A feather scarf and a huge package... hmm...
Christmas hasn’t arrived, but the Grinch has already terrorized SXSW and the city of Austin with his trademark smirk.
It’s all actually part of a mobile game by Singapore-based startup Zopim, which is representing the country at the festival. The startup’s flagship product, Zopim Live Chat, is helping more than 35,000 online businesses engage their customers real-time through their websites.
South by Southwest (SXSW for short), is an annual music, film, and interactive festival that is drawing over 16,000 participants from around the world. The interactive segment ends on 13th March.
Here’s how the mobile game works: A Support Grinch mascot (which is actually Zopim team member Weixiang in costume) has been roaming the streets of Austin, with his location trackable on Hugthegrinch.com. Gamers can log onto the site using Twitter, and do a hug attack via a tweet if they are within range of the Grinch, or do a telepathic attack of they are far away.
The person that deals the most damage to the Grinch will win a Macbook Air.
The goal of the game is to demonstrate the importance of great customer service. The Support Grinch represents someone in an organization that kills joy, and sabotages relationships between businesses and customers. By giving the Grinch a “hug”, gamers will be reminded that even the baddest person deserves some love, not to mention their customers.
This marketing campaign, which started on 9th March, is inspired by the Free Hugs Movement.
Check out SGE’s articles on Zopim, as well as our past content on SXSW festivals.
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