Wordle debuts ads—luggage brand Rimowa is the first

As it nears its one-year anniversary, Wordle is getting a gift from parent company New York Times—advertisers, including sponsored words in custom games. The popular online word game will begin including ads on Tuesday. The first advertiser for the game is Rimowa, the high-end luggage brand, which is debuting a new brand campaign today. “We are going to pilot two ad formats,” said Emelie De Vitis, chief marketing officer of Rimowa, noting that they include a traditional display ad format and a more interactive feature. The New York Times bought Wordle—a daily brain teaser created by Josh Wardle that gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word—at the beginning of the year. Rumors that The New York Times would monetize Wordle, which when purchased reportedly had 1 million daily players, by adding ads have been circulating for several weeks. After the purchase, reports criticized the platform for being riddled with ad trackers. Ads will only run on desktop versions of the game, according to a New York Times spokesman. Wordle will not include sponsored words and advertisers will have no control or say over the game itself, the spokesman added. Beginning on Tuesday, Wordle will showcase Rimowa in a display banner format. Ads will be both static and video. The following week, Rimowa will choose a brand-related word, like “rivet,” for example, that users can play as part of a custom Wordle that is separate from the game itself. “We will be able to participate in the Wordle word that will be linked to the Rimowa name and be something synonymous with what we stand for,” said De Vitis. She added that since Wordle’s players are more affluent, the campaign will be more targeted in reaching the travel brand’s luxury customers. Wordle plans to offer exclusive sponsorships and “rotational units, including our proprietary Flex Suite, which are unique to The Times and designed to be beautiful and engaging,” according to the Times spokesman. The Flex Suite is the Times’ proprietary suite of native ad formats. In its new push, Rimowa, which is majority owned by LVMH, gives its sleek suitcases a starring role, departing from the celebrity-driven marketing of campaigns past. A 30-second video set to Daft Punk’s “Around the World,”—a first for the song to appear in ad, according to De Vitis—deconstructs the brand’s wares and showcases their journey. The end of the spot closes with the text “Born in Germany. Engineered for the world.” The campaign is titled “Ingenieurskunst,” which translates from German to “the art of engineering,” according to a release from the luxury brand. “We wanted to focus on our core because that’s maybe something we hadn’t been focusing on enough in past years,” said De Vitis, noting such attributes as Rimowa’s German heritage and its functional luxury. In previous campaigns, the brand has featured the likes of Rihanna, LeBron James, Patti Smith and Roger Federer. “The fact that we don’t have so many ambassadors has meant we can invest more in media—we will be investing more in media than past campaigns,” said De Vitis. Along with Wordle, the campaign will include out-of-home advertising in several major cities and a few secondary cities around the globe, as well as cinema, digital and print ads. Rimowa worked with Anomaly Berlin, a relationship that dates back four campaigns, De Vitis said. ~ ~ ~CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated with details about how advertisers will be able to advertise on Wordle that the New York Times provided after the article was first published. Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here

Wordle debuts ads—luggage brand Rimowa is the first

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