Looking to build buzz (and a customer database) before the Games-time debut of their Vancouver pop-up store, Mizuno sportswear has launched a website and interactive snowboarding game to promote their new product.

The game, developed by Toronto’s Doug agency, is accessible from the Mizuno site and features a snowboarder who collects pieces of Mizuno first-layer clothing to replace his bulky old gear as he races down a course. Product details are listed on the side of the game interface. The game finishes with the option of entering a contest for a trip to BC, which runs until Dec. 14, a strategy to help Mizuno build a customer database.

The other pieces of the new campaign include a pop-up store in Vancouver, to run for the month of February 2010, and a retail-focused push to the online game with Running Room and Golf Town, with e-blasts and in-store promotions. The campaign also includes a media buy, done in-house, in Get Out There magazine that includes e-blasts, an online banner ad and a half-page ad in the next two bi-monthly issues.

The decision to use a game as the campaign centerpiece came from a desire to do something different and engaging, Barbara Mitchell, manager, advertising and marketing services, Mizuno Canada, tells MiC.

‘We felt that a game sounded like a lot of fun, plus it brought in the sports aspect,’ she explains. ‘There’s so many email blasts out there in the world, so much media, we wanted something that might make people stop and play the game, while at the same time, enter the contest, which was really our goal – to get the database of consumers.’

www.mizunobreaththermogames.com