Zynga was once very successful with social games like FarmVille and Words with Friends, but failed to innovate and lost relevance as the industry changed. It is now trying to orchestrate a turnaround focused on mobile games. To revitalize its brand, Zynga must instill a need for change, understand customers' mindsets intimately to become indispensable, ensure consistent execution across functions, and continually nurture the brand as markets evolve. Revitalizing a struggling brand requires embracing risks, challenging beliefs, and committing to long-term brand stewardship.

1. LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY PHAGWARA PUNJAB
Student Declaration
MKT203-Assignment-03
Product and Brand Management
Report on
Brand Revitalizing Strategies of Dead/Struggling Brand-Zynga
Submitted By- Submitted To-
Name of Student: Mohammad Amir Khan School of Business
Registration Number: 11915904 Name of the faculty member:
Roll No: RK0134A30 Lakshmaiah Botla
Section – KO134
Signature of the student:

2. P No:01
INTRODUCTION OF BRAND:
Zynga was once the biggest name in social video games. Popular hits like Farm-
Ville and Words with Friends racked up massive audiences and recorded stellar
engagement, but the company's failure to innovate and keep pace with a
rapidly changing industry led to declining relevance and the collapse of its
stock. Now, the company is trying to orchestrate a turnaround that hinges on
delivering hits in the mobile games space, and its stock has rallied more than
40% year to date on early signs that its pivot could be successful.
Zynga Inc. is an American developer running social video game services. It was
founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Francisco.
The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms.
Zynga states its mission as "connecting the world through games.
Zynga launched its best-known game, Farm-Ville on Facebook in June 2009
reaching ten million daily active users (DAU) within six weeks.
As of August 2017, Zynga had thirty million monthly active users (MAU).
In 2017, its most successful games were Zynga Poker and Words with Friends
with about 57 million games being played at any given moment and CSR Racing
the most popular racing game on mobile devices.
Zynga began trading on NASDAQ on 16 December 2011, under the ticker
ZNGA.
In order to better understand the company's comeback effort and place its
current initiatives in context, let's take a look at the history of Zynga.

3. P No:02
HISTORY OF BRAND:
The early year of Zynga
Zynga was founded in 2007 by a team that included current chairman, and
then CEO, Mark Pincus and hit the scene at a time when video games played
through a web browser were experiencing rapid growth. The company
released its first game, Zynga Poker, that year on Facebook ( FB -2.24% ), which
at the time was emerging as a popular browser-based portal for social video
games.
Zynga followed up its hit poker title with Mafia Wars: a multiplayer game that
revolved around players managing their own virtual crime syndicates.
Both games used the free-to-play, or "freemium" model, which gave them
wide audiences and generated sales from a small group of users who spent
large amounts on in-game items and virtual currency. These high value users
are sometimes referred to as "whales", and attracting and maintaining their
interest was, and remains, Zynga's primary source of revenue.
In 2009, the company released its popular puzzle game Words with
Friends. It also debuted FarmVille (a farming simulation game) on
Facebook and later through its own browser-based portal. The game went
on to be a huge hit, launch one of Zynga's most important franchises, and
provide a framework from which many of the company's future games

4. P No:03
would be built. It's worth noting that the gameplay and visuals of
both Mafia Wars and FarmVille were largely derivative of games from other
developers, and Words With Friends is similar to the popular board game
Scrabble.
The next year saw the company release City-Ville, which went on to surpass
FarmVille in popularity. By this time, Zynga was the most successful app
developer on Facebook's platform and it had built a stable of successful
properties, but cracks in its business were already forming due to tensions with
Facebook over monetization schemes and the rising popularity of apps that ran
on mobile and PC operating systems rather than browser portals.
Business model
Zynga uses a "free-to-play" business model. Revenue is acquired via direct
credit card payments and partner businesses. It sells in-game virtual goods as
people play its games, supports in-game advertising, and it has banner
advertising around its game portals.
In addition, Zynga games are linked to offers from several partners. Players can
choose to accept credit card offers, take surveys or buy services from Zynga's
partners in order to obtain game credits. Players may also purchase game
credits directly from Zynga. In the game, players can purchase the points for a
fee. In March 2010 Zynga started selling pre-paid cards in the US for virtual
currency.
In March, 2012, Zynga launched a separate social gaming platform, which
included publishing other developers to the Zynga.com platform. Early third-
party developers included Row Sham Bow, Inc and Mobscience. In June 2012,
Zynga started running Facebook advertisements and sponsored stories on its
website. The revenue was split between Facebook and Zynga.
Hashbro Partnership

5. P No:04
In February 2012, it was announced that Zynga and Hasbro had partnered to
create products based on Zynga properties and brands. In October 2012, Zynga
and Hasbro launched eight ‘face-to-face’ games resulting from their
collaboration: Farm-Ville Hungry Herd and Animal Games; City-Ville Monopoly
and Skies; Words with Friends Classic, Luxe, To Go; and Draw Something. The
Hasbro games included ties to Zynga Web and mobile games, such as in-game
currency that players can use in the digital versions of City-Ville and Farm-Ville.
Customer acquisition
The company initially relied on free distribution of its product to users, and
later began spending money on marketing. [better source needed] In 2017,
developing a paid user base took priority over a new user acquisition.
According to one analyst, Zynga can either fund the creation of new games to
attract new users, or it can buy smaller game studios with new games which
will bring in new customers.
Platinum Purchase Program
In September 2010, Gawker reported that Zynga had set up a "Platinum
Purchase Program," a private club for their top spenders, allowing members to
purchase virtual currency at favorable rates.[125] Despite some bad publicity,
the program was considered a sound core business principle. The program
shut down on October 31, 2014.
Viability
Some journalists questioned the viability of Zynga's business model. Ray Valdes
questioned the long-term prospects for Zynga, saying that it would be difficult
for the company to make new titles to replace old ones whose novelty is
fading. Tom Bollich a former Zynga investor, said that it is impossible to make a
cheap viral game, and that retaining customers is difficult.

6. P No:05
In an October 2011 article in The Wall Street Journal, Ben Levisohn said that
Zynga has "issues that could limit its upside," such as its dependence on
Facebook and its reliance on a small percentage of users and a small number of
games for most of its revenue.
In-game sign-up
Through 2009, Zynga let players earn in-game rewards for signing up for credit
cards or for a video-rental membership. In November 2009 the company
removed all "lead-generating" ads, relying instead on revenue generated by
the 1-3 percent of players that pay for in-game items. Since then it began re-
introducing the ads back in but with controls to monitor the kinds of ads that
appear.
In early November 2009, it was estimated that about one-third of Zynga's
revenue came from companies that provide legitimate commercial offers, such
as trading Netflix memberships and marketing surveys for in-game
cash. Because of criticism and complaints that some ads were scams, on
November 2, 2009, former CEO Mark Pincus said that Tatto Media, a major
offer provider that enrolled users into recurring cell phone subscriptions, and
the worst of the lead generator scam, had already been removed from Zynga
and was banned, in addition to requiring providers to filter and police offers
before posting to their networks.
Analysis of current situation
From the company's performance, it shows that Zynga is still famous to
provide poker game to the related customers because this game has a huge
market trend in which every new, as well as existing customer, enjoy the game
under the unique features. On the other side, a strategic implementation of

7. P No:06
the group players attracts the customers to play against each other at the level
of challenging or the competition with each other. In addition to a famous
game (Farmville), many customers are still enjoying this game and retain their
focus for the long-term because the unique features of this game provide
benefits to the customer to play at any time and with each selected player.
Thus with this feature, many gaming zones are still struggling to provide the
similar services in order to beat Zynga with this type of quality.
Zynga Gives Take-Two Another Revenue Stream and a Springboard to Bring Its
IP to Mobile
Speaking of mobile, Take-Two’s acquisition of Zynga will significantly boost the
company’s revenues. Together, both company’s revenues would be enough to
push Take-Two into Q3’s top 10 game companies by revenue.
The Zynga acquisition makes sense for Take-Two. In terms of consumer
spending, mobile game revenues exceed console and PC combined:
Therefore, Take-Two’s goals here are obvious: to diversify its revenue streams
and grow its presence in gaming’s most lucrative segment. The company tried
to diversify its portfolio into racing games last year via acquiring Code masters,
but EA swooped in at the last moment.
Zynga’s mobile infrastructure, connections, and knowledge will help Take-Two
bring its IP to mobile. Take-Two has sold more than 155 million copies of Grand
Theft Auto V, so developing a mobile touchstone for the franchise is a smart
strategy for Take-Two.
We dive even deeper into this acquisition and other market data and trends in
our just launched Global Games Market Report update.

