The video games industry is comparable to other industries, but also entirely unique. Video games can draw huge fan bases, in the same way popular football teams can. But they also offer individually unique experiences, that can take you on a journey, much like a film or work of art.
Andy Hammond, Creative Director at Maverick Media, has never been that into football, but tell him about your experience playing Final Fantasy VII and you’ll become instant friends.
Today, he’ll be explaining why, when wielded the right way, this knowledge can be used to create some incredible advertising campaigns.
Pokémon, a client of ours at Maverick Media, is the perfect example of a brand with a strong fan base and dedicated community at its core. It's so much more than just an activity or a video game, it’s a way for strangers to connect and bond. And it crosses borders! Groups of people from around the globe can come together over this shared interest.
But video games are also uniquely personal. Like an adventure holiday that you embark on with your nearest and dearest: when you begin a game, you start an experience where your choices enable you to discover a new world. You feel a sense of agency in this space that is freeing, and even has the possibility to teach you things.
In addition to this, the journey you enter has been lovingly crafted, like a work of art or a film. It can be a vehicle for storytelling and a thing of beauty. It is an experience, built with intention by the artists who made it. It is a way for us to connect to new narrative and new perspectives.
Understanding this, is just the start of what allows us to create video game advertising. Every piece of work we develop at Maverick Media, extends the world of that game. That world belongs not just to the creators who made it, but also to its fans. They’ve lived in that world and spent time with its inhabitants. So, it’s important to get it right.
I feel this responsibility every time I begin work on a campaign, but I also take great joy in it. Understanding what is at the heart of the experience and what the intentions were of the creators is key. A particularly good example of this is when we were tasked with developing an animation to help promote the game ‘Alba’, by ustwo games.
Alba: A wildlife adventure tells the story of a young girl who seeks to make a difference to the environment she lives in. Her home is a small island, filled with wildlife that she adores and feels a duty to protect. Her actions inspire those around her and through the course of the game we see how the intentions of one small girl can protect the habitat of a host of different species.
Promoting a game like this, with such strong values at its core, is a wonderful opportunity. With any game we work on at Maverick Media, I believe an essential part of our task is to find out what is the appeal of this game. Why will people want to play it? What emotions does it appeal to? How have the creators designed it to inspire action in its users?
When developing the animation for Alba: A wildlife adventure, we decided to focus on this core theme. Protecting the environment and caring for the wildlife around us is a brilliant message that will resonate with players around the world. But we also wanted to have fun with it, to reflect the light-hearted nature of world that developer ustwo created.
The idea we landed on was to create an animation that involved animals singing a message of encouragement to those, like Alba, who are making a difference, and trying to protect the nature around them. We developed a song, designed characters, and built on what we experienced in the game.
We remained loyal to the aesthetic of the game, but as we were also creating an asset that existed outside of the game engine, we could explore new areas to express the game’s themes, developing new character models and exploring colourful environments that would bring this track to life.
The result was an impactful video, with a very catchy song, that fans would play on repeat. Some parents have told me that they played the game with their kids and loved it, and part of what they enjoyed about the game, was the music video. To me, this is the best part of advertising games. That when you’re able to get it right, you’re not just telling people about the game, but you’re using the opportunity available to you to expand the world of the game and contribute to it.
The music video we created, featured a charismatic Lynx, which was inspired directly from the game. So, when players met the lynx for the first time in the game, this character already came with a context: a personality that the player had seen in the animated video we made, making their sighting in the game even more satisfying.
This is at the core of why I enjoy promoting these games. What we create at Maverick Media is a collaboration with the developers and the fans. We become a part of this larger whole and we have an opportunity to extend the experience and expand the world, adding value to what already exists and exposing the heart of why people will want to play.
In short, impactful video game promotion is one that resonates with the game’s community by understanding the nuances of that community and its creators. Understanding what aspects of a game hit vital cords with its audience is a crucial component to crafting marketing campaigns that become a part of a game’s universe, rather than just another advertisement.
Everything from knowing what inspired the development team, to what enthused audiences, is a part of crafting promotion that is true to what beats at the heart of a game.
