by Mike Compton
on March 15, 2013
in Branded Advertisement, Branded Advertising, Branding, facebook, HerCampus, SELF, Self Magazine, SELF Workout in the Park, SMERC, social game, Uncategorized, Web Game, Workout in the Park, Workout on the Quad
It’s SELF Magazine’s 20th 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!
by Mike Compton
on January 21, 2013
in Branded Advertisement, Branding, Exercise, facebook, Kinect, Nike, SELF, Self Magazine, SELF Workout in the Park, SMERC, social game, Uncategorized, Workout in the Park, xbox
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!
by Mike Compton
on January 15, 2013
in '64 Impala, Advertising, Branded Advertising, Diesel, Estevan Oriol, facebook, Graffiti, LA, Lowriders, marketing, Mister Cartoon, SMERC, SMERC.com, Snoop Dogg, social game, social media, social networks, Tattoo, Twitter, Uncategorized, Video, Web app
Mister Cartoon, the renowned California tattoo and graffiti artist, came to SMERC looking for a unique way to advertise his partnership with Diesel Jeans to offer a Limited Edition series of high-end wristwatches based on his tattoo designs.
Diesel Limited Edition by Mister Cartoon
Mister Cartoon’s brand is all about the streets, so no traditional campaign was going to cut it. Instead we set out to create an experience placing users inside Cartoon’s world: a world of concrete, graffiti, tattoos…and cruising in lowriders. We called the experience Time 2 Ride.
Photography by famed urban photographer Estevan Oriol!
Time 2 Ride lets players create a video of themselves cruisin’ and bouncing in a fully tricked out lowrider and then share that video on their Facebook wall!
Share your video on Facebook. Friends can Vote on your video or create their own!
Players provide a picture of themselves and a passenger: upload, select from FB pics, or create one with a webcam! After choosing a background, players hit the switches to see an animated video of themselves bouncing in a classic ’64 Impala.
Watch a video of yourself and a friend in a vintage lowrider!
But creating a video is only half the fun. Players share and vote on each other’s videos to figure out whose whip is the best. Players can help their chances to win by streaming their fully animated video on their Facebook wall and Tweeting deep links to their video, enlisting the help of friends to boost votes. Winners receive a package of Mister Cartoon products including a Limited Edition Mister Cartoon Diesel watch.
Create the best video to win an awesome prize!
We were already proud of Time 2 Ride as a game. And we were already proud of it as a sticky social app. But then Snoop Dogg tweeted his appreciation for Time 2 Ride…and if your goal is to create a social app encompassing the lowrider experience there’s no opinion more important than the dee oh double gee.
SMERC tested, Snoop Dogg approved!
You can keep sitting there jealous and slack-jawed, or you can make your own lowrider video at Time-2-Ride.com!
by Mike Compton
on October 3, 2012
in addicting games, Ax-Men, Lifetime, Lumberjacks, SMERC, Web app, Webgame
Do you love addictive puzzle games? Do you love plaid shirts and long johns? Do you love chopping down trees? Well step away from that conifer because Tricky Timber has got you covered and the trees are coming down!
Lifetime wanted a fun new addition for their growing library of addictive online games based around the reality programming that defines the Lifetime brand. We love the reality shows with the really tough jobs so we decided to build a game around the manliest job in history: lumberjack! The result was Tricky Timber.
Break out the chainsaws
One part addictive puzzle game and two parts plaid, Tricky Timber puts the player in the steel-toed boots of a surly lumberjack trying to clear some land.
Players clear the area of trees in as few cuts as possible using full cuts and half cuts to control which direction the trees fall.
Plan out how you want the trees to fall.
Choose your cuts wisely and create stunning domino-style tree falling carnage on thirty completely different levels.
Now take 'em down, domino style!
Make hippies cry and have fun at the same time! It’s the SMERC way!
Check out Tricky Timber for yourself HERE!
by Mike Compton
on September 27, 2012
in Advertising, Digiday Sammy Awards, facebook, Self Magazine, SELF Workout in the Park, SMERC, social game, Uncategorized, Workout in the Park
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!
by Mike Compton
on September 12, 2012
in Avatar Transformation, facebook, MTV, SMERC, social game, Teen Wolf, Uncategorized, Webgame, Werewolves, Wolf Yourself
MTV came to SMERC looking for a way to create an online social experience for their hit show Teen Wolf that would engage fans for the Season 2 Premier and ensure continuous brand engagement.
MTV's hot new reality show about the follicly gifted!
