Traction, a San Francisco-based interactive advertising agency, thas launched a new social media engagement initiative for Adobe Systems Inc. The core of the effort is a game that asks "fans" of the Adobe Students page on Facebook to decide if a series of images is real or fake. The game is aptly named "Real or Fake?" The campaign, aimed at college students, plays on the well-known fact that Adobe products are great tools for modifying photographs and other digital imagery.

Each week, five images will be provided, challenging users to decide if they are original photographs or if they have been "doctored." Not surprisingly, the game is quite challenging. When images have been altered, players can then choose to click on a button to "see how we did it" and access a brief tutorial on how to achieve similar effects on their own using Adobe software. Of course, the entire game was designed and developed using Adobe Creative Suite products — Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Flash were all used to create "Real or Fake?"

"Right now, a lot of brands are going into social networks like a Facebook, and trying to pull customers out of them," says Adam Kleinberg, CEO at Traction. "We wanted to give people who are passionate about Adobe a reason to engage with the brand for a few minutes each week — and a reason to share with their friends."

Facebook members can also choose to "become a fan" of the Adobe Facebook page to get the latest updates from Adobe — including when the next batch of images is loaded to "Real or Fake?" Over 13,000 fans have added the page to their profiles to date.

"Social media has allowed us to talk to and interact with our customers in an authentic way," says Dawn Jones, senior manager, student education marketing at Adobe. "’Real or Fake?’ is an opportunity to engage with students because it draws them in to see what our products can do and let’s them share this experience with their friends."

"Technology is allowing brands to have deeper connections with consumers," adds Kleinberg, "but with that deeper connection comes the need to provide value. People love Facebook because Facebook is fun. If Adobe can make Facebook just a little bit more fun, well then we’ve provided that value."

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