The rhetoric at nearly all companies is that marketing departments need to be more creative when it comes to social networking and other Web 2.0 strategies. We're seeing more banks invest in this area. An interesting approach comes from Barclays (Barclays news), which has launched 56 Sage Street, an online game.

Players start out broke in a virtual city. "However, a self-made millionaire, owner of the 56 Sage Street empire, called Mr. C has only two weeks to live and is searching for a successor. To impress Mr. C, the player has to complete a series of tasks and show they should be left the business. By completing jobs, the character improves its reputation, energy and appearance, enabling it to tackle bigger and better tasks and move up the ladder," notes Finextra.

The game was developed with an ad agency as a way to burnish the Barclays brand with teenagers. The Flash game was smartly launched via Facebook. The ROI on these sorts of activities are always uncertain. But if it were to work well, perhaps we'll see a big U.S. brand follow suit. It's a little Monopoly-like after all.

For more:
- here's an article from TheFinancialBrand.com

Related Articles:
Barclays spin-off a nonstarter
Barclays programmer gets four years in TJX scandal
Citi's dubious online marketing efforts