Like everyone else in the known universe, I am on Facebook. It was fun at first - looking up old friends, seeing which of my ex-boyfriends lost their hair - but after a month or so, I was bored.
Until Scrabulous.
Scrabulous, if you don't know, is an application created by two brothers from Calcutta, India that closely emulates the board game. It has become the most popular app on Facebook, with over 600,000 active players. I am one of them.
But if Hasbro/Mattel gets their way, I may not be one for long.
According to bloggers Matt Dickman and Shel Israel, Mattel and Hasbro issued a take down order on Scrabulous, claiming trademark infringement. The game is still functioning, for now. Good thing too, because I'm finally beating my most nefarious opponent and I need to bring my stats up.
Now, they have a point. Scrabulous is a Scrabble knock-off, and companies absolutely have to defend their brands. On the other hand, Scrabulous has revived their brand, particularly amongst young people who generally don't go out and buy board games - I wonder if sales have increased at all?
At first, I was angry about the whole kerfuffle. Why didn't Hasbro and Mattel come up with this idea in the first place? Why weren't they thinking outside of the board game box? They have a game that is easily transferable to the web - so why wouldn't they jump at the chance to reinvigorate a classic for a whole new generation of players?
Often, we get too comfortable with our service or product. We know what we do, and how we do it. That's a good thing, for sure - but sometimes, we need to look further. We need to examine how our business could benefit from charting new marketing territory.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Take a look at your Essential Message - what sets you apart. Now make a list of different ways you could communicate that message. Could you write articles for your local paper? Be a guest on a radio call-in show? Create an interactive application - a quiz, for example - for your website or a social networking site? Put the box away, and imagine how your business could get Scrabulous.
And if you have a minute, send me some 4-letter words involving 'z'. I'm stuck.
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