• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, January 21, 2008

DuPont launched its latest pest control product, Advion ant gel, at October's PestWorld 2007. The company also debuted an amusing pest control game, aptly titled, "Ant Annihilation," created by The VIA Group. According to the agency, the game received an overwhelming response at the trade show.

So why is this game living solely on the agency's Web site? It appears to be suffering from the same fate plaguing ants that run into Advion ant gel: annihilation.

The game itself is simple, mindless and tells me nothing about Advion ant gel, although if housed elsewhere online, it has the potential to do so. But that didn't stop me from playing a handful of times. The game takes place in a house where the object is to kill as many ants as possible in 60 seconds. Gamers rack up points for each kill; the more elusive the ant species, the higher the point tally.

Thanks to the game, I also Googled the some of the ant names, which  I'd thought were made up: I've heard of carpenter and fire ants, but crazy, big-headed, ghost and white-footed ants were news to me.

An agency representative was quoted in a press release stating, "We wanted to create an experiential marketing tool that would reflect the innovative nature of the DuPont [unfortunately misspelled PuPont in the release] Professionals Products brand. The initial results have been phenomenal."

I think DuPont needs to find a permanent home for Ant Annihilation online. One simple online game can easily become a giant leap for a traditional brand, even if it's for a product that's not well known to the average person.

One product that used this tactic successfully was Stanley's  FUBAR tools. I'm not an extreme tool belt diva, but Mullen created a FUBAR Web site with a simple objective: watch construction workers break stuff. And I did.