Since Teen Wolf draws much of its dramatic tension from the difficulties faced by ordinary teens forced into extraordinary situations, we decided fans would enjoy the opportunity to place themselves in the shoes of their favorite Teen Wolf characters. Pimples, bad grades, and jocks aren’t enough drama for today’s teens. We wanted to add a little lycanthropy to the mix. To that end, we created Wolf Yourself.
Can't wait to see these attractive youngsters turn into bloodthirsty monsters.
Wolf Yourself is a Facebook/Web app combining the novelty allure of an avatar creation game with the long-term virality of a social infection game to establish and maintain a strong social media presence and to create a lasting compliment to the Teen Wolf brand.
Players upload a picture of themselves and definitely not one they found on teh internets.
Players first provide a picture, either uploaded from their computer, taken with a webcam, or selected from amongst their FB photos.
This is much easier than growing actual sideburns.
Then players customize their avatar, selecting from a variety of hair and eye colors, fang and ear styles, and accessories. If you’re already a werewolf, why not be a werewolf with pink hair, right?
When their avatar is finished, players Wolf Out: using their avatar pictures, Wolf Yourself creates a video animation of the player turning into a werewolf.
The body goes through many changes during adolescence.
Players can post a wolfed out pic to their Facebook wall or post the entire transformation video for everyone to see. Players level up by biting their friends and turning them into werewolves and voting on other players’ wolves using a hot-or-not style voting feature. Gaining levels unlocks new accessories and customization options for a player’s avatar. High-scoring wolves sit proudly atop a Leaderboard for everyone to see.
Teen Wolf fan response has been strong and consistent with over 30,000 wolves shared across Facebook so far and no end in sight.
Check it out for yourself HERE and see how you look when you Wolf Yourself!
by Mike Compton
on August 27, 2012
in Android, Fighting Games, iPad, iPhone, Mobile Game, SMERC, Uncategorized, XARM
Last year, the launch of XARM FU for iPhone and iPad was a breakthrough transmedia event and a historical first: a digital property launch used to introduce the world to a brand new sport!
iTunes users responded in kind, making it an instant best-seller. But as we gazed out at the masses of XARM fans gleefully brutalizing each other, we noticed our Android using friends were absent. And our pleasure was tempered with despair. “Android users deserve to be Shin Striked and Arm Barred just like Apple users,” we declared to no one in particular.
The roughest three minutes in sports!
Our course was clear: we would expand XARM to Android. But porting the game would be too easy. Instead we decided to rebuild the game from the ground up. And thus, XARM Extreme Arm Wrestling was born.
We kept all the bone-breaking mayhem and head-bashing carnage fans had come to expect, but we completely redesigned the controls to allow for more stunning combos and a more intuitive feel.
We also streamlined the user interface to pack as much Neck Cranking, Fist Choking, Forearm Smashing excitement into every moment of XARM Extreme Arm Wrestling as humanly possible. The result is a game meaner and angrier than your mom and definitely more fun than anything else you’ve been playing.
Check out XARM Extreme Arm Wrestling and see for yourself on iTunes HERE and now on Android HERE.
It’s shaping up to be the roughest three minutes in social gaming!
by Mike Compton
on August 27, 2012
in Advertising, Digiday Sammy Awards, facebook, marketing, SELF Workout in the Park, Web app
It’s been a busy week for SMERC and SELF Workout in the Park. First we received glowing reviews and player response for our Workout in the Park Mobile app and now we’ve been nominated for a Digiday Sammy Award in the Best Branded Social Game category!
SELF Workout in the Park
The Sammy Awards honors ‘overall excellence and breakthrough achievement in Social Advertising, Media and Marketing.’
The Best Branded Social Game is given for the best use of social gaming for ‘entertainment, connection, content or branded content.”
Past Sammy Award winners include a who’s who list of industry juggernauts and our fellow finalists include all the biggest movers and shakers of today’s social media world.
If we were capable of humility, we would say it’s an honor just to be nominated. If.
Check out the Sammy Awards here.
Or check out SELF Workout in the Park and see for yourself what all the hubbub is about.
by Mike Compton
on May 2, 2012
in actors, facebook, fun, Self Magazine, social game
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.
by bpwane
on February 26, 2011
in App Store, Apple, iPhone, Mobile, Uncategorized
Hercules for iPhone
For those of you wondering just how chock full o’ awesome Hercules is the wait is over. You can go download our latest masterpiece which is on sale FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY fro $1.99.
We assure you, the game is definitely worth $2. GO GET IT NOW! You won’t regret it.
http://itunes.apple.com/app/hercules-curse-of-the-hydra/id416471178?mt=8
For more information visit the official website: http://hercules.smercgames.com
16 insanely entertaining levels
Fight many cool beasts like the Scorpion King
