Heineken drives sales online

The game, developed by ARC Taiwan, was launched on August 15 and will run for a month, aimed at driving awareness of Heineken's new global positioning, 'Meet you there'. Kevin Ko, interactive IMC director of ARC, said the campaign capitalised on the market's passion for online gaming. Taiwan is the third-biggest market for online gaming in Asia, generating annual revenue of US$533 million last year. More than half the Taiwanese population has internet access, and young adults -- Heineken's key target audience -- are among the most regular internet users.

"Taiwanese consumers are very net-savvy and tend to get bored easily if sites do not inspire them," said Ko.

The game has four stages. Players first register online with a photo; they then create a face online using body parts on the site; third, they take a photo of any Taiwan postcode sign and post it on the site; finally, they invite a fellow player to meet up, take a picture together and post that online.

If they complete all four tasks, they go in the draw for a holiday. If they complete three, they can win Heineken-branded prizes such as a bike, computer mouse or sun chair.

A banner ad for the game is running on the Yahoo Taiwan home page.