Gree Taps Duncan/Channon Agency For First U.S. Ad Campaign

Japanese mobile social game network Gree has hired the Duncan/Channon agency for its first major advertising push in North America. The agency has previously worked with game publisher Sega, as well as companies like 1-800-Contacts, Ancestry.com, GoToMeeting, Hard Rock, and StubHub. Its campaign for Gree premieres today with a series of billboards along San Francisco's Highway 101. "Duncan/Channon is the perfect partner to help launch the Gree brand here," Gree marketing VP Sho Masuda said in a statement. "We were impressed by their strategic thinking, their creative, their deep knowledge of our audience and their enthusiasm. We are ready to fully establish ourselves in the U.S. market." "We're seeing this major shift in how people engage with their mobile phones, and, by introducing Japan’s leading mobile social platform to American consumers, Duncan/Channon is right in the thick of it," said Duncan/Channon executive creative director and partner Robert Duncan. In April, Gree acquired California-based mobile social network OpenFeint for $104 million, as part of what it describes as an aggressive plan for global expansion. The company faces competition from DeNA's Mobage, which launched an English version in July and PapayaMobile, which boasts over 25 million users worldwide.