THE SITUATION

 

Author Sandy Salisbury wrote Calvin Coconut, a book series for readers in grades 2-4 and older reluctant readers. Set in the Hawaiian Islands, these humorous and entertaining chapter books explore issues all young people face in their early growing years, including splintered families, bullies, camaraderie, and character building.  Sandy wondered how we might use social media to promote his new book series.

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OUR APPROACH

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Target the 5-min daily leisure moments that millions of users were taking to play Facebook games.  At the time, these games were a new way to interact socially online, and presented the perfect stage to reach gift givers and buyers.  Launched before Zynga's Farmville, we built an island resort simulation social network game. Players could:

• Explore and discover hidden stuff

• Build structures, boats, visitor attractions

• Plant, grow, and harvest crops

• Mine iron ore, or quarry stone

• Send gifts to friends islands

• Send “trouble makers” to friends islands

• Stock crops and resources and sell later

• Coconut Island was designed as a daily 5-minute leisure experience that people of all ages or skill level could enjoy.

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THE RESULT

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Visitor daily active use shot through the roof. The most passionate players started Facebook groups specifically to connect around their game play. Zynga took notice and reached out to inquire about selling the property. In approximately 3 months we saw the following:

• Daily active user at 14,000 at peak

• 2.5 million sessions

• 500,000 users from 100+ countries 

• $25,000+ in revenue from in-app purchases and lead gen activities

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