Starting today, we are bringing back offers around our games to provide our users who don’t have access to online payment methods the ability to make in-game purchases while having a compelling game experience. The offers are from eight companies -- Netflix, Discover Card, Blockbuster, HSBC Direct, Gamefly, Book of the Month Club, SnapFish and The New York Times – all of which have high Better Business Bureau ratings.
We have set up a team that is dedicated to checking the quality of any offer we display. This group reviews each offer and applies a strict set of standards for content and user experience before it can be displayed. We also have technology in place that will regularly check offers to verify that only Zynga reviewed offers are displayed. For more on our standards, visit http://www.zynga.com/contact/advertisingGuidelines.php .
Over time, we will phase in more companies as they meet our new standards.
Offers represent a valuable channel for advertisers, users and developers. They enable advertisers to sponsor a user's game session or item purchase in return for their attention, affiliation or purchase. For some users, this enables a purchase they could not have otherwise made or justified. For developers like us it represents incremental revenue to fund our games.
In addition, you will be seeing new brand engagement ads tested in our games. PetVille will test ads from Visa, Sprint, xBox, Timberland, MTV, TV Land, CW and HTC. This type of brand engagement will allow users to gain currency in a fast and easy way.
Looking forward, we hope to partner with the industry to develop standards and policies for advertising around social games and virtual goods to ensure that our users have meaningful game experiences from companies they can trust.
Founder,
Chief Executive Officer &
Chief Product Officer
Mark is the founder, CEO and chief product officer of Zynga. He founded the company in 2007 with a mission of connecting the world through games, and in founding zynga.org, he also believes that games can do good.
On his way to creating Zynga, Mark started three companies. In 2003, he launched Tribe.net, one of the first social networks. Before that, he founded Support.com, a pioneer in automating tech support, and took it public. In 1995, he launched FreeLoader, the first web-based consumer push company. Mark started his career in new media and venture capital before he discovered his calling as a consumer technology entrepreneur. Mark also made founding investments in Napster, Brightmail, Twitter and Facebook.
Mark graduated summa cum laude from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is an angel investor in multiple Silicon Valley startups and regularly gives lectures to aspiring entrepreneurs.
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January 12, 2010
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connecting the world through games
Zynga Core Values
- Build games you & your friends love to plays
- Meritocracy: level ups
- Be CEO, own outcomess
- Move at Zynga speeds
- Zynga first: decisions for the greater goods
- Innovate on best of breed mechanics
Good to hear this, Mark. Offers can be part of a smart monetization model that serves players AND advertisers in a functional way, without either being abused.
Posted by: Frank Gilson | January 12, 2010 at 07:47 PM