Created by Tequila\Australia, the www.lifeonmars.-com.au site revolves around a Martian game show called 'Know Like An Earthling', where users view Earth from a Martian perspective, visiting different countries to play games that appear strange to Martians. The first country featured is Australia - where the games are backyard cricket, stomping on cockroaches and Ute burnout. The site builds on the brand's 'Earth' TV campaign - produced by Whybin\TBWA - which asked viewers what they would eat on planet Mars.
"It's the first time Mars has done something online. It realised that for this target market it needed to have something more than TVCs," said Tequila business director Ajoy Roy-Chowdury. "Mars wanted to have a mechanism where it could have a year-long relationship with the consumer."
In particular, Roy-Chowdury noted that an online entertainment presence was needed to better connect with a target market that is wary of being marketed to.
"This target market is very busy and they know when they're being marketed to," pointed out Roy-Chowdury. "Mars realised that when it comes to online, gaming is massive - it's that whole idea of giving the consumer value for nothing."
While anyone can play the games, registered users stand the chance to win a real world trip to visit the different countries at the end of the year.
"For this category, the web environment is usually just to enter competitions and not drive loyalty," he said.
"The 18 to 24 year-old male can be an elusive group to connect with, so it was natural that we needed an online presence," said Mars marketing category manager Paul Treddinnick. "But having the online presence was the easy part - the challenge was to have an impact."
The campaign comes as Tequila\Australia secured the web management account for Birds Eye after outgunning four other agencies in a pitch. "It's a frozen food website, so we're never going to get millions of people, but we want to make sure there is an online presence and impact," said Roy-Chowdury. The Australian agency also won the US web business for upcoming movie Wedding Crashers, slated to be one of the year's largest releases.