CHALLENGE

When Best Buy wanted to appeal to the high-value executive consumer, they turned to Fuel Industries to create an interactive experience that would send the message that Best Buy understands their customer’s needs and interests. Our goal was to send the message to the segment that "Best Buy gets it.”

STRATEGY

Starting from Best Buy’s extensive consumer research, we developed a strategy for reaching an older, affluent male executive with little time to spend on websites, and determined that the key point of interest across all sub-segments of the target was golf.

Using this as an overarching theme, Fuel decided to use some tongue-in-cheek humor and update the classic executive toys of the 80's. Rather than a toy that resides on the executive's physical desktop - it now resides on his digital one. A highly underutilized medium, the computer desktop is where many of us spend more time than television. Why not deliver 24/7 branding there?

CREATIVE & EXECUTION

The product that emerged was Desktop Golf - a simple, addictive toy that uses the computer wallpaper to represent a range of idealistic golf courses where consumers can spend time hitting golf balls for longest drive. Not only is the application simple, it allows users to play without interrupting their daily tasks because it operates entirely on the desktop, keeping icons and active applications - like email - active while they attempt to beat their last best score and those of their friends. Four variables must be mastered before getting the ultimate score - power, direction, club selection and the ever present wind, which players monitor via a virtual windsock.

A 3D golfer, rendered in dynamic Flash video, appears on the desktop with an intricately detailed environment - a beachside golf course. Standing in a Best Buy tee box, which is incorporated into the desktop wallpaper, he swings against the elements and his own skill.

Once the application has been closed, the environment remains as wallpaper - an idealized golf course to look into and dream. When a player tires of a particular course, they can change it to variety of locations, including a Scottish sunset on a loch inspired by St. Andrew's, a Manhattan rooftop overlooking the city and even the moon itself, where physics change to provide players with a certain advantage.