google Play

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Within two months of its launch, Clash of Clans became the worlds’ top grossing game in the Playstore based on November revenues. On its climb to the top, SuperCell’s game exceeded the revenues of King’s Candy Crush Saga, despite having averaged only one fifth of Candy Crush Saga’s download numbers. GooglePlay now accounts for approximately one third of the total money generated by Clash of Clans. On iOS devices last month, Candy Crush Saga had slightly more than double the number of downloads than Clash of Clans.

The lead that Candy Crush Saga maintains on iOS devices secures its number one position overall across app stores. The recently launched Candy Crush Saga for Kakao version has pushed the game to over $1.3 million a day, which means a nice $1 million dollar net in the bank for King.

Overall, Google Play continues to gain market share from iOS, even now that iPhone and iPad game revenues are starting to ramp up towards the holiday season. The worlds’ number 4 country based on Google Play revenues, Germany, and Spain, ranked 13th, could well be the first countries outside of Asia where Google Play spending overtakes iOS.

November Country Rankings: iPhone, iPad, Google Play {links no longer active}.

iOS Games
The top 4 iOS games remained unchanged in October with Candy Crush Saga still the top earning title. King’s other hit title, Pet Rescue Saga, dropped one place to number 6, replaced by Game of War: Fire Age which continues its rise up the charts.

Modern War from Funzio, which debuted at number 18 last month, is now at number 11 in the charts. Slotomania – FREE Slots, which has been missing from the top 20 since September, has re-entered at number 15. Other new entries include Professional Baseball PRIDE and Dragon City Mobile. The number of Asian titles is steadily increasing, with 6 this month compared to just 2 in September.

November iOS Game Ranking: iOS Games {link no longer active}

Google Play Store Games
Clash of Clans, published to the Google Play Store in October, is now the top earning game, ahead of Puzzle & Dragons and Candy Crush Saga. This is a hugely impressive feat for the SuperCell game which is currently number 2 in the iOS charts.

Also notable is the debut of Candy Crush Saga for Kakao from King.com at number 11. While game play for the title is the same as Candy Crush Saga, currently number 3 in the charts, the game is played through the popular Korean social platform Kakao.

There were three other new entries in October: Brave Frontier, Poko Pang for Kakao and Suhoji for Kakao, at number 17, 18 and 19 respectively.

November Google Play Store Game Ranking: Google Play Store Games {link no longer active}

iOS Publishers
The top 3 publishers are once again unchanged, with Supercell taking the top spot followed by King and Electronic Arts. Last Month’s number 4 Kabam has fallen to 6th place while Puzzle & Dragon’s publisher GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. has climbed from number 9 to 5.

Playtika LTD have re-entered the charts at number 16, with hit title Slotomania also re-enterting the games charts. Glu Games Inc. have fallen from number 16 to the bottom of the charts.

November iOS Publisher Ranking: iOS Publishers {link no longer active}

Google Play Store Publishers
The top 5 publishers in terms of revenues generated remained the same this month, Japanese LINE Corporation claiming the number 1 spot followed by King.com and Korean giant CJ E&M corp. Supercell has stormed through the charts to number 6, a jump of 8 positions.

SUNDAYTOZ, INC also did well in October, climbing four places to number 12. French publisher Gameloft has fallen 3 places to number 18. There are 3 new entries this month: NHN Entertainment corp, EA Swiss Sarl and Korean Kunlun Inc..

November Google Play Store Publisher Ranking: Google Play Store Publishers {link no longer active}

The rankings published every month are based on data from Distimo’s AppIQ and Newzoo analysis.

Nissan’s Virtual Pitch

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It’s not often you see a car manufacturer go outside the box when it comes to marketing its products – but that’s exactly what Nissan is doing in an effort to attract a younger audience.

At the Tokyo Motor Show this past week, the company handed out virtual reality goggles for people to check out their vehicle through California start-up Oculus VR, which successfully launched a KickStarter last year for the Oculus VR headset. Using the goggles, the participants checked out a virtual 3D world, one in which they could create their own concept car. It’s part of a co-creation process that the company is considering for future marketing terms.

“We want to engage digital natives, people who would maybe not be interested in cars, or who expressed less passion for cars going forward, and co-creation allows us to engage them in a unique way, to bring them inside the process of vehicle development,” said DeLu Jackson, Nissan’s global head of digital strategy.

No word yet how the design process will move forward, but considering that this process was met with great success, you can bet that Nissan is definitely keeping it in mind.

Source: Adage

Smartphone? Try Smarty Ring

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We’ve seen gadgets that provide updates from your phone, your tablet…even a watch, from what Samsung is currently offering. But now a company wants to offer information through a ring.

A new device called the Smarty Ring enables digital updates to an electronically enabled ring that fits around your finger. This Bluetooth-enabled device lets you check smartphone alerts, as well as incoming falls, without needing to look at your phone or tablet.

 

Using a mobile app that coordinates with the ring, users can utilize the Smarty Ring as a watch, timer or even a phone finder if the device somehow manages to get lost. It comes with an automatic detection system that beeps if it’s 30 feet out of range of a phone – a perfect way to keep from losing it.The Smarty Ring also has a 24-hour battery life, and is compatible with both Android and iOS devices, provided that Bluetooth 4.0 is enabled. There’s still time to get one at the pre-release discount, but it’s still going to set you back a fair amount depending on the features you want.Source: IndieGogo