Wells Fargo Introduces Stagecoach Island - Industry's First Virtual Reality Online Game to Help Young Adults with Financial Lite
September 14 2005 - 9:01AM
PR Newswire (US)
Leading Financial Services Company Pilots Innovative Digital
Program in San Diego and Austin SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wells Fargo today introduced Stagecoach
Island(SM), a free, multi-player, online role-playing game
developed to teach young adults important lessons in financial
literacy. Wells Fargo is the first financial institution to use an
online game of this kind for both financial education and
entertainment purposes. Young adults in San Diego and Austin, Texas
are the first to experience the Stagecoach Island game in a pilot
program that kicked off Labor Day weekend this year and will end in
mid-November. The Stagecoach Island game allows players to select a
virtual character and participate in an "island adventure."
Participants can choose to explore the virtual island -- lush
parks, hip cafes, dance clubs, trendy shops, amusement parks, hair
salons and more. They can also interact in dozens of virtual,
social situations -- like skydiving, riding jets-skis, or playing
games like paintball with other participants. Many activities on
the island are "free," but participants gain access to other
experiences, such as dancing in a club or purchasing new clothes,
by spending, saving and earning virtual money. Players can earn
money by visiting the Virtual Learning Lounge and answering trivia
questions about banking basics such as budgeting, saving and
managing money. The Learning Lounge content is derived from Wells
Fargo's signature financial literacy program, Hands on Banking(R).
Today, over half of U.S. high school students graduate without
knowing the basics of banking, checking and savings accounts,
budgeting, credit, and investing according to a study by Jump$tart
Coalition. In addition, 70 percent of U.S. college students play
video games, according to Pew Internet & American Life Project.
"The young adult years are a critical time for financial education
because many of these young people are leaving home and becoming
financially independent for the first time," says Wells Fargo's
chief marketing officer, Sylvia Reynolds. "Stagecoach Island is a
contemporary platform where we can educate young people about one
of the most important topics to their future success -- their
finances -- in a highly interactive, comfortable and fun
environment." "The popularity of online role-playing games is
staggering -- there are millions of people participating in
role-playing games worldwide and the typical college student spends
nearly as much time playing video games (10,000 hours by
graduation) as they do in class," said Dr. Rodney Riegle of
Illinois State University, developer and teacher of the world's
first online Role-Playing Course. "I think that young people who've
grown up on computers and video games will embrace the Stagecoach
Island experience, which is similar to a video game but actually
provides a better opportunity to learn, explore and socialize in an
immersive and interactive environment." Wells Fargo's vision is to
satisfy all its customers' financial needs and help them succeed
financially and the Stagecoach Island game is an extension of the
company's continuing efforts to offer critically needed financial
education to young people. The online game is part of a broad,
multi-faceted financial education program for young adults called
We Take the Fun of Money Seriously(SM). Wells Fargo is hosting a
series of live We Take the Fun of Money Seriously events throughout
Austin and San Diego during September and October where young
adults can participate in various activities -- from karaoke and
trivia games to athletic challenges and photo booths -- and win
prizes while learning about banking basics. Event participants will
receive the web address and a unique login code for the Stagecoach
Island software and will have the opportunity to play the online
game at home for 30 days. Wells Fargo developed the We Take the Fun
of Money Seriously program and the Stagecoach Island game with
experiential marketing agency Swivel Media based in San Francisco.
"Education and entertainment are just beginning to merge. We're
excited to be involved with Wells Fargo's Stagecoach Island, a
project that really addresses young peoples' need to learn in an
engaging and realistic setting," said Swivel Media's founder and
creative director, Erik Hauser. "We're using the most sophisticated
virtual gaming platform from Linden Lab, the creators of Second
Life, to provide a highly engaging experience. We want today's
youth to learn how to manage their finances and how to handle
credit -- and we want them to have fun doing it." Note: Additional
information and screenshots of the Stagecoach Island game are
available upon request Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified
financial services company with $435 billion in assets, providing
banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance to
more than 23 million customers from more than 6,000 stores and the
internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere
internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the only bank in the
United States to receive the highest possible credit rating, "Aaa,"
from Moody's Investors Service. Swivel Media
(http://www.swivelmedia.com/ ) is the creative, full service
experience marketing shop headquartered in San Francisco,
California. The agency provides the highest level of creative and
strategic vision to solve challenging marketing objectives. Swivel
analyzes all aspects of the brand-customer relationship and builds
the essential brand experience. Swivel uses a truly medium-neutral,
'world as our canvass' methodology, delivering the right message,
via the right medium, to the right audience, at the right time.
DATASOURCE: Wells Fargo & Company CONTACT: Melissa Morey of
Wells Fargo & Company, +1-415-396-4417 Web site:
http://www.swivelmedia.com/ Web site: http://www.wellsfargo.com/
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