UPDATE: 200 Whyvillians already have the flu

I came across this Whyville flu press release earlier today and I can’t tell you how impressed I am with this campaign. I’ve been doing a video game job (top secret) over the past few months so I am now intimately involved with the MMORPG advertising industry, and I can really appreciate the thought and work that went into this collaborative effort.

While I hope I can share a bit about what I’m doing at a later date, I can dissect this Whyville thing at present and share with you from a gamer’s perspective and from the viewpoint of a marketer, why I like this Whyville thingy:

1. User Value
That’s really what trumps everything, isn’t it? Anything to shake up your game, make it more exciting for your players, is a great idea.

2. Public Service Value
While I am not particularly an advocate of flu shots, I am so very impressed at the integration herein. I mean, if your avatar doesn’t get a flu shot, then if you come into contact with an infected avatar you WILL get the Whyville flu. The flu is more annoying than exciting (much like vampirism in Oblivion), and you’re constant sneezing will get in the way of your chatting. Add to that the ugly red spots on your face, and none of these kids who like their attractive avatar will want this flu.

3. Attention
Just how much blogsphere and offline attention do you think this amazing idea is going to get? I know every ‘trying to be hip’ television news agency out there will be reporting this.

4. Advertising
Yes this is a PSA, but look at the great stats they’ll be able to track and report in their next ad sales promo kit.

5. Research
All of us will be watching to see how this fabulous integration will work out for them.

Look, this goes beyond the Pepsi integration into Virtual Laguna Beach and the cars in Whyville, Second Life, etc. I mean, this is big integration, it changes the ENTIRE WORLD for all of the Whyville members. I’ll be watching and reporting on what I see. My daughter is in Whyville right now. It was her first stop after school when I told her about this.

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