During the first hour, more than 100 thousand people watched the video.
This afternoon Electronic Arts together with “M.Video” launched an original commercial. In it, the popular Russian TV presenter Nikolai Drozdov told about the world of the Anthem game in his trademark manner. We asked Tony Watkins, CEO of the Russian division of Electronic Arts, about how the work on the video was going on.
Who was the initiator (the video is positioned as an advertising company “M.Video”, but, most likely, there was a speech about collaboration with EA)?
Tony: The idea of the video and its script came from our local marketing department. At the final stage, we decided that we were getting something really unusual and interesting, so we decided to strengthen the launch and attracted a partner in the person of M.Video” – the leader of the Russian gaming retail. We have exclusively integrated their message into the video.
How did the idea of creating such a video come about?
Drown: During one of the brainstorms at the planning stage of the Anthem marketing campaign.
How did Nikolai Nikolaevich react to such a proposal?
Drown: Positively. Nikolai Drozdov does not undertake any project, but after the pitch and initial negotiations, both the game itself and the concept of the video interested him.
How complex and expensive was such an advertising campaign compared to other promotions?
Drown: When compared with other projects of similar scale, the budget for production and promotion is quite optimal. Largely due to the fact that most of the video is a recorded and edited gameplay of the game.
Are there any first results and how satisfied are you with them?
Drown: The launch was very successful – both in terms of numbers and feedback from the target audience. In the first hour, the video gained more than 100 thousand organic views in VK.
This is the second bright advertising campaign from Russian game creatives this month. Earlier in February, Softclub distinguished itself, which in support of Mortal Kombat 11 released a video with the participation of domestic influencers. He was received much colder. On YouTube, an advertisement with video blogger Timur Sidelnikov and cosplayer Irina Meyer scored 10 times more dislikes than positive ratings. Such a reaction forced Softclub to remove the video from its channel.
The “educational” history of Anthem is definitely not threatened by the latter. And the game needs good marketing now more than ever. The project is very restrained by the press and frankly bad players — the user rating of the game on Metacritic is now a record low for Bioware 3.7 points.
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