Players of 'Busted Manager' act as a virtual band manager taking care of number-one selling pop act Busted's everyday needs. The game will be available from Monday August 11 and will be promoted on an insert card in Busted's new single "Sleeping With The Light On" and through the .
The game is the first of its kind to be launched in the UK and was commissioned by Island Records Group, which is part of Universal Music Group.
Busted Manager will provide a new digital revenue channel for Universal and will complement the current marketing support for Busted.
Glenn Cooper, new media manager at Universal Island, said: "Busted fans are primarily in the 16-24 age group whose preferred method of communication is a mobile phone. Busted Manager will be a great way for fans to test their knowledge of the band. It is also another way in which Universal Music is working with Digital Outlook to create new revenue streams through digital channels."
Busted Manager will cost £4.50 to download onto a mobile phone. The aim of the game is to get the highest score based on the band's performance at a virtual nightly concert.
The scoring is dependent on how well 'managers' have looked after the band that day. Players receive percentage scores from each of the band members - Charlie, Matt and James. To improve their percentages the player can feed them burgers, send them to bed, allow them to play computer games or even go on a date. The band members have put their real likes and dislikes into the game to make it more realistic, so a strong knowledge of the band improves scoring.
"We wanted to create a game that was not simply an arcade game with the brand slapped on to it for no real apparent reason - there are plenty of these already in the market," said Glen Collins, managing director of Digital Outlook. "We feel the tamagotchi-style game allows the fans to interact with the band members in a brand new way never possible before with 'traditional' media"
Universal is currently in the process of speaking to telecom operators regarding further marketing opportunities for Busted Manager and Digital Outlook will also be promoting the game via existing Busted digital marketing assets. The game has been developed using standard J2ME code and all data is stored locally on the mobile phone, with the exception of the high score table which is web-based.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .