THE BRIEF
Create an online experience for PAC-MAN which can help build awareness for upcoming releases. Oh and showcase the power of HTML5 on Microsoft's newly released IE9.
THE SOLUTION
A simple and catchy idea. Let the global PAC-MAN community create & play their own maze to become part of the "World's Biggest PAC-MAN" game. The ever expanding maze providing endless fun for PAC-MAN fans worldwide.
THE RESULT
1.5 million visitors in the first 3 weeks, countless amounts of positive press for both clients and one huge hosting bill. All without any media spend.
The site has since had 3.1 million visitors.
THE STATS
PAC-MAN, arguably one of the most iconic video game characters ever was combined with a simple and unique idea which became an instant online hit.
Rather than over complicate this idea with too much tech trickery we made it as simple as possible. Click to 'Play' or 'Create'.
Making the experience as simple as possible while working within the constraints of what is possible with HTML5 was tough.
That said the use of HTML5 helped the project stand out and gain media attention from the tech/dev community targeted by Microsoft.
We used Facebook plugins to provide a simple user account that would provide some security from "junk" mazes being submitted and the 'Like' button as a simple way to rate and spread the site organically.
A simple country leaderboard was updated live based on a players geo location. It created a 3-way rivalry between Brazil, Spain and Argentina for 2nd spot after Mexico & the UK took an early lead.
Other countries like Phillipines proud to have entered the top 50.
The response from the media was immediate. From every country and every type of media outlet the response has been positive.
Over 20,000 sites linked to the site in the month.
Media highlights include being picked up by the Guardian, CNN, Huffingtonpost, ABC News, CNET, Gizmodo, Engadget, Geekologie, News.com.au and almost every major games site.
There was no media spend. A press release from MIX11 and from Namco went out and nothing more.
Radian 6 reported over 16,000 tweets in the first week with major "influencers" in the mix.
Alyssa Milano (celeb), Major Nelson (Xbox), Agent M (Marvel), Neave (celeb dev), Smashing Mag (site), Kottke (top blogger), DavidFG (NY Times), Engadget (site), Laughing Squid (site) and many others
Topsy put it in the top 1k URLs
Coverage on various video blogs and random Youtube users was all positive. Here's a playlist of videos we've found.
The project was featured on Australia's national youth radio station Triple J on the Tom & Alex show as "web site of the week".
Google's search results, previously dominated by unofficial results are now 100% WBPM.
The project itself lead to a huge increase in fans to the official PAC-MAN page on Facebook.
95,000 new fans were added in a 2 day period when the news broke on CNN.
The average time spent on the site (after 3.1 million visitors) is 6 min 56 seconds. Google's PAC-MAN logo was an average of 36 seconds. Source
Here's how the first 26,000 mazes took shape. The long tendril up was unexpected as fans took over early.
Some creating "meta" designs using the actual shape of the mazes, as seen in the "SPARTA" to the right near the end.
The creativity of the community has walked the fine line between genius and crazy.
We set up a Tumblr to showcase some of the amazing submissions.
We're now on the road to 3 Billion Pac-Dots eaten! Check out the live stats here.
