Gate.com Achieves Strong Viral Following Through Successful Online Game

HostReview.com
Tuesday, February 13, 2007; 07:57 AM

Affinity Internet, the leading web site, ecommerce and online marketing service provider for web professionals and small businesses, today announced the grand prize winner and overall success of its advergame – ServerMechanic (www.ServerMechanic.com). ServerMechanic is an online competitive flash game created to build brand awareness of Gate.com. The free IT-focused casual game tested players’ technical prowess in a four-level online competition and even offered a 2-player option. Players vied for an array of big prizes, including the coveted Xbox 360, the popular Gears of War game, free domain names, free hosting and a grand prize of an LCD flat-screen HDTV. The competition ran from Oct. 16 to Dec. 15, 2006, during which Affinity Internet awarded a total of 216 prizes and gained a strong viral presence on the Web.

Over the duration of the contest, tens of thousands of unique visitors played ServerMechanic and a whopping 63.9 percent of that traffic was obtained virally. Although the company employed a modest Google advertising campaign and did its own seeding campaign on related forums, the majority of the game’s traffic was from word of mouth marketing or “WOM” – traveling virally from player-to-player – far exceeding the percentage originally projected.

“We were enthused to see that ServerMechanic, which we had such a good time creating, was also entertaining and rewarding to so many visitors,” said Jim Collins, CEO, Affinity Internet. “The game achieved our goal to amuse and reward the IT workers of the world, while also introducing them to our brand. The result was a cost effective, innovative approach to driving market share, customer loyalty and brand recognition in an entertaining and engaging manner. It also provided Affinity with a new mechanism by which we can interact with our customers.”

The ServerMechanic game, subtitled “A Man Versus Machine Duel to the Death,” loosely replicates some of the real life challenges facing an IT professional, like locating a malfunctioning server by following the annoyingly persistent beeps, or replacing a memory stick in a tight corner of a server box without getting shocked. Players with the fastest overall completion times posted their scores on the Leader Board and received prizes each week. At the end of the competition, the grand prize winner with the best overall time was Aaron Southern, 26, from Calera, Alabama who completed all four levels in just 13:07 seconds – 94 seconds faster than the runner up! In recognition of his skill and cunning, Aaron was awarded a Philips 32" Flat-Panel LCD HDTV, which has an average retail value of $1399. In total, Affinity Internet awarded more than $10,000 in prizes during the game cycle.

Although the competition has concluded, visitors can still play the advergame by going to www.ServerMechanic.com.

About Affinity Internet

Affinity Internet (www.affinity.com) is committed to empowering its customers to write their own Internet success stories.

The company provides more than 200,000 web professionals and small businesses the tools to develop, maintain, market and support their web presence, making the Internet a useful and relevant part of their businesses. Affinity’s brands include: ValueWeb, for web design, eCommerce hosting and online marketing solutions and Gate.com, the cutting-edge UNIX and Windows web hosting service. Affinity's co-brand and private-label partner programs enable leading service providers and Internet brands to extend their value proposition to include feature-rich web site, ecommerce and online marketing services and applications.

Affinity’s services are supported by its customer service “success guides” – knowledgeable consultants with a passion for serving small businesses and a dedication to ensuring their growth and success.