Disney is teaming up with Best Buy for a holiday promotion enabling players of the mobile game Tap Tap Revenge to support the Special Olympics.

Players can tap along to ?Joy To The World,? performed by the band Train, and then click through to Bestbuy.com to purchase the album ?A Very Special Christmas 25^th Anniversary,? with proceeds benefitting Special Olympics. Players who purchase the album through Tap Tap Revenge will receive two free bowling passes.

"For the release of the A Very Special Christmas 25^th Anniversary album, Special Olympics wanted to approach non-traditional music distribution partners, so with a core demographic of young and trendy music lovers, Tap Tap Revenge made perfect sense,? said Gwen Riley, head of business affairs for music at Disney Interactive Games, Glendale, CA.

?Our app allows users to have an active music game experience that offers at least three minutes of engaged interaction with our sponsor's assets while focusing on music by today's most popular artists,? she said.

?Our users are one hundred percent focused on the song and the game and will be more likely to make a purchase decision at the end of a positive gameplay experience, particularly when it is for an amazing cause supported by all of their favorite artists.?

Encouraging support
The Special Olympics promotion launched on Nov. 29 and runs for two weeks.

There are nearly 200 million people with intellectual disabilities in the world today. Since 1968, the Special Olympics Movement has used sports to empower persons with intellectual disabilities.

The first A Very Special Christmas album featuring contemporary pop stars singing holiday favorites and benefitting the Special Olympics was released 25 years ago.

The bowling passes players receive after purchasing the album can be used anywhere in the United States and are provided by GoBowling.com.

?By giving back to our users we hope to encourage incentivized support and awareness of Special Olympics while helping to celebrate 25 years of popular musical artists donating their time and songs to this incredible charity,? Ms. Riley said.

Reaching targeted audiences
With the growth in mobile gaming, it makes sense for brands to insert themselves into this space because mobile gives marketers a way to leverage on-the-go consumers who play while they are commuting to and from work.

Marketers are also increasingly looking to advertise in mobile games and apps as a way to reach a targeted group of consumers. What makes the Special Olympics effort unique is that there is a commerce tie-in as well as a cause marketing angle.

This is Disney?s second time teaming up with Best Buy to promote music via the Tap Tap Revenge mobile game. In August, the two worked together on a back-to-school effort giving players a way to download free songs from top bands and enter a daily mobile sweepstakes.

?Any marketer who wants to speak to a younger and more technically savvy demographic in today's marketplace is probably including a mobile marketing campaign as part of their digital strategy,? Ms. Riley said.

?I think an important key to directly plugging into this demo, especially through the device that is always with them, is via deep gaming integration, and Tap Tap Revenge is positioned as a unique place to start,? she said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York