Century 21 Builds Presence in Mobile Game 'We City'

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Real estate franchise Century 21 has integrated its brand with iPhone and iPad-based game We City, and hopes the campaign will help it reach a younger subset of potential customers than traditional media channels.

The integration, brokered by social media and gaming sales house Appssavvy, will see three Century 21-branded structures incorporated with the We City game, the goal of which is to construct and manage a thriving metropolis.

Players will be given the opportunity to construct a real-estate office, a single-family home, and a commercial skyscraper within their own cities - all of which will aid their progress in the game by earning coins, the in-game currency. Users will also be rewarded for viewing Century 21 video content in the app.

John Henry, VP of brand management for Century 21, said, "There's an audience of consumers out there using smartphone devices that are somewhat resistant to traditional mediums… This was an opportunity for us to contemporize the brand."

Henry said the brand will evaluate success on metrics such as the number of downloads its branded game content receives, as well as the number of videos streamed through the app.

"We looked at a number of options in the mobile arena but We City was relatively new in the space, and provided a great synergy with what we wanted to do," he said.

Following this integration - the first of its kind for Century 21 - Henry implied the brand is looking for similar opportunities in the mobile, social, and casual gaming space, stating, "To steal a Wayne Gretzky phrase, we're looking to play where the puck is going to be.

According to We City developer ngmoco, the bulk of the game's audience is between 25 and 44 years old. The Century 21 campaign is the first time a brand has been introduced there, though Appssavvy has brokered similar integrations with other ngmoco gaming properties, doing so in its Godfinger All-Stars game on behalf of Microsoft Windows 7.

It's also enabled integrations for brands outside the mobile space, like campaigns for McDonald's and Farmers Insurance in popular Zynga-owned casual game Farmville, for example.