The Discovery Channel, Fuel Industries Play the ‘Do it Yourself’ Game
Do-it-Yourself home repairs have a pretty low success rate unless you actually know what you’re doing, really know. And just like a familiar TV Dad like Tim “The Toolman” Taylor would grunt following any repair gone wrong, he’s not alone in thinking he really knows what he’s doing with the ol’ wrench. Joining the family of DIY TV flannel-wearing, bearded manly-men like Bob Villa, the Discovery Channel’s reno-reality show Canada’s Worst Handyman takes its good name online to make a game out of home repair dirty work.
The new HomeWrecker viral game, which allows Handy Ted to guide users through video footage and user manuals, helps you fellas who don’t stop for directions to play your way to supreme DIY enlightenment.
“The site was done entirely in Flash 8 which allowed us to leverage the new Flash Video Codec and gave us a seamless and immersive experience for our users,” Julian Dolce, Senior Creative Technologist at advergame experts, Fuel Industries tells us. “The site was built by Fuel Industries in Ottawa, with all the video being shot and edited by Karbon Arc, Fuel Industries’ sister SFX and Video Production company. The video was shot on green screen on a set. So some of the things you’re seeing in the video don’t exist. For instance — when you cut the door out and the wall falls. The room you see in the background doesn’t actually exist.”
And that’s probably a good thing since users may find themselves accidentally knocking down walls and firing up broken gas pipes. The game actually follows after the TV show’s “oops I broke it again” theme allowing users to interact with home repair and make every mistake along the way. Creative Marketing Strategist Sean MacPhedran explains, “The core concept of the site is destruction, wrapped in the reality TV/DIY theme of the show. We wanted users to have a fun, visceral experience where they can take a chainsaw to a wall, or use a nail gun like a machine gun.” He continues, “So we put them in the shoes of an imaginary character on the show and he completely screws up every DIY project he puts his hands on. Providing consumers with this type of fun experience online creates more reason for them to watch the show.”
The microsite, which launched March 6th, as Dolce tells it, “consists of 4 scenarios where you have to help Handy Ted complete a series of home renovations. Each scenario is extremely immersive with a combination of Flash Video and an interactive experience. Once you have completed all of the tasks you have the opportunity to win Discovery Channel’s “$5,000 Do It Yourself Cash Prize”. To get the word out about the site they went offline tagging TV spots, superboards and transit spots with the URL in addition to the send to a friend viral aspect and blog postings.
As for how well this site is being received thus far, Dolce tells us even a month in they’ve already hit the nail on the head, saying, “The site has been well received so far and was awarded FWA site of the day for March 29th, 2006.”
Rewire your DIY know-how and play the game: www.worsthandyman.ca.
Tags: advergaming, campaigns and discovery_channel
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