H I S T O RY MONOPOLY is the best-selling board game in the world, sold in 103 countries and produced in 37 languages. An unemployed man created it in 1934 during the Great Depression. He was inspired to do so by the game’s own exciting promise of fame and fortune. People loved the game, so he made a deal with Parker Brothers (now a subsidiary of Hasbro) for it to be produced. In its first year the game was the best-selling game in America, and over its 65-year history, an estimated 500 million people have played the game. Monopoly is the most commercially successful board game in U.S. history.

Monopoly is a board game published by Parker Brothers, a subsidiary of Hasbro. The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly, the domination of a market by a single entity.

In 2008, Hasbro released a world edition of Monopoly Here & Now, which features top locations of the world. The locations were decided by votes over the Internet when Monopoly fans from around the world voted for the global cities that they would like to see represented on the first-ever World edition game board. There were more than 5.6 million votes. The votes resulted in the New World Edition game board having 22 global cities.

The new World Edition game board just became available in stores around the world starting on August 26, 2008 in more than 50 countries and in 37 different languages. The World Edition is also available for playing on video game consoles PS3, Wii, and Xbox360.

http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/ (Check out the Fun Facts!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game) Read especially the “world editions” section.

Links to see recent Monopoly advertising:

http://spaceinvaders.com.br/2009/04/09/monopoly-own-it-all/

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/monopoly_dios

C o m p e t i t i v e f a m i l i e s

Families that are from middle to upper middle income and have a house-hold size of at least four, primarily two parent households, and at least two children – ages 6 to 17. Parents typically are educated and at least one parent holds at least a bachelors degree. These families value each other and spending time together. They lead busy lives; the kids are often involved in sports, parents both work, and they are all active in hobbies and general family and daily busyness. But even though they are busy, they make the effort to eat together most evenings and on the weekends they plan events that involve the entire immediate family, such as camping, amusement parks, and road trips.

These families love competitive sports. Football, baseball, soccer, etc. But they also love video games – especially the kids and the fathers. They will love the fact that they can sit around as a family and play Monopoly as a board game, but they’ll also love that they can all play it together (up to 4 players) on the video versions. But, they will be most drawn to the primary appeal that the game has always had: the competitiveness and drive to own the most property.

These parents would like their children to be somewhat aware of the world outside the US, but rarely take an active hand in their kid’s educations. They will be delighted to (pretend to) buy, sell and trade real estate from not only parts of the US, but now from around the world! Parents will feel that playing this edition of Monopoly will be a fun and effective way for their children to learn about the world they live in.

World domination begins at

home! Show your family &

friends who’s boss -

DOMINATE YOUR WORLD

- your ultimate challenge.

Single most

persuasive message:

energetic worldly competitive & fierce positive wholesome/family-oriented

Tone & Manner:

Mandatory elements:

logoheadline

URL

R e a s o n t o B e l i e v e

Monopoly has gone international just as the world is adapting to globalization! Initial responses to the Monopoly World Edition were extremely favorable and gained huge involvement and attention worldwide. Families love to learn about the world as they dominate eachother trying to own the most global property.

Helen Martin, Vice President of Global Marketing for toy and game-maker Hasbro, Inc.’s MONOPOLY brand said, “We are thrilled that the first-ever global game board includes an interesting mix of cities that showcases the dynamic cultures, sights and history of the planet.”

S W O T

Strengths: Monopoly has been around for ages. Virtually everyone is familiar with the game and has had some kind of experience with it. McDonald’s helped give it even more enormous awareness by using the game in yearly promotions. The game’s availability on video game consoles is a huge plus to attract families with kids that love video games.

Weaknesses: The game has remained (for the most part) unchanged for many many decades, and gives an old-fashioned image – which could be good for some families, but possibly a turn-off to those families that are drawn to technological games or at least modern games.

Opportunities: They have the opportunity to reintroduce themselves thanks to this major update of making this a world edition. They can capture the attention of families that have known the game for years, but thought it got played out – a chance to refresh their image with brand familiars and loyalists alike.

Threats: The multitude of games on the market, board games and video games – that fight for attention and time from already overly-busy families.

P r o d u c t f o r e c a s t

This campaign is serving the brand to introduce their newest product, the World Edition. There hasn’t been such a dramatic update to the game since its inception. The advertising media should be national in scope, and continuous for a year, but more heavily pushed out during the holiday season. By next year, the campaign should be updated, and the video game versions should be targeted heavily to teens. After this target adopts the video games, then online versions or competitions should be introduced. It is expected that the World Editions should be very popular by then with families in the US and beyond.

In 3 years the entire campaign and direction should be evaluated for effectiveness, and at that time strategies should be revisited and revised if necessary.