8. P No:07
Brand revitalizing strategies
According to the situation of Zynga, it has been determined that a position of a
company is based on the recent analysis through the use of this model. Which
includes all the opportunities and threats that it would face over the recent
environmental factors. So following factors would determine the position of an
industry and to formulate a strategy to improve the factors by the business
decisions.
Bargaining power of buyer-High
Under the industry of gaming zone, it has been identified that a control of the
customers is high in the sense of switch to another game due to the lack
of entertainment of the games which they played so far. So in a case of Zynga,
a company has no control to retain the customers for long-term because every
gaming zone provider is focusing on to provide high-quality games in order to
make the customers use for a considerable period.
Bargaining power of Supplier-High
The supplier's power under a case is high because Zynga is totally reliable to
provide sources based on the support of Facebook, Google, and Apple apps.
Therefore, it has been identified that these suppliers would change the terms
and conditions that would hurt the revenues of the business overtime. Also,
they could not allow the business to run smoothly due to the lack of
resources and performance they judge by Zynga.
However after a couple of months, the quality of the code and the concepts for
brand-new functions were worsening, more bugs and quality control issues
developed, and users were grumbling that brand-new functions were late and
the video game was getting rote. This case is embedded in late December 2009
as user numbers begun to drop, and Pincus and the FarmVille group aimed to
determine the best ways to turn this pattern around. Zynga's management
group needed to determine ways to revitalize FarmVille to ensure that it would
remain to be the goose that laid the golden eggs.

9. P No:08
Brand can be a major contributor to investor value, working as a lever
companies can pull to drive or maintain value. Brand is a multiplier in every
business, no matter what the category.
However, brand revitalization can be a daunting prospect. What does it entail?
How do you ensure the greatest potential for success? How do you prepare the
organization to activate on the new brand direction?
Below are five steps for initiating, managing and, ultimately, activating a brand
revitalization initiative.
1: Instill an imperative for change
Organizations, by nature, play it safe “Do what we’ve been doing, only better,
cheaper, faster” approaching transformation as a gradual endeavor. The
alternative is too scary, too risky.
However, successful brand revitalization can’t be done incrementally. The
status quo must be rejected, existing beliefs challenged, and the unknown and
uncomfortable embraced.
The transformational mentality necessary for true brand revitalization requires
reframing the challenge to create a binary proposition with only two possible
outcomes: success or failure. There is no in between. Even if the circumstances
aren’t quite so dire, the organization must believe that one outcome is
imperative, the alternative is unacceptable, and moving incrementally is
counterproductive.
2: Own a mindset and create a sense of intimacy
The most powerful brands don’t appeal to a gender, generation or income
bracket. They own a mindset and create such a deep and intimate
understanding of that mindset that their customers feel as if they are in a
relationship rather than merely buying a product or service.

10. P No:09
To achieve this intimacy, brands need to look beyond purchase behaviors and
appreciate that only a small fraction of their customers’ Consumers are people
first, with goals and dreams, beliefs and attitudes, and successes and struggles.
To revitalize Zynga brand, you must determine how it can help people pursue
their goals, achieve their dreams and alleviate their struggles.
3: Aspire to indispensability
We’ve all seen the stats. Consumers are becoming increasingly indifferent to
the vast majority of brands. They give little consideration to brands and aren’t
concerned if most simply vanish tomorrow.
Brands that buck the trend by creating a following of consumers who really do
care about them are the exception to the rule. They leverage an intimate
understanding of their customers to become an indispensable part of their
lives.
As brands consider revitalization, brand managers need to figure out how to
become as indispensable as possible within the lives of the people who share
their mindset.
4: Think as one — act as one
Actions matter more than strategy. While it’s tough for great execution to prop
up a poor strategy, it’s quite easy for bad execution to undermine a brilliant
strategy. And, the worst kind of execution is inconsistent and unfocused,
making a brand appear schizophrenic.
Any brand revitalization effort incorporates those responsible for execution
into the process not merely as recipients of the final direction, but as active co-
creators. Having those people along for the journey will help ensure the “buy
in” on the final direction. In addition, facilitating a cross-functional activation
session at the culmination of the strategic process will help ensure team
alignment, translate strategy into action and, ultimately, result in a consistent
go-to-market effort.

11. P No:010
5: Nurture your brand
Brands are living things. They shouldn’t be created in a vacuum and they
certainly don’t live in a vacuum. They exist in a dynamic, ever-changing
marketplace with evolving consumer wants and needs, ever-increasing
innovation, and shifting (often increasing) corporate expectations. As such,
brands must learn, grow and adapt. Is the imperative for change different? Has
the identified mindset shifted? Must the route to indispensability be re-
evaluated? Is the execution having the desired impact?
Brand revitalization is a never-ending process and your brand needs to be
nurtured continually. By following these steps, you’ll be on your way to
revitalizing your brand and keeping it fresh.