Animal Welfare Groups Benefit from Marley Movie
Posted by hollywoodbranding on December 22, 2008
Digital Dogs Promote “Marley” Movie, Animal Welfare
Web users can adopt and care for a realistic virtual version of Marley the movie star dog.The canine-centric holiday movie “Marley & Me,” the pet food brand sponsors and non-profits aimed at animal protections are all getting a promotional boost from a virtual pet application available on the Web, on social networks and on the iPhone.
Using a team of Web game and feature-film animators, FooMojo has created a line of very realistic digital pets that need to be fed, watered, entertained and given medical attention.
Available on Facebook since February 2008 as Pokey pets, they have recently been re-branded and made available for free on MySpace, on a new beta Web site, and as a paid application downloaded to the iPhone.
To promote the Twentieth Century Fox movie that opens on Christmas Day, FooMojo has added a special edition “Marley & Me” pet to its stable of six adoptable virtual cats and dogs. The new puppy, a young golden retriever, is a virtual replica of the movie Marley, complete with animated sequences recreated from the film.
Adoptive owners in the U.S. can also “feed” Marley and the other FooPets using products from Nestlé Purina PetCare, including Purina Dog Chow and Puppy Chow. Those logging into social networks in European markets will be able to feed their pets using virtual food from Pedigree, a brand owned by Mars.
“The basis of the ‘Marley & Me’ story is the emotional attachment people form with their pets,” said FooMojo founder and CEO Ron Hornbaker, a former veterinarian, in a release. “We paid careful attention when creating the Marley FooPet and made sure he not only looks like the film’s Marley but acts like him too.”
“In the movie, Marley teaches his family about love and the strong bond that makes a pet so important in our lives,” said Twentieth Century Fox digital marketing vice president Bettina Sherick. “Whether you’re a longtime pet owner or have never had pet at all, we felt fans around the world should share in the positive experience of caring for their own personal Marley.”
In addition to the relationships with the movie and its pet-food sponsor, FooMojo also plans integrate donations to the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States into the online store of its FooPets virtual environments on the Web and social network sites. The 1 million regular FooPet users can now make easy contributions to those animal welfare organizations in the same place where they use credit cards or PayPal transfers to buy virtual food, medicine and toys for their digital dogs and cats.
All the net proceeds from donations made through FooPet applications will go to the ASPCA and the Humane Society. FooMojo already runs a non-profit FooPets Foundation, which donates 1% of its stock, 2% of its employees’ time and 100% of users’ net donations to charitable agencies engaged in animal protection.
FooMojo » Hollywood Branding coverage said
[...] Quinton at the Hollywood Branding blog gave us a nice write-up today. Categories: [...]
Elizabeth Groom said
What this article doesn’t mention is that the recent takeover by Foo pets has distressed and even angered most of the existing users of the Pokey application. For whatever reason, the Foopets group developed an alternate web application with very “realistic” looking pets but then instead of launching their own design on it’s own merits, they bought up the rights to and changed all the existing not-very realistic pets from the web app Pokey. This has caused an uproar in the community of formerly happy virtual pet owners. Surprisingly, FooPets has discovered, virtual pet owners are as shocked and offended about the sudden redesign of their pets as if someone had stolen and replaced an actual pet! The web forums are ablaze with criticism of the Foopets designers and condemnation for the sudden and drastic unannounced and unexplained change.
Bring Pokey Back said
So when will you restore Pokey and put an end to this sorry FooPets nightmare episode? I tried the “New Coke” that you came out with, and then removed this dreadful app from Facebook as it has now become a CHORE, rather than the simple, sweet fun that Pokey used to be. Also, the Shepherd dog I used to have is gone, replaced with a dog that doesn’t even look like the dog I worked and paid so many “bones” to acquire.
Look, I don’t need your GRIM PET KILLING in what used to be such a sweet, simple, innocent game. Nor do I need what is essentially now a bunch of veiled ARROGANT LESSONS about how we are supposed to behave as virtual pet owners. Take your high-handed treatment of all your many, many Pokey users and *shove it*. There’s enough anguish and anxiety taking care of real-life pets without you having to inject yet more misery into the world with your NO-FUN, TEDIOUS, KILLJOY, MORBID new application.
FooPets Are Awesome said
I have had a Pokey puppy since July when on of my friends on Facebook sent me an invite. I loved the app and had fun with it…but the new stuff is even better. A lot of users seem to be complaining but in my opinion, they are awesome – the new FooPets do more stuff. Everyone should just actually play with them and get familiar with the new app before they start over-reacting to changes. Just my opinion of course but I did see that the company allowed anyone who wanted to old pets to have them back. I can’t wait to see what else comes out from these guys – I also love the iPhone app with a Marley puppy. Also very cool.
M.Antonieta said
TENGO ..NO PUEDO ABRIR LA PAGUINA,NO PUEDO ALIMENTAR A MI MASCOTA…
M.Antonieta said
TENGO PROBLEMAS… PARA VER A MIS MASCOTA Y ALIMENTAR
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