Farmers Insurance and Zynga FarmVille

Players of Zynga’s Farmville, all 60 million of them, will be able to insure their farms against famine, flood and stampedes thanks to a joint effort with Farmers Insurance. Notice of the upcoming event was given to Zynga farmers on an opening splash screen as the players logged in this morning to check on their virtual farms.

What do you get in game? Farmers will use the likeness of the Farmers Insurance Airship, a 246-foot-long Zeppelin. Farmers place the Airship on their farm and they receive free “wither protection” for the crops on their virtual farm. Similar to the real world benefits and security that Farmers Insurance offer its real world customers, this protection means players’ crops won’t wither for the 10 days of the promotion.

What has not been announced is the materials necessary to construct the airship, if it needs a hanger, or if it will be paid for with FarmVille (FV) cash, or coins.

BTW, is it a blimp or an airship? And was it built by Farmers Insurance?

The Farmers Insurance airship is called Eureka. It is a Zeppelin NT owned and operated by Airship Ventures. It has been branded with the Farmers Insurance name as part of the company’s most recent promotional arrangement. Eureka was built by the German company that created the Hindenburg, which ended its days just down the road from where I went to high school at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey.  Let’s hope they had insurance.

But is it a blimp? No it is not a blimp, but a semi-rigid zeppelin airship.

DISNEY TRIVIA:

The Farmers Insurance airship looks familiar. Have I ever seen it before? Yes Disney fans, you have. Eureka has previously advertised the personal genetics company 23andMe and the Disney film UP.

UPDATE –

The event went live this morning.

How do you build the airship? You don’t have to. All you have to do is place the airships anchor point on your farm. Its a 1×1 square so don’t worry about losing a lot of co-op farming space.