• by Tanya Gazdik , March 25, 2012

Miracle-Gro is kicking off the gardening season with a brand integration in Zynga's FarmVille.

Players of the popular online game can now use the fertilizer product to grow and harvest their crops. The promotion runs through April 3.

"This integration is a fun, contextually relevant way to engage FarmVille players with the Miracle-Gro brand in the fast-exploding social gaming world,” said Tom McLoughlin, vice president gardens and landscaping, ScottsMiracle-Gro, in a release. Zynga research shows that eight out of 10 surveyed FarmVille players in the U.S. also enjoy gardening at home,and over three-quarters of the players surveyed are interested in growing their own vegetables, fruits and flowers.

For the gro-a-thon, Miracle-Gro has created a custom farm within FarmVillethat walks players through the benefits of using Miracle-Gro in their gardens, and they will be rewarded with virtual goods for their FarmVille farms.

The Miracle-Gro/FarmVille integration is part of the kickoff of "Hello, First Bite!" -- Miracle-Gro brand's digital advertising campaign focused on edible gardening and the celebratory experience of a consumer's first bite from their personal harvest of homegrown fruits and vegetables.

Miracle-Gro joins a long list of other brands that have used the social media game on which to advertise, including McDonald’s, Discover Card, Cascadian Farm, Megamind, Farmers Insurance, Bing and 7-Eleven. FarmVille also offers engagement advertising where users can interact with a brand in exchange for free farm cash through an ad platform called SVnetwork.

FarmVille is the world’s fourth-largest social game with over 27 million monthly active users, according to App Data.