{"id":5225,"date":"2011-08-18T08:55:48","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T03:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramble.sunmatrix.com\/?p=5225"},"modified":"2026-03-06T23:11:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:11:41","slug":"frijj-you-lol-you-lose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/frijj-you-lol-you-lose\/","title":{"rendered":"Frijj: You LOL You Lose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Frijj, a UK-based milkshake brand, and Iris Worldwide developed a campaign to help people build their tolerance to the unexpected. The aim was to make Frijj\u2019s new flavours, Honeycomb Choc Swirl, Jam Doughnut, and Sticky Toffee Pudding, feel like a challenge worth trying.<\/p>\n<p>So they created an advergame, a branded game designed to promote a product through play. It pits you against friends from your social networks in a challenge of who can keep a straight face for the longest period of time while the web app serves up funny and weird YouTube videos.<\/p>\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WsuWx2IB1as?fs=1&#038;playsinline=1\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"fullscreen; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<h2>A \u201cdon\u2019t laugh\u201d game that sells flavour confidence<\/h2>\n<p>The mechanic is straightforward. You start a session, the site throws escalating clips at you, and you try not to crack. The moment you smile, you lose. The format turns passive viewing into competitive viewing, which is exactly what makes it sticky. Here, \u201cflavour confidence\u201d means making unusual flavours feel safe and fun to try rather than risky or strange.<\/p>\n<p>In FMCG launches, simple competitive mechanics are a reliable way to turn a product message into repeatable social behavior.<\/p>\n<h2>Why it lands<\/h2>\n<p>This works because it reframes product novelty as a playful test. Instead of saying \u201cthese flavours are bold\u201d, it says \u201cprove you can handle bold\u201d. Social comparison does the rest. You want a better score than your friends, so you replay, you share, and you bring others into the same loop. The use of face tracking is also a smart constraint. If the system can \u201ccatch\u201d a smile, the challenge feels fair and measurable rather than self-reported.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Extractable takeaway:<\/strong> If your product promise is \u201cunexpected\u201d, build a mechanic where the audience has to demonstrate composure or control. The brand benefit becomes the rule of the game, not the line of copy.<\/p>\n<h2>What Frijj is really buying with this advergame<\/h2>\n<p>This is a strong launch mechanic because it turns trial curiosity into repeatable social play at scale. The real question is whether the product promise can become a rule people want to test with friends. The game creates time spent, repeat visits, and a socially distributed invitation mechanic, all while keeping the brand message consistent. New flavours that might feel risky in a supermarket become a badge of fun online.<\/p>\n<h2>Design rules worth borrowing from Frijj<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Make the rule binary.<\/strong> Smile equals lose. Simple rules travel.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use content people already understand.<\/strong> YouTube \u201cweird and funny\u201d clips need no explanation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Turn replay into the product benefit.<\/strong> Each retry reinforces \u201cunexpected\u201d as the brand\u2019s territory.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Design social competition as the default.<\/strong> Friends, scores, and bragging rights beat generic \u201cshare this\u201d.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you use webcam detection, be explicit.<\/strong> Clear consent and clear on-screen feedback keep trust intact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>A few fast answers before you act<\/h2>\n<h3>What is the core idea of \u201cYou LOL You Lose\u201d?<\/h3>\n<p>A straight-face challenge where the \u201cpayment\u201d is composure. You watch funny clips and try not to smile longer than your friends.<\/p>\n<h3>What is an advergame?<\/h3>\n<p>An advergame is a branded game designed to promote a product by turning the message into gameplay rather than traditional advertising.<\/p>\n<h3>How does the game know you \u201clost\u201d?<\/h3>\n<p>It is described as using face tracking through your webcam to detect a smile. When you smile, the session ends.<\/p>\n<h3>Why is this a good fit for launching unusual flavours?<\/h3>\n<p>Because it converts \u201cnew and unexpected\u201d into a playful challenge, which makes novelty feel fun instead of risky.<\/p>\n<h3>What should you measure if you run something similar?<\/h3>\n<p>Repeat plays per user, share and invite rate, average session duration, and any lift in branded search or retail trial during the launch window.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frijj, a UK-based milkshake brand, and Iris Worldwide developed a campaign to help people build their tolerance to the unexpected. The aim was to make Frijj\u2019s new flavours, Honeycomb Choc Swirl, Jam Doughnut, and Sticky Toffee Pudding, feel like a challenge worth trying. So they created an advergame, a branded game designed to promote a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/frijj-you-lol-you-lose\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Frijj: You LOL You Lose<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Frijj and Iris Worldwide launch \u201cYou LOL You Lose\u201d. A straight-face web challenge using funny YouTube clips to promote new Incredible milkshake flavours.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,103,19],"tags":[2280,2281,912,2563,8160,2570,2571,2572,2573,2564,2562,2566,2569,2567,2560,2561,2565,7006,6175,2568,95,7904,279,2574,2575,1058,133],"class_list":["post-5225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-strategies","category-power-of-online","category-social-media","tag-advergame","tag-advergames","tag-digital-campaigns","tag-face-recognition","tag-face-tracking","tag-facial-recognition","tag-frijj","tag-frijj-advergame","tag-frijj-digital-campaigns","tag-frijj-flavors","tag-game-over","tag-honeycomb-choc-swirl","tag-iris-worldwide","tag-jam-doughnut","tag-laugh-out-loud","tag-lol","tag-milkshake","tag-product-launch","tag-social-media","tag-sticky-toffee-pudding","tag-uk","tag-web-app","tag-webcam","tag-webcam-campaigns","tag-you-lol-you-lose","tag-youtube","tag-youtube-videos"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-content\/uploads\/lol_you_lose.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYpE1-1mh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5225"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16980,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5225\/revisions\/16980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sunmatrix.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}