Wrigley's Candystand... sweet!

I was talking about advergames with a friend and he mentioned Wrigleys Candystand. Candystand is a lot like rcade.com, which I wrote about in an earlier blog. The website is organized into different categories (sports, arcade, card games, puzzles, multiplayer game) from which players select from a different number of games. The website gives users the option of becoming a member Candystand. One feature of being a member is that the "Trophy Case" in which players can earn a trophy for being successful at Candystand and keep track of their progress.

One of my favorite features of Candystand is its Prize section. Here players can enter to win prizes. Players can enter into sweepstakes where they can enter and win prizes like a laptop, a high definition television, or $25,000. Players can also enter contests in which they actually play Candystand games to in order win prizes. Prizes top scorers can win are a Playstation 2 Console, a set of speakers, and racing wheel for videogames. Players can also challenge their friends in private high-score contest of the game of their choice.

When I first got to the website, I was skeptical because the website is run by Wrigleys. I was soon proven wrong when I actually played some of the games. Most of them were actually really fun. Almost all of them have different levels that encourage gamers to keep playing until they experience each one. The graphic and appearance of all of the games were excellent and they all loaded onto my computer without any problems.

From a marketer's prospective, I was impressed with how Wrigleys handle the site. They made it very clear that they run the website and that all of the games will incorporate a Wrigleys brand in one way or another. The incorporation of the brand into the game was excellent. For example, a racing game might have players run into giant Lifesavers Candy to earn extra points and/or the track and players are sponsored by Starbursts or Skittles. All and all I'd say that Wrigleys hit the mark with Candystand. The games are actually fun and the website is designed to keep players coming back, and at the same time Wrigleys gets their advertising message across.