Come fly with Redrow

Award-winning house builder Redrow has entered the realms of viral marketing with the launch of a new online game based around flying a virtual hot air balloon.

Once again proving itself to be soaring above its house-building peers when it comes to digital marketing, Redrow has introduced the game to support the activities of its real hot air balloon, to raise brand awareness and to expand its customer database.

Participants are challenged to steer the virtual balloon to a safe landing on one of five landing pads and hopefully win a real-life balloon ride of their own. They can then choose to share the game with up to three friends and, when each friend tries the game, the original participant will be invited to have another go.

Simon Bennett, Redrow’s group marketing director, says: “We have already proved ourselves to be one of the leading property developers in terms of investment in digital, most notably our website – which regularly gets more than 30,000 visits per week – but also in digital direct marketing and other online activity, including the use of social networking sites like YouTube to promote our product.

“Viral marketing is the next stage of this process, working essentially as the digital version of good old-fashioned word-of-mouth. People who try our game and enjoy it can then email their friends, who will email their friends, and so on. The capacity for the game to spread is huge.

“The essential elements are that it’s fun, engaging and interactive, it offers the chance for participants to win an unusual prize of significant value, and the more people they share it with, the more chances they get to play and win.”

The high-flying new game has been developed by Manchester based interactive agency DIGERATI – the digital division of TBWA\Manchester – and will be emailed initially to Redrow’s own database. It can also be accessed directly via Redrowhotairballoon.co.uk and will be promoted on other appropriate websites.

For extensive information about Redrow’s new homes and incentives designed to help get people moving, go to Redrow.co.uk.