SMERC Games

So in fairly awesome news our client SELF got a letter from the White House for SELF Workout in the Quad. The college selected for it was based on a competition in our game SELF Workout in the Park.

Yesterday SELF received a personal letter from Michelle Obama on ‘The White House’ letterhead — which we will be reading on center stage today at American University in Washington at SELF’s first ever ‘Workout on the Quad’.

Mrs. Obama congratulated SELF Magazine on promoting health and wellness across our country — as it dovetails with her defining mission as First Lady. She stated that she was grateful to both the magazine and the social game because   — “by promoting physical fitness through an interactive experience, SELF is changing the way its readers approach what it means to lead a healthy lifestyle, and for that I am incredibly grateful”.

More on this Monday.

It’s SELF Magazine’s 20^th Anniversary, and to celebrate, SELF decided to pair with HerCampus.com to bring the massively successful annual Workout in the Park event to one college campus. With so many great colleges to choose from, picking just one lucky campus to host the first ever Workout on the Quad event was nearly impossible.

So, rather than making the difficult choice, SELF decided to leave the decision in the hands of the students and approached SMERC to figure out a way to use the award winning Workout in the Park Social Game to let students decide which school should host.

And thusly, the SELF Workout in the Park Social Game Challenge was born!

Students chose their school and competed against players from other schools to earn the most points by completing workouts and finishing quests.

Perform workouts to earn points for your school!

A leaderboard tracked top schools and top players so participants could see how their school was doing and how their contributions stacked up to those of the other players.

Check how your school is doing and how many points you've earned for it on the Leaderboard!

Two weeks later, thousands of participants had entered over 100 major American universities to win the chance to host the Workout on the Quad event.

Leading schools boasted scores representing up to 10,000 in-game workouts performed by students hoping for their school to win.

Stay tuned HERE for the official announcement of the winning school.

See what other new features we’ve got going for SELF Workout in the Park HERE!

It’s the New Year and SELF Workout in the Park is still making headlines.

Yesterday, in an article titled Self Magazine Refocuses for a Younger Audience, the New York Times had a lot to say about SELF redirecting itself towards youth culture. Some key bits read as such:

The brand has also licensed its name to a new line of fitness gear including yoga mats and kettlebells and is considering extending that to healthy food products. Self is also capitalizing on its annual event, “Self Workout in the Park,” by announcing a college-themed contest, “Self Workout on the Quad,” where college students who participate most heavily with the Facebook “Workout in the Park” social game can win an event at their school.

 

Self Workout on the Quad is a contest in which participants in he social game compete to bring the real life SELF Workout in the Park to their school.  Talk about an incredible synergy! The contest helps expand the reach of the social game and bring in a new demographic for the real world event it is based on. It’s another example of how SMERC is helping to pioneer transmedia marketing.

SELF Workout in the Park Presented by Nike + Kinect Training!

We’ve bragged before about SELF Workout in the Park. It’s our massive Facebook social app, we’ve said. It makes a fun game out of reaching fitness goals and increasing the health and well-being of the player’s avatar, we’ve bragged. We’ve even not-so-humbly pointed out the many steps we’ve taken to fuel progress towards real-world self improvement goals. We are very proud and not at all shy about it. But we aren’t the only ones working at the intersection between gaming and health.

Nike + Kinect Training for XBOX

Nike and XBOX have partnered to create Nike + Kinect Training, which offers XBOX Kinect users the chance to receive personalized Nike training with real-time coaching. All without having to leave the house. Nike + Kinect Training is a valuable workout experience and a great gaming experience at the same time.

So it makes sense that when XBOX wanted to promote their awesome new workout/gaming hybrid, they turned to another workout/gaming hybrid: SELF Workout in the Park.

To fully showcase Nike + Kinect Training we decided to present players with a total park takeover! Banners above and below the game frame advertise Nike +  Kinect Training, while the loading screen proudly displays new ‘Presented By’ animated images with the Nike + Kinect Training logo.

The Loading Screen includes 'Presented By' animations and branded banner advertisements.

An in-game popup lets players know whats going on and points them to a NEW in-game item: the Kinect Yoga Mat.  This new Yoga Mat, branded with a “Kinect for XBOX360″ logo, is available for a limited time only and offers players a special resource boost whenever they work out on it.

Kinect Yoga Mat

We think Nike and XBOX are doing great things with the Kinect and we are glad to be working with them to make exercise less of a chore and more fun!

Get your own Kinect Yoga Mat for a limited time HERE!

We are proud to announce that our recent collaboration with SELF Magazine, the Facebook social game sensation SELF Workout in the Park, has won the Digiday Sammy Award for Best Branded Social Game!

Despite steep competition from some of the biggest movers and shakers in the industry, including Electronic Arts and Samsung, SMERC and partners SELF Magazine, Replayful, and Kontagent received the award for our work on SELF Workout in the Park, the fitness themed Facebook social game with real-world self improvement features.

SELF Workout in the Park

With SELF Workout in the Park, we set out to create a game built from the ground up to represent the three core elements of the SELF Magazine brand: Women’s Fitness, Nutrition, and Wellness. Since Best Branded Social Game is an award which honors the best use of social gaming for ‘entertainment, connection, content or branded content,’ I think it’s safe to say we accomplished what we set out to do.

We have always known that SELF Workout in the Park was a winner, but it was great to have all the hard work recognized with one of the most prestigious awards in our field.

You may cheer our victory and touch our capes if you like. Or you can just check out SELF Workout in the Park for yourself HERE!

Check out this Craigslist ad we found: 3 girls needed for SELF Magazine Workout in the Park Event

Trust us, it’s not as creepy as it sounds! Self Magazine is looking for real-life NPC’s to show off Workout in the Park at the massive events for which the game is named.

 The Character Brand Ambassadors will represent the brand by providing product information, while interacting with consumers, promoting the new game and handing out product related literature. The Character Brand ambassadors may also be required to play the game on a laptop and assist guests with logging into Facebook, downloading the game application, creating their own avatar, and handing out special promotions or giveaways.

So, if you’re going to one of the three events in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago keep your eyes peeled for Jasmine, Mia, and Chloe. Ask them to show you the game. Ask them about Fitness, Wellness, and Nutrition. Ask for their numbers. But don’t tell them we put you up to that last one.