Summary
Understanding and using fans’ passion to fuel a global campaign
Challenge
Devise, develop and deliver a creative worldwide digital campaign to drive pre-orders for one of the world’s biggest games franchises, Capcom’s Resident Evil.
Insight
With fans eager to discover new information about the franchise’s large cast of characters, organisations and monsters, an ARG (Alternative Reality Game) was created to feed new stories and backgrounds to the community. It offered players around the world the chance to unite to take on Umbrella (RE’s evil corporation) and protect ‘The Insider’.
Video clues from ‘The Insider’ were posted on the campaign hub, which kickstarted a weekly transmedia treasure hunt across social media and a range of purpose-built sites, red herrings and dead ends. Prizes included in-game exclusives, real-world prizes and new game-world information.
Results
The two-month campaign’s KPI targets were exceeded within 36 hours (400,000 visits from over 170 countries in this initial period). The online community also fueled the campaign, organising its own ‘Resistance’, which created a wealth of material and in the process, an overwhelmingly immersive experience for fans well before the game itself hit the shelves.
This creative effort translated directly into sales too, with industry magazine MCV reporting that pre-orders for the game were “through the roof”.