I am so pleased to find out that the Virtual Zippo Lighter app just won a Mobi award! And not only did it win, but my lil’ old Virtual Zippo Ligher app beat-out Coke and Paramount!
BEST MOBILE BRANDING WINNER: VIRTUAL ZIPPO LIGHTER
http://www.dm2pro.com/articles/20090902_3
Company Name: Virtual Zippo Lighter
Company Name to Receive the Award: Moderati
Agencies: Moderati
Brand: Zippo
Links to Creative: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH8QxlkfcOw
Based on the success of the Apple App Store, Moderati decided to create an iPhone app with Zippo, the famed lighter brand, as a new tool of brand awareness for the company. Moderati successfully conceived and actualized the transcendence of the iconic brand from the physical world into the mobile entertainment landscape. The App is the only one of its kind in the App Store with a fully interactive lighter simulation. The Virtual Zippo Lighter operates just like a real lighter, but without anyone getting burned. The application takes advantage of several features of the iPhone and iPod Touch developer platform, including the accelerometer to enable movement of the flame in response to motion. Realistic sound effects highlight the action of the lighter when it opens and closes, and the vibration feature lets you know when the flame is upside down. It opens with a flick of the wrist and lights with a turn of the flint wheel and the truly windproof flame sways as the device is moved back and forth. Audiences the world over, in as many as 76 countries, can experience the famous “Zippo Moment” for free, by holding their cell phones aloft and swaying to power ballads at concerts.
Moderati deployed a targeted, multi-stage campaign that generated cross-market adoption and far exceeded initial goals in garnering brand recognition, resulting in an unprecedented 5 million downloads and media coverage in over fifty consumer, advertising and entertainment trade publications and blogs including Adweek, Wired, and Ad Age. The Zippo Virtual Lighter quickly became a global phenomenon and ranks in the top 20 iPhone apps of all time according to Comscore. The Virtual Zippo Lighter reached 100,000 downloads within its first week and was #2 on Apple’s list of Top Free iPhone Apps within two weeks of being launched. The app has maintained a spot on the list of Top 50 Free iPhone Apps since its inception in October and has now been downloaded over 5,000,000 times.
Image, Mini Kurhan 2008
