Zynga has had a busy week. The social gaming giant struck a five-year partnership with Facebook, acquired Chinese social gaming company XPD Media and opened an office in Beijing. And today, Zynga is announcing its first retail and product partnership in the company’s history. 7-Eleven has partnered with Zynga to offer FarmVille, Mafia Wars-and YoVille-branded items on many of the convenience store’s products, including on Slurpee and Big Gulp cups in its 7,000 stores.
In total there will be more than 30 branded items in store, ranging from cups, bottles water, a signature ice cream and more. Consumers will be able to connect back to the social games by using their product redemption codes for limited edition 7-Eleven goods within FarmVille, Mafia Wars and YoVille. This revenue share deal stemmed from the recent launch of Zynga gift cards in 7-11 stores. The campaign will begin on June 1 and will last for six-weeks.
Zynga says this partnerships represents a way for Zynga to bring its brand to the masses offline. And the company released a new stat showing that 10% of the US is playing FarmVille and 80% of its players are engaging every day with either FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and YoVille.
While Zynga is still tied to Facebook for now, the gaming company has made it abundantly clear that it still plans to maintain its independence as a business, through its Zynga Live project and other avenues. This branding and promotional partnership should certainly help to make its brand more of a household name.