日前，社交游戏开发商Zynga宣布旗下的《FrontierVille》与派拉蒙影业、Nickelodeon Movies进行合作，共同推广本周即将发布的电影《兰戈》（Rango）。但三家公司均并未公布具体合作金额。

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据游戏邦了解，本次项目合作于本周一下午开始，这是《FrontierVille》首次开展品牌植入广告推广活动。Zynga首次涉足电影领域的合作，始于梦工厂的《超级大坏蛋》（Megamind），当时该影片在Zynga的招牌游戏《FarmVille》中植入了电影主角的动画形象，开展了为期一天的“Mega-Farm”推广活动。作为梦工作的发行合作伙伴，派拉蒙这次也采用了相似的品牌植入方式。

之后Zynga又与索尼电影娱乐公司（Sony Pictures Entertainment）的影片《青蜂侠》展开了合作，在《Mafia Wars》这款游戏中植入了该电影的相关元素。另外在电视领域，该游戏还曾与时代华纳旗下的TNT电视剧《洛城警事》进行了品牌植入合作。

在去年初，美国环球工作室家庭娱乐公司（Universal Studios Home Entertainment）也通过与《Mafia Wars》合作，为《头号公敌》（Public Enemies）这部影片的蓝光和DVD版本的发布打造声势。

音乐领域也同样是Zynga的目标之一，该公司曾与著名音乐制作人Dr. Dre进行合作，支持游戏玩家在《Mafia Wars》观看Dr.Dre新专辑《Detox》首支单曲的音乐视频等内容。

虽然Zynga游戏全部免费，但该公司却成功地通过广告植入，以及虚拟商品交易快速成长为利润极高的游戏公司。

据AppData数据显示，《FrontierVille》的月活跃用户超过了1900万人，他们可以在游戏中参加三种Rango任务，直到在游戏中赢得Rango雕像为止，这项活动将持续一周。玩家在游戏中必须找到具有变色龙技能，总是隐藏在边境的的Rango，然后让好友给自己发送10个水桶，观看电影预告片。

Zynga的品牌广告业务全球主管Manny Anekal表示，因为该游戏的背景是一片原始荒野，而这部电影的主角（由约翰尼·德普配音）的使命又恰好是帮助他人在缺水的环境下生存，所以《兰戈》在《FrontierVille》中的品牌植入极其自然。游戏中的Rango活动将通过有趣的方式，让玩家与电影中的人物进行互动，从而加强游戏体验。

派拉蒙互动市场营销及电影制作执行副总裁Amy Powell表示，他们不断寻找创新的方式与电影迷们进行互动，Zynga成功发布了许多有趣而富有黏性的游戏，所以他们认为《FrontierVille》与《兰戈》的合作相得益彰。

据Zynga所称，在之前的《超级大坏蛋》24小时合作期间内，超过900万用户参加了Mega-Farm活动。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Zynga Partners With Paramount/Nickelodeon Movies on ‘Rango’ Promotion

The week-long advertising integration marks the latest Hollywood pact for the social gaming firm, which has been looking to become a key partner for entertainment companies.

NEW YORK – Social gaming powerhouse Zynga continues its Hollywood push with a deal with Viacom’s Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies to promote this week’s theatrical release of Rango.

The partnership, which starts Monday afternoon, marks the first advertising integration for Zynga’s FrontierVille game.

For the company, which offers casual games on Facebook and other social networks, it is the latest step on its way to fully establishing itself as a key marketing partner for film, TV and music players.

In the film space, its first deal featured DreamWorks Animations’ Megamind in a partnership that saw the animated film’s protagonist launch a “Mega-Farm” within Zynga’s flagship game FarmVille for a day. As DWA’s distribution partner, Paramount was involved in that integration as well.

Zynga then placed Sony Pictures Entertainment’s The Green Hornet inside its Mafia Wars game.

On the TV side, Time Warner’s TNT’s in late December did a Southland integration with Mafia Wars.

And early last year, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Zynga partnered for a Mafia Wars campaign in support of the Blu-ray and DVD release of Public Enemies.

Music is also on Zynga’s radar, and it has had a successful partnership with Dr. Dre for Mafia Wars that allowed players to watch the music video for the music producer’s first single from his new album “Detox,” among other things.

Zynga’s games are free, but the company reportedly has been profitable since shortly after its launch. Beyond ad integrations, it also makes money when players pay for virtual goods.

The companies didn’t disclose financial details of the Rango pact.

However, the more than 15 million daily FrontierVille players, according to AppData, can take on three Rango quests – and win a Rango statue inside the game – all week long. Players must find Rango, whose chameleon skills allow him to blend into the frontier, encourage their friends to send them 10 water buckets and view the film’s trailer.

Since the game features untamed wilderness and the movie is about the protagonist, voiced by Johnny Depp, helping others survive in a place that needs water, the two brands “fit together naturally,” said Manny Anekal, global director of brand advertising at Zynga. “The Rango campaign offers a fun way to interact with the film’s characters while enhancing game-play within FrontierVille.”

”We are continuously looking for new and innovative ways to create interactive experiences for our movie-going audiences,” said Amy Powell, Paramount’s executive vp of interactive marketing and film production. Given Zynga’s proven success building fun and engaging games, bringing Rango to FrontierVille seemed like a natural fit.”

In the 24 hour Megamind promotion period, more than 9 million people engaged with the Mega-Farm in FarmVille, according to Zynga.（source:hollywoodreporter）