14 DAY TRIAL // We see this all the time, cellphones getting branded with some fashion designer's logo, various gadgets featuring the PSP branding and now even the soft drinks have become targets for the branding process. This is the case of the Mountain Dew drink, specially made for Halo 3, the most awaited game of the year that will be launched on September 25.
It's not the first time we see a game's brand associated with a famous drink, as Final Fantasy IX saw Square-Enix and Coca Cola joined as they released a trailer that featured some characters from the game, racing for the daily coke. The new Halo 3-branded drink is called Mountain Dew Game Fuel and has a citrus cherry flavor and 30% more caffeine for those long Halo nights that await you.
The new MD will be available this November and I bet that the marketing campaign will also include a couple of Halo 3-related prizes for the avid Game Fuel drinkers. Frank Cooper, marketing VP for Mountain Dew claimed that Halo 3 is rather a cultural phenomenon than a game and deserves its own beverage.
As if the game's marketing campaign was not enough, we'll see lots of TV commercials and online ads, promoting Game Fuel and obviously Halo 3. What's next? MacDonald's and Unreal 3 providing the young gamers with a "bloody happy meal"? It may be advertising, but one should know what brands to approach and those that should be avoided. If I was the producer of the most eagerly awaited FPS game, I would team up with car manufacturers, cellphone and hardware producers.
Of course, this is only my humble opinion and I'm no marketing expert, but a game like Halo 3 can put its logo on any product and still sell it to any Halo fan in the world.