Ubisoft: Nosulus Rift

Credits & Description:

Title: Nosulus Rift
Agency: Buzzman, Productman
Brand: Ubisoft
Country: France
Entrant Company: Buzzman, Paris
Advertising Agency: Buzzman, Paris / Productman, Paris
Pr Agency: Buzzman, Paris
Production Company: Les Improductibles, Paris / Productman, Paris
President & Executive Creative Director: Georges Mohammed-Chérif (Buzzman)
Vice-President: Thomas Granger (Buzzman)
Associate Director: Julien Levilain (Buzzman)
Artistic Direction Assistant: Jennyfer Arduin (Buzzman)
Head Of Communication & Pr: Amélie Juillet (Buzzman)
Communication & Pr Manager: Clara Bascoul-Gauthier (Buzzman)
Head Of Tv Production & Art Buying: Vanessa Barbel (Buzzman)
Head Of Social Media: Julien Scaglione (Buzzman)
Social Media Creative Director: Loris Bernardini (Buzzman)
Production: Benoit Crouet (Buzzman)
Strategic Planner: Clément Scherrer (Buzzman)
Creative Directors: Louis Audard & Tristan Daltroff (Buzzman)
Account Manager: Thomas Crouzet (Buzzman)
Head Of Digital & Innovation: François Phan (Buzzman)
Digital Producer: Samir Semaoune (Buzzman)
Assistant Digital Producer: Soufiane Lahlou (Buzzman)
President & Executive Creative Director: Georges Mohammed - Chérif (Buzzman)
Vice-President: Thomas Granger (Productman)
Head Of Operations: François Phan (Productman)
Development Director: Thomas Ceccaldi (Productman)
Creators: Louis Audard & Tristan Daltroff (Productman)
Hardware Engineer: Valentin Squirelo (Productman)
Software Developer: Constantin Clauzel (Productman)
Hardware Developer: Charles Passet (Charles Passet)
Industrial Designer – Ova Design: Benjamin Sabourin & Nicolas Marquis (Productman)
Nose And Chemist – Cinquième Sens: Isabelle Ferrand & Sarah Burri (Productman)
Digital Studio: Neuvième Page (Neuvième Page )
Executive Producer: Yann Girard (Les Improductibles)
Production Director: Aurélie Chevalier (Les Improductibles)
Director: Benoît Pétré (Les Improductibles)
Execution:
The first step was the creation of a proof of concept to make sure our technology worked. Afterwards, we’ve built the Nosulus Rift as a product that could be sold: all materials used (plastic, aluminium and plexiglas) follow EU regulations and industry standards. To date, there are 25 Nosulus around the world that were built in less than two months. All the masks were made in France. These devices were available for testing during several gaming conventions around the world. It all started last August during Gamescom which is the biggest convention in Europe (350,000 visitors). After, the Nosulus was in Seattle for the PAX West fair (approx. 70,000 visitors), in Birmingham for EGX (approx. 75,000 visitors) and in Paris for the PGW (approx. 300,000 visitors). In total, over the past 8 months, the Nosulus went to 23 different gaming fairs around the world.
Strategy:
Our objective was to target a broader audience than just the South Park fans. This meant targeting all kinds of gamers, video games fans and geeks who go to gaming conventions to test all the new games before their release. Therefore, it was obvious that the Nosulus Rift had to be available on the Ubisoft booth at all the gaming conventions prior to the game’s launch. The Nosulus Rift was first available for testing at Gamescom. In order to let people know about this event, we’ve launched a commercial of the Nosulus a few days before the opening of Gamescom. This ad went viral in a few hours and the #Nosulus spread quickly. Therfore, loads of people came to test the Nosulus and talked about it on social media. After this first success, the Nosulus Rift travelled from one convention to another always meeting great success.
Outcome:
The Nosulus Rift campaign was a massive success. Indeed, over 30,000 people have tested the device worldwide. But the number of people who have heard about the Nosulus is much higher. Here are the key figures:- Almost 6M people have seen the commercial- Less than a week after the launch of the commercial, almost 500,000 people had visited nosulusrift.com- The PR media coverage was amazing: in total, 693 articles coming from 59 countries talked about the campaign. Among them, 60 were edited on major media brands: BBC, TF1, Mashable, Vice, IGN, The Independent, Die Zeit, …- Several YouTube celebrities such as PewDiePie posted a video using the Nosulus. Brought together, these videos were seen by over 10M people- There has been 17k tweets with a potential reach of 117,12M peopleMoreover, pre-sales have outperformed the objectives by 15%!
Relevancy:
Nosulus Rift is the first virtual fart simulator. It takes virtual reality to a whole new level by allowing players to enjoy South Park: The Fractured but Whole in the most immersive way possible.It has been world premiered last August at Gamescom (Europe’s biggest video gaming convention) where fans have had the chance to experience it. It was then available at PAX or PGW and will be available at all the gaming conventions prior to the launch of the game.To date, over 30,000 people have tried the Nosulus and almost 700 articles have talked about it.
Campaign Description:
Our solution: create our own technology. Introducing « Nosulus Rift », the very first virtual fart simulator. A world premiere only available with the new South Park video game during gaming conventions How does it work? Each time you push the fart button on your controller, you can smell it and truly experience the game.To develop the Nosulus Rift, we’ve collaborated with a team composed of hardware and software engineers, designers and perfume specialists. By inserting an inaudible soundwave (that only the mask can detect) in the sound FX of the game, the Nosulus knows when to trigger the smell. From a design perspective, our main concern was to create an ergonomic and comfortable product to immerse the players in the game. Regarding the smell, we were able, after 25 attempts, to create the “universal fart” smell. Finally, we’ve had the agreement of Oculus regarding the naming
Synopsis:
After the success of the first South Park video game, Ubisoft was ready to launch its second opus entitled The Fractured but Whole. Ubisoft wanted to promote it during the game fairs which are every year attended by millions of people who want to discover the new video game releases. To attract those gamers on their booths, publishers battle by means of giant pyrotechnic effects. But how can you compete when you are South Park and all that you have is a low fi 2D video game and a character with a fart super power?Our answer had to be very true to the spirit of the TV show for the South Park fans are merciless with anything that looks too much like obvious marketing.