BrandGames, Deloitte partner to teach kids

Reaching teens on the Internet seems to be solid business practice in the past few years. Now Deloitte & Touche USA and BrandGames are trying to reach teens on the Internet about business. The platform allows teens to create an avatar and interact with real-world business problems and solutions.

by Kristina Knight

The online simulator has so 5,500 teens from 100 schools in the US participating in the program. They have been divided into groups of four and given an events-planning company to raise money through a charitable event. The students who raise the most virtual money win the challenge, win a grant for their school and get to make an actual monetary donation to the charity.

The move makes sense for both companies. Deloitte & Touche USA get to reach teens who are thinking about a career path and give those kids pseudo-real-world experience. BrandGames also increases their profile. BrandGames has created online gaming platforms such as this one before, usually for specific companies like GM, Taco Bell and Coca-Cola.

"We've been helping brands and companies use games as part of both their consumer-facing and internal communications for years, so our toolset was a perfect fit," said Jim Wexler, executive vice president of marketing for BrandGames.

Reaching teens via the Internet is not a new occurrence but this partnership is unique in that teens are learning specific business skills on the Web. Similar to in-school programs which have given kinds semi-hands-on experience for years, by giving teens their own businesses to run and specific business problems to overcome, this program allows teens a better chance to research.