Nintendo has been making a habit of celebrating March 10 to commemorate its famed Mario character, and this year the video game company is choosing to host the festivities on Facebook, providing engagements through its Messenger application.

People who visit Facebook on MAR10 Day (get it?) will be able to use a free Mario-themed frame for their Facebook profile photo from March 10 at 5 a.m. PT until March 12 at 11:59 p.m. PT. The Facebook Messenger integration is another instance of growing brand interest in communicating with consumers via messaging platforms, effectively opening lines of communication for multiple purposes, such as branding, promotions and customer service.

The special Mario-themed frame will add iconic items from the Super Mario Bros. universe to any photo or image, and is also available inside the Messenger Camera. 

To find the frame in Messenger, interested users should open the Messenger app, take a photo and then tap the smiley face icon. This special frame will be the first one to appear in the top Featured section ? users can then just tap to add it to their photo.

Nintendo is also offering deals on some of its most popular video game series today as a part of MAR10 Day celebrations: Select digital games starring Mario are 20 percent off on Amazon.com today while supplies last, and Nintendo?s rewards program My Nintendo is offering rewards all day. 

To kick off the celebration, Nintendo is working with Starlight Children?s Foundation, a nonprofit organization that brightens the lives of seriously ill children by providing hospitalized kids with entertainment, education and innovative technology. 

Nintendo will be providing new designs for the foundation?s Starlight Brave Gowns, which help sick kids feel like superstars by replacing unattractive, uncomfortable and embarrassing hospital garments with comfortable and brightly colored gowns.

Marketers have recently been turning to messaging as a way to humanize their brands and open up lines of communication with consumers. This week, Wendy?s debuted a unique tool to automatically generate brackets for NCAA basketball March Madness by way of answering a series of questions via direct message on Twitter (see story). 

But some sectors are not as quick to pick up on the messaging trend: According to L2?s Social Platforms; Messaging Insight Report, only 50 percent of luxury brands reply to consumers within the hour, and only 10 percent have chatbots (see story).