2010-11 - Keele University

Success spreads for viral games specialist

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Posted on 21 December 2011
Koko Digital has been based at KUSBP since 2008 during which time it has doubled its team

A specialist producer of viral and social media games is celebrating after winning four new contracts and a top industry award.

Koko Digital, based at Keele University Science and Business Park (KUSBP), has been selected by four leading companies to run innovative digital campaigns aimed at raising awareness and driving web traffic.

The nine-strong team is working with Phones 4U to help boost sales with the launch of a viral game called Zombies Ate My Phone. Designed to be played online across websites, blogs and within Facebook, the game also offers the chance to win the latest iPhone 4S handset.

For book publishers Rough Guides, Koko has recently launched its first iPhone game. The application is based on a viral game that the Koko team developed in March 2011, which has been played over 11.5 million times since its launch and won the award for Best Use of Viral Communication at the Travel Marketing Awards 2011.

OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) has chosen Koko to produce a range of Facebook apps which give teachers and students access to a range of online tools and resources, as well as mechanisms to reach a larger social audience.

At the end of November, the team will be launching a new campaign for Confused.com called Cara's Pocket Launcher. This will be the third campaign that Koko has produced for the price comparison site, which involves firing their lead character Cara from a huge cannon, collecting coins as she flies through the air.

Speaking about the new contracts, Chris Steele, managing director of Koko Digital said: “These are all new and innovative campaigns that highlight the creative talents of our growing team.

“The campaign for Phones 4U has only been running for a few weeks and was played over 100,000 times in its first day alone.

“The iPhone game for Rough Guides is really exciting for us. It’s just been featured on the App Store, so are confident that it will follow the same success as the viral version and help us to win more iphone gaming projects. This is an area we’re looking to expand into so we’re keen to start promoting our services in this sector. We are also hoping to develop our own games direct to the consumer, which we'll be looking to launch sometime next year.”

The new projects follow Koko’s success at the Fresh Awards 2011 last month. The team won the award for the ‘Most Innovative and Informative App’ for its Eruption Disruption game. Developed for the awarding body OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations), it was designed to help teach students about the effects ash clouds have on commercial airlines. It has received nearly 10 million hits since its launch 11 months ago.

Koko Digital has been based at KUSBP since 2008 during which time it has doubled its team. It moved to the Park as it needed contemporary office space, business support and a professional business address.

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