Green Acres this ain't. But welcome to FarmVille, bankers.
Capital One Financial Corp., of McLean, Va., announced on Tuesday a partnership with virtual game distributor Zynga Inc., which will let Capital One plant its brand in three popular online games —FarmVille, CityVille and The Pioneer Trail.
Capital One has created its own farm on FarmVille, and once there, visitors are encouraged to help out in the fields and feed the sunglasses-wearing goat from the bank's TV commercials. (Capital One made another foray into FarmVille this summer using its gnarly Visigoths, also of TV fame.)
Gamers can get rewards for "liking" Capital One on the bank's Facebook page. Rewards come in the form of FarmVille loot, such as the biogeneticist's dream-sounding "Animal Grow," which lets gamers grow their livestock at warp speed for harvesting.
Gamers can also sign-up for a "limited edition," breedable gift goat, though it's unclear if this is for slaughter, too.
But it gets "virtualer" and "virtualer" as Alice, of Wonderland, might have said.
Capital One is also setting up eponymous branches in CityVille, where users build their own cities and can also earn rewards for including the bank in zoning plans.
"Re-teaming with Zynga allows us to build on our previous success with FarmVille and branch out to CityVille and The Pioneer Trail," Jack Forestell, executive vice president of digital strategy at Capital One, said in a press release. "It is a natural next step and offers a unique way to feature the Capital One Goat character that is growing in popularity and generating support in social channels."
The strategy does not come without risks, says Bart Narter, a senior vice president of Celent's banking group. "There are compliance implications if you start talking about customer accounts [in social medium forums]," Narter says.
