Mobile game publisher Pocket Gems has teamed up with the National Football League to publish NFL Runner: Football Dash for iOS and Android, and the game will get a massive promotional boost from a deal with McDonald’s. The endless runner genre popularized by Temple Run finds a natural expression in the running game of football. The challenge in today’s crowded app market is how to stand out, and Pocket Gems has found two ways to do this: Get a license attached to a huge audience (the NFL) and get a promotional deal with a company that has an immense reach.
Launching during the first month of the 2013 NFL season, NFL Runner is the first NFL-themed endless runner game. Players join their favorite NFL team and compete against other NFL teams’ scores to best each other on the virtual gridiron. Players evade linebackers and safeties, scramble around obstacles, and rush down the field while grabbing collectibles and supercharged power-ups. “It’s terrific to work with the NFL to launch NFL Runner,” said Ben Liu, CEO of Pocket Gems. “It has also been fantastic to work with McDonald’s to create a promotional model that provides players with codes found on millions of physical products to unlock free power-ups in the game.”
Starting September 23, McDonald’s customers can find codes for free power-ups for NFL Runner on millions of Mighty Wings boxes and select cups across more than 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. “McDonald’s customers and NFL fans share a passion for fun, exciting experiences and this game brings our customers one step closer to NFL action,” said Barbara Fitzgerald, director of marketing at McDonald’s USA.
The [a]list daily talked with Pocket Gems about this three-way deal, and the first question was which party had the idea for this cross-promotional game Was it the NFL, McDonald’s, or Pocket Gems “We had talked to NFL for a while and it just made sense to put together the first NFL-themed endless runner game,” said Jameel Khalfan of Pocket Gems. The process for getting the whole project to come together was, surprisingly perhaps, not very difficult. “The NFL and McDonald’s were both very supportive of the game, so it was a very smooth process working with both of them to coordinate the brand elements in the game as well as the promotion details inside McDonald’s stores and on the NFL’s mobile apps”
The scope of this promotion is immense, and the addition of virtual game items to physical products opens up interesting possibilities for the future. “This is definitely a new arrangement – having codes on physical products for play in mobile games,” said Khalfan. “I think we will continue to see more and more cross-over between the digital and physical world.”
More such promotional games may be coming in the future if this proves successful. Game publishers may seek such arrangements, or deals may arise from major licensors or advertisers. All parties can benefit from a deal like this. McDonald’s gets to capitalize on the excitement of the new football season and at the same time rope in more tech-savvy customers – the ones who may enjoy the free WiFi featured at McDonald’s. The NFL, of course, gets a boost by having its logo in more places, and by having gamers engage with football in a new, casual way that may even get more people interested in the sport.
Pocket Gems gets a good shot at finding its endless runner game becoming extremely popular as a result of all this. The game, while free-to-play, will generate revenue for Pocket Gems through the sale of powerups like the ones you can get free at McDonald’s. “Yes, the powerups are available for purchase in the game,” confirmed Khalfan.
“Pocket Gems has a strong track record as a successful developer and publisher of engaging mobile games and we’re excited to work with them for NFL Runner,” said David Healy, director of media strategy for the NFL. “We’re also thrilled to be working with McDonald’s to bring millions of fans unique power-ups within the game. The collaboration between the NFL, Pocket Gems and McDonald’s will make NFL Runner an innovative and fun new way for our fans to connect with their favorite team.”
NFL Runner was published and developed through a partnership between Pocket Gems and MunkyFun. The precise details of the licensing and promotional relationship, as in who pays how much to whom, are (as you would expect) not being revealed. “Unfortunately we can’t talk about the business model behind this, but we are really excited about the partnership with NFL and McDonald’s,” Khalfan said.
