Jamie Oliver gets involved in social gaming, and how you can use it as a restaurant marketing tool
With a portfolio including TV programmes, supermarket adverts, cookery books and a mobile app, Jamie Oliver certainly has his fingers in a lot pies. And now he’s getting involved in the world of online social gaming by contributing recipes to the popular Facebook game Restaurant City.
In the game, players get to design and manage their own restaurant and employ their Facebook friends as waiters and chefs. This month players will be able to cook special recipes supplied by the famous chef, including Asparagus Fettuccine and Basil Pesto Pasta. If players complete all the recipes in time they’ll receive a special Jamie Oliver Pasta Maker (unfortunately it’s only a virtual one, though, before you all rush to sign up).
Restaurant City has 6 million monthly players, making it a potential goldmine of people that would be interested in buying one of Jamie’s cookery books. The deal also makes good to the game’s creators because it will give them a burst of publicity to attract some of the players from its bitter rival – Café World.
Can you use social gaming in your restaurant marketing?
Social gaming is huge. An estimated 250 million people play games on Facebook every month, and these days more and more brands are using social gaming to plug their products.
Lady Gaga recently launched her own virtual farm, GagaVille, on FarmVille to promote her latest album, whilst Dr Dre used the mean streets setting of Mafia Wars to launch a recent single.
But you don’t have to be a celebrity chef or pop star to be able to use social gaming as a restaurant marketing tool. The clue as to how is in the title – these games are ‘social’.
In Restaurant City you can visit the restaurants owned by your Facebook friends, trade ingredients and help them put together their own recipes. You can also take snapshots to post on your Facebook wall.
So if you have a Facebook fan page, Restaurant City offers a fun, unique and community building way of engaging with your customers over your shared passion for food and running restaurants.
To help restaurateurs keep up with the learning curve we organise Livebookings Academy events and webinars where we talk about trends in technology and marketing.
See the upcoming dates and register for events here!
