I confess to probably spending more time than I should playing Mafia Wars, though I’m only a level 124 Maniac; my son’s friend is a level 700-plus something or other. Oh, to be young again.

Anyway, I noticed that one of the loot items they’re offering right now is a “Haitian Relief Drum.” It’s a nice idea poorly executed.

According to Wikipedia, there are nearly 26 million monthly active Mafia Wars accounts. Why not give them a real reason to buy the drum — and generate some real dollars for the relief effort?

The drum costs 25 reward points that are acquired by playing the game, or that one can buy directly. But why not offer the drum for a $5.00 donation that goes directly to Haitian relief? It then becomes something of a badge of charitable honor within the game while raising some real money for the cause.

Takeaway for marketers: Doing good business sometimes means simply doing good.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Internet Stuff, Marketing Takeaways.