Sony Playstation: REVENGE!

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Consumer Engagement

Advertiser: SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT

Product/Service: GOD OF WAR 3

Date of First Appearance: Mar 14 2010

Entrant Company: OMD NEW ZEALAND, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Entry URL: http://www.therock.net.nz

Senior Account Manager: Will Douglas (OMD)

Media Assistant: Cain Fleming (OMD)

Media placement: Radio Campaign - 5 Weeks - MediaWorks - The Rock FM - 14 March 2010

Media placement: Online Campaign - Webpage And Video Content - MediaWorks - Www.therock.net.nz - 14 March 2010



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

GOD OF WAR 3 was the final instalment in the popular PlayStation franchise. This was the first time it had appeared on the PS3 console - gamers had been waiting three years.

This is a long time in the gaming world. Gamers are a fickle bunch and move onto the next big thing quickly. We had to rekindle the passion in original fans who had moved on to new games, franchises and platforms since God Of War 2.

Popularity of TV programmes like Jackass, Punk’d and Nitro Circus highlighted that competitiveness and satisfaction in pulling pranks on their mates were common characteristics of young males. It is a way of socialising with their mates and showing off their creative prowess. With encouragement, our audience would jump at the chance to prank their mates.

Marrying this insight with the game’s core theme (Revenge) unleashed the engaging media strategy:

Enabling Revenge



Creative Execution

Radio was the channel that could best deliver on the strategy. The right radio station could play in the edgy territory the campaign demanded.



To bring the idea to life, we gave The Rock FM listeners a chance to inflict ultimate revenge on their mates.



Hosts invited listeners to submit their intended victims and their reasoning. The most deserving victims were selected, then fitting punishments were devised, again with the help of the listeners.



Revenge stunts were then executed upon the unsuspecting targets and caught on video.



The campaign saw four individuals receive their retribution.

• A house was re-carpeted with grass.

• A car got crushed by a tank.

• A truckload of manure was dumped over a car.

• Members of the Auckland Blues Rugby team threw a victim into a lake on his morning run.



The revenge stunt videos lived on www.therock.net.nz encouraging comments and feedback.



Results and Effectiveness

Sales results destroyed targets with unit sales for the title 128% over what was planned. It was the highest selling game to date for the client and it also drove a lift in console sales over the same period.



The revenge videos achieved over 30,000 views on The Rock website, exceeding our expectations by 200%.



We successfully tapped into the competitiveness and prank culture that’s prevalent within our target of young men and created an engaging campaign with compelling content that communicated the core proposition of the game in a way that was readily consumed by our audience.