Well Done Tribal DDB!

Well done for creating Monopoly City Streets, a massive multiplayer online game that started with so much promise but is now officially the EPIC FAIL of digital experiments!

I can understand the need for a reset, i can even cope with the fact that the game has done nothing to curb the flux of cheating but what i can not, in good conscious accept is you playing God and changing the rules of the game at your whim and without notifying the players!

I do not care if this is a BETA or live launch, because in today’s online commercial environment, trust is the most traded currency and constant clear communication is the bartering system.

The kicker to all this is, what could’ve being an ingenious marketing ploy by Hasbro to substantially raise its board game sales during Xmas, has now resulted in a mass exodus from the brand because its agency has royally bent all the players over and made them all pick up the soap!

The worst part is, Hasbro is an innocent victim caught up in the incompetence of its digital agency Tribal DDB who to date has

• Set the game on a platform too small to handle the mass traffic (TWICE)
• Failed to provide a solution to the rampant cheating
• Blogged 25 pointless articles and ignored member’s input
• Made game altering changes without notifying the members

And who cops the flak? Hasbro! Yep,

In this lies two important lessons

1. During marketing calamity, consumers will lay blame on the most tangible identity, the brand

2. A marketing campaign is a representation of both the agency and the brand, but in the eyes of the consumer, the agency is non existent.

What this means is, when undertaking a global marketing campaign of such magnitude, Hasbro must rule with an iron fist and a short leash.

I can only imagine the kind of talks Hasbro is having with Tribal DDB right now