• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, June 22, 2010

Digital agency Glow Interactive has created campaigns featuring applications and games on behalf of high-profile clients including the USA Network, Conde Nast and Avon. But until now, it has never developed an online game of its own.

That changed with its release of "That's So Query," a mobile game for the iPhone built on Google Suggest technology for completing Internet searches by recommending terms or phrases based on the overall popularity of queries by other users.

The game presents players with lead-in questions such as "Why do we..." or "Where should I..." and challenges them to select the most popular phrases to finish those queries in what Glow bills as a "trivia-meets-Family-Feud-style" competition. Depending on the lead-in, the suggested phrases can be surprising, salacious or amusing.

Players accumulate points for each answer they get right and then proceed to the next round. Each session of "That's So Query" is 10 rounds with two bonus rounds that allow users to sort queries from most popular to least popular. Glow CEO Peter Levin said the agency came up with the idea after staffers realized the potential for Google to generate funny or unexpected suggested search phrases.

The agency is charging 99 cents for the "That's So Query" app, but Levin said the firm doesn't necessarily expect it to be the next chart-topper like "Angry Birds" or "Doodle Jump." Downloads for the game have been modest so far, with Glow relying mainly on word-of-mouth for promotion.

"We're still in the services business, but realize we have the opportunity to productize some of our stuff and see how it does," said Levin, who added that the agency is already working on its next game, expected to launch in the next couple of months.

In addition to any additional revenue the game brings in, the game serves as a showcase of the type of work Glow can do for marketers in branded apps and games. "It highlights the creativity and tech-savvy we have here to create something like this," said Levin.