Oxygen Announces Mobile Game, Local-Ad-Sales Promo

Women’s-Targeted Cable Network Teams Up with Artificial Life, Westinghouse Digital

By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, July 23, 2007

Oxygen is filtering through the digital air via a leap into the interactive-gaming space and a local-ad-sales promotion offering technology prizing.

The women’s-targeted network, in conjunction with Artificial Life, is launching its first third-generation mobile game, based on its series The Bad Girls Club.

Meanwhile, Oxygen is triggering an LAS initiative, tied to its “Girls Gone Wired” research study, which will outfit 20 affiliate winners with a technology makeover supplied by Westinghouse Digital.

The Bad Girls Club 3G game, scheduled to launch in late August, will feature high- resolution graphics and animations, 3-D avatars based on the actual characters in the first season of the series and photo-realistic locations based on the show’s house. Players can virtually “live” in the Bad Girls house and star in their own virtual reality show, vying to gain fame and notoriety in the tabloid world.

Available through downloads via Oxygen’s home page, the network’sBad Girls Club site and Botme.com, the game will carry an initial price tag of $3.99. The game is compatible with most mobile phones, although certain features will vary among wireless devices, according to Oxygen.

In addition to the 3G game, Oxygen and Artificial Life -- the client list of which includes CBS, Warner Bros., Starwave Mobile (Disney) and Ericsson -- will also launch several other 2G games based on The Bad Girls Club in the coming months.

“Gaming is so huge with women, and Oxygen has been looking at how to break into this arena,” Oxygen senior vice president Cynthia Ashworth said in a prepared statement. “This game presents the perfect opportunity to take our most popular television series to a new level by creating a mobile game that is on brand with the show and also connects with our young, tech-savvy female audience. This is only the beginning for Oxygen in the gaming arena.”

As for the Girls Gone Wired turnkey LAS effort, the program includes a national and local sweepstakes, promotional materials that affiliates can use to talk to local women about their technology offerings and a series of taggable “Tech Talk” vignettes. Based on Oxygen’s 2006 Girls Gone Wired technology research, the off-the-shelf promotion bows Aug. 13 and runs through year-end.

The local sweepstakes will award 20 affiliate markets with a grand prize of a “Total Techover,” which includes an exclusive consultation with a tech guru, up to $5,000 worth of Westinghouse Digital products and professional installation of the awarded devices. A total of 20 additional markets will receive runner-up prizes, Westinghouse Digital’s 32-inch LCD TV with built-in DVD player. All told, Westinghouse will supply more than $100,000 worth of equipment. Consumers will be able to enter the sweepstakes online.

Oxygen will supply affiliates with a series of taggable Tech Talk vignettes, affording info on how technology products, such as HD, global-positioning systems, digital imaging and Bluetooth, can be integrated into women’s lives. Participating affiliates markets are required to run cross-channel spots touting the sweepstakes. The programmer will also provide customizable banners for sponsors’ Web sites.

“Women are accessing entertainment on every platform available to them, and Oxygen is everywhere they are -- on air, online, on their phones -- so this is a way for our affiliates to tap into that market, as well,” president of distribution Mary Murano said in a prepared statement. “This promotion gives affiliates the opportunity to sell into key categories for women, while helping them to generate local-ad-sales revenue, and also teaches them how to speak to this extremely important demo.”