Nestle Crunch lures teens via advergaming

Hong Kong - Nestle Crunch has launched an advergaming campaign aimed at teenagers aged 12 to 18 years, taking in a whole suite of online tools including MSN and Facebook.

The website, developed by JWT Hong Kong, featuring four aliens, professor mini Chiu, Crunch Blue, Crunch Man and Crunch Baby from Planet Crunch that have detected the noisy sound of crunch being eaten and realised there is life outside the solar system.

The interactive website allows users to explore a Hong Kong street with aliens eating garbage bins, shopping trolleys and even old ladies to test their "crunchiness".

Users can also pose with aliens online and add them on Facebook that has already received more than a hundred responses.

Michelle Turchini, group creative director at JWT Hong Kong, said  online was the most appropriate media to reach and connect with a younger audience.

"[It was] also the best format to demonstrate the key attribute of the product- namely, the noisy Crunch sound," Turchini said.

She added that advergaming was also chosen as a fun and engaging way to connect with youth.

To measure the results of the campaign, Turchini said JWT will track the website visitation and the game entries and commented that results very early into the campaign have been very positive.

The campaign also include online advertising on youth oriented gaming websites, MSN and discussion forums such as Uwants and discuss.com as well as point-of-sale activity.

MindShare handled media buying and planning duties for this campaign.