Fortnite is all the rave right now in the gaming industry. It’s a free game that can be played cross-platform, giving it the ability to interface with a wide array of video gamers. in addition to approaching current gamers, the eSports community is rapidly growing with millions of dollars in investments from other industries, as well as the Twitch acquisition from Amazon. Twitch currently is a multi-million dollar industry, due to its rapidly growing fan base as well as corporate sponsorship. This is comparable to a social media site for gamers. Ninja, who is a popular twitch user, live streams his gameplay. If you thought that video gaming wouldn’t prosper financially, Ninja was interviewed recently stating he makes $600,000 in one month - playing video games! This has been able to capture the attention of gamers and non-gamers alike, bringing much attention to the video gaming community, as well as Fortnite itself. Mainstream celebrities have also been featured on Ninja’s livestream gameplay, bringing in a larger than expected fan base due to the incorporation of celebrities such as Drake, Travis Scott, and Juju Smith-Scheuster.
The use of social media marketing and celebrity endorsements is a great combination for companies to bring to the table. Incorporating this type of advertising into the video game industry was a fantastic adjustment and has widely increased the size and income of the field.
DigitasLBi, headquartered in Boston Massachusetts, has aided clients from Buick to MAYTAG with clever, innovative, and technologically based promotional efforts. They define themselves as a Connected Marketing Agency and pride themselves as being fluent in the cross-capability of content on audience platforms.
Their most recent project was with PlayStation for the launch of their new game Horizon Zero Dawn.
The mix of life size replicas, live video feed, perfect place of execution, and a manager on the social media end aided in the success of the overall guerilla promotional effort. Their promotional efforts increased social media mentions by 1000% through this 11-month campaign.
They were able to reach prime prospects at various video game conventions and connect with them both physically and through social media. They appeared at E3-2016, and it is described as the, "premier event for computer and video games and related products". They became extremely impressionable by appearing on the stage, larger than life "Watchers", in attempts to awe and build buzz for the 2017 release of Horizon Zero Dawn.
As a gamer and costume/replica enthusiast myself, this kind of display did exactly what DigitasLBi wanted. I was surprised that it took an alternative route. Rather than using ingame footage and building a suspenseful, movie inspired trailer for a video game experience (as mentioned in their case study video), DigitasLBi brought the game experience to life at E3. Photos for static assets added to the campaign and allowed this character build to live over multiple platforms, as DigitasLBi promised. Most of the user-generated content was interaction with the actor inside the costume or comments about being able to play along with it on social media platforms. This positive experience would be remembered and expanded upon when the user then played the game and started interacting with the Watchers in game; creating a relatable and lasting relationship.
I immediately searched for more content about the build process of the Watcher, cosplays, and game release information. I was so jealous I couldn't be at E3 when the Watchers made their debut!
What would you like to see recreated from a game or TV...or maybe created yourself?
Sony launched the original PlayStation in 1995 and their approach to advertising the console has evolved quite a bit over the years.
Let's take a look at some of their most memorable campaigns and TV spots over the last couple decades...
Here's one of the first broadcast advertisements for the North American launch of the original PlayStation. The campaign, "U R Not E" (Red-E, get it?), aired in 1995 and caused a buzz amongst the gamers for its intense tone and inclusion of 3D rendered game content. This was, after all.. a time when 3D was NOT the industry standard:
The 1996 advertisements for Crash Bandicoot were slapstick and comical, openly taking jabs at Nintendo's Mario:
PlayStation's Boycott Spyro campaign (1998):
A European PlayStation ad from 1999 made an effort to represent the diverse range of gamers the PlayStation brand had established:
1999, Y2K, The Matrix. Here's something unique, Sony's futuristic "PlayStation 9" ad from 1999:
Sony even commissioned David Lynch to make a PlayStation 2 commercial in 2002:
Sony's PlayStation 2 commercial for Mountain (2003):
The launch campaign of PlayStation 3 in 2006 had more of a fear-appeal, and it certainly created a buzz amongst consumers:
As the PlayStation brand became more established, Sony's advertisements took on more of a soft-sell approach. The ads relied less on gimmicky devices and in-your-face visuals, instead capturing the audience's attention with emotionally complex narratives.
Michael was part of the, "Long Live Play" PlayStation 3 campaign (2011):
Fortnite is all the rave right now in the gaming industry. It’s a free game that can be played cross-platform, giving it the ability to interface with a wide array of video gamers. in addition to approaching current gamers, the eSports community is rapidly growing with millions of dollars in investments from other industries, as well as the Twitch acquisition from Amazon. Twitch currently is a multi-million dollar industry, due to its rapidly growing fan base as well as corporate sponsorship. This is comparable to a social media site for gamers. Ninja, who is a popular twitch user, live streams his gameplay. If you thought that video gaming wouldn’t prosper financially, Ninja was interviewed recently stating he makes $600,000 in one month - playing video games! This has been able to capture the attention of gamers and non-gamers alike, bringing much attention to the video gaming community, as well as Fortnite itself. Mainstream celebrities have also been featured on Ninja’s livestream gameplay, bringing in a larger than expected fan base due to the incorporation of celebrities such as Drake, Travis Scott, and Juju Smith-Scheuster. 
The use of social media marketing and celebrity endorsements is a great combination for companies to bring to the table. Incorporating this type of advertising into the video game industry was a fantastic adjustment and has widely increased the size and income of the field.
