Category: Best fictional program, series or film where a client has successfully created a drama, comedy or miniseries around a product or brand
Advertiser: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT
Product/Service: CONSOLE GAME SOFTWARE
Agency: DENTSU
Agency: GT INC.
Agency: BIG FACE INC.
Creative Director: Koshi Uchiyama
Creative Director: Mitsuhiro Ito (Dentsu Tokyo)
Copywriter/Planner: Naoki Tanaka (Dentsu Tokyo)
Planner: Naoto Kawakami (Dentsu Tokyo)
Producer: Daiji Tsuchiya (Big Face)
Director: Kentaro Miura (Big Face)
Director: Sayaka Goto (Big Face)
Producer: Kohei Matsumoto (Dentsu Tokyo)
Account Executive: Kenkichi Shimizu (Dentsu Tokyo)
Account Executive: Kazuki Sakurai (Dentsu Tokyo)
Art Director: Kengo Aoki (Dentsu Tokyo)
Media placement: TV - TV,WEB - 1/10/2011
Campaign Description
In Japan, foreign made games are not making good sales. This is because Japanese gamers are used to anime-like character settings and easily understood stories.
Effectiveness
Objective: We had a high goal of selling 300,000 software of Unchated3, while there is a difficulty of selling foreign games in Japan. The recognition level of the software in Japan was almost none.
Strategy: The insight of people who won’t buy foreign games are they judge based on prejudice and stereotype.
Challenge & Solution: Uncharted series has an allure of cinematic real story and a knockdown visual quality. We looked for a pro level gamer of Uncharted2; re-edited the game footage into a TV drama.
Execution: Make the campaign relevant by making an announcement on TV before the campaign. As soon as the campaign started, it gained high viewer ratings and a degree of recognition.
Implementation
A week before the beginning of the campaign, TV programmes announced “An extraordinary TV programme starts next week!” at the initiative of their TV networks, in order to get the attention of more people, not just game fanatics.
Outcome
The TV programme marked high viewer rating, even though this was a late night programme. The sales of Uncharted3 double the previous series. This triggered Japanese gamers to buy other foreign games and sales rose gradually. We can say that our campaign has brought a breath of fresh air into the Japanese game industry.