Assassin’s Creed: ASSASSIN'S CREED IV - BLACK FLAG - DEFY HISTORY

Credits & Description:

Type of entry: PR: Digital & Social
Category: Use of Co-Creation & User Generated Content
Advertiser: UBISOFT EMEA
Product/Service: VIDEO GAME
Agency: SID LEE Paris, FRANCE
Client: UBISOFT EMEA
Product: VIDEO GAME
Entrant: SID LEE Paris, FRANCE
Type of Entry: PR: Digital & Social
Category: Use of Co-Creation & User Generated Content
Entrant Company : SID LEE Paris, FRANCE
Advertising Agency : SID LEE Paris, FRANCE
Production Company : UNIT 9 London, UNITED KINGDOM
Executive Creative Director: Sylvain Thirache (Sid Lee Paris)
Managing Partner: Johan Delpuech (Sid Lee Paris)
Art Director: Yoan Plard (Sid Lee Paris)
Art Director: Martin Westberg (Sid Lee Paris)
Copywriter: Johan Jeansson (Sid Lee Paris)
Account Director: Bruno Lee (Sid Lee Paris)
Project Manager: Yael Guetta (Sid Lee Paris)
Producer: Thomas Laget (Sid Lee Paris)

Describe the campaign/entry:
With assassin's creed black flag, we had to disrupt the classic video game industry approach which consists of stretching a video game licence into pop culture to reach a broader audience.

Our challenge was to address edgy gamers, influencers within the industry to raise the credibility of the brand and cement it's reputation as the most authentic and epic history-based game ever made.

To raise up Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag from being ”just” a video-game, we created a digital art project that enabled fans to become part of an authentic 1700-century masterpiece, hand-painted by the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

Set on an innovative digital platform that fully immersed the viewers into the epic work of art, we let the fans become actors in the painting. The most voted fans had their faces immortalized in the artwork that was later exhibited in prominent museums across Europe.

With no media spending we achieved: 275 000+ unique visitors with an average of 5 minutes spent on the site exclusively on the European market. Much thanks to over 6,000 shares on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, 49% of new visitors came from social media.

But most importantly, over 200 fans were immortalized in something that will hopefully be around for the next 200 years.”

Describe the brief from the client:
Saturated with exclusive contents & sollicitations from all brand blockbusters of the industry, the influencers of gaming community are also too often treated with geeky communications. We offered them something different : genuine, real & long-lasting.

The main objective was to make them understand the real difference of assassin's creed licence: something as serious as history can become a true playground.

Through several consumer exploring research sessions (qualitative research), we acknowledged an opportunity, a strong connexion in terms of values & emotions between the gaming experience & the field of classical art.

Results:
- More than 5 minutes is the average time spent on the digital platform. This operation contributed to celebrate the special bond between the brand and its fans & beyond that with influencers of the industry.

- Nearly 300.000 visitors on the digital platform, without any paid media. Half of the traffic generated through social media & fans conversation.

- The first long lasting experience in Ubisoft portfolio to feed fan's appetite for innovative experiences : an authentic brand program, including rich content.

Execution:
The campaign was orchestrated around 3 steps :

1- fans recruitment, starting in mid-June 2013. We let the hardcore fans & influencers take possession of the painting & compete for a spot in it. In less than 3 weeks, the contest was over, to let time to the artists to spend enough time in the finalization of each of the faces.

2- Winner publication & painting real-time revelation on the website. Ubisoft announced in the website the winners according to the votes collected. Meanwhile, the intention was to show through a daily slideshow how the painting is progressing, the users could enter in the artists real workshop a discover the work ongoing. (from mid-July to end of August).

3- Reveal of the final painting on the website & exhibition in museums.
End of August, the final painting was revealed digitally & in real. It started a tour in different european countries both for video games event & museum exhibitions (Italy, Germany, France) & ended in "musée national de la marine".

The Situation:
Influence & credibility is not something that you can gain in the video game industry through paid media. brands have to offer PR-able stories based on their DNA.

The Assassin's Creed games have always been about historical accuracy, and by creating an authentic 17th century work of art around it, we took the fictional ”reality” of the games and made them real and we invited them to become real actors in this rich universe, not just bystanders, thereby creating an emotional link to the game itself and its setting.

The Strategy:
Assassin’s Creed is the main brand of Ubisoft’s portfolio, and it succeeded in building a strong relationship with its fans. But, usually, communication campaigns are focused on pure gameplay aspects.

With Assassin’s Creed 4 black flag we faced a challenge: no major gameplay or new features, a very disputed competitive environment with launch of next generation platform (Sony/Microsoft).
How could we keep the fans, a very demanding audience, still strongly involved ?

Our challenge was to address edgy gamers, influencers within the industry to raise the credibility of the brand and cement it's reputation as the most authentic and epic history-based game ever made.

We decided to build a true co-creative initiative with the fans, conceived as an emotional tribute to pirate’s values : a massive oil painting crafted by a national art school.