Nexon and 7-Eleven promote in-game Slurpees

Free-to-play online-game company Nexon, and ubiquitous convenience retailer 7-Eleven are giving away virtual-prize codes for Nexon games. The prizes range from free in-game Slurpees (in case your warrior in Mabinogi gets thirsty) to actual physical goods, including 7-Eleven hats.

(Credit: 7-Eleven)

This is an interesting experiment in borderless marketing, straddling physical and virtual worlds, and adding in the oddity of 7-Eleven's enormous presence. I suspect that if this even remotely works, we'll start to see a lot more cross-culture attempts at branding across physical and virtual properties.

Consider, for example, a site like Wine.com making a deal with a vineyard that wants to target Facebook users. They could create a series of Wine giveaways with coupons or discounts. (Disclosure: I am not a drinker; I just think this would work.)

There's a huge range of possibilities for branding and digital gifting that cross the physical-virtual border.