Slim Jim: Spicy Side

CLIENT

Mekanism is an independent San Francisco and New York based production studio focused on storytelling in emerging media, specifically in film and animation. They are best known for their viral campaigns, branded entertainment approach and syndication strategies, and have produced work for clients including Microsoft, Tostitos, MTV, Sega and Electronic Arts.

BACKGROUND

Venables Bell & Partners, a Bay Area advertising agency, approached Mekanism to employ their interactive strategy and design services as part of the launch of the new Slim Jim. Mekanism then contacted 15 letters to enlist our game development expertise for SpicySide.com - a social gaming website inspired by the TV spots created by Venables Bell & Partners that insinuate that everyone has a "Spicy Side," which is especially noticeable upon eating Slim Jims.

THE SOLUTION

Working with designers and writers at Mekanism, 15 letters developed Spicy Town, the main feature of SpicySide.com. This rich side-scrolling multi-player game environment allowed visitors to run wild throughout the landscape camouflaged as their own custom Spicy Side. Users could chat with each other in real time, challenge each other to a rumble in a head-to-head boxing game and hunt for Slim Jims to earn extra points and unlock extra spicy moves to use in combat, as they vied for one of 100 places on the Spicy Leaderboard.

Additional areas of the site included an avatar creator where users started off by uploading a photo and "meeting their Spicy Side," a gallery where visitors could peruse the headshots of Spicy Sides, as well as a video room where visitors could watch the TV spots and even post them to their own webpage or blog. Also rounding out the site was an interactive product carousel where users could learn about the wide range of Slim Jim flavors, as well as an area where they could learn just a little bit more about "Spicy."

15 letters brought the entire experience to life through our suite of skills including information architecture/design, flash programming and animation, sound design, and back-end development. Additionally we created an administrative tool that ConAgra employees could log-on to manage the uploaded photos that had been flagged as offensive by the community.

SUCCESS METRICS

Success was determined by a number of factors for SpicySide.com. The main objectives of the site were to submerge the target audience in the Slim Jim brand to experience the strategy firsthand, and ultimately connect with them in a unique and meaningful way that they would then want to share with friends.