Gaming is quickly becoming the socialization and community platform of choice, with countries like China, Japan, South Korea and India leading the way. In China, BBH is taking advantage of the fandom that Goat Games has built to create a launch activation that attracts gamers with an interactive part.
BBH China’s CCO Kelly Pon, Business Development Director Siying Goh, and Planning Director Andrea Chen share their experience.
LBB> What were the short and main messages and goals for this campaign?
Siying> Bloodline is a new game title. The challenge in launching a new game IP is ensuring that we can secure its long-term potential by maximizing its impact at launch. If it doesn’t resonate with the players, it can limit the development of the game.
So the challenge was daunting, but the mission itself was clear: Bring “New Legends will be Born” to life and convey this proposal clearly to the gamers.
LBB> How did the idea for New Legends Are Born come about? Share more about the brainstorming process.
Kelly> We were really inspired by the game concept, the ability to match heroes to create little baby hybrids with unexpected inherited traits… We could have approached this from many angles – a diversity angle for example, of different races coming together. Or seeing these characters as a human family, which is what we ended up with. Once we started seeing these characters through the lens of a human family, a rich area opened up. What would their life be like? The journey of courtship, starting their family and the birth of their new baby… we started to fill in the gaps and give the characters relevance to the real world and to our gamers. It was fun.
LBB> Creatively speaking, Bloodline offers the perfect canvas with its realm of romance, fantasy and action. How has BBH stepped up storytelling with new layers of intrigue?
LBB> What were the highlights and challenges in creating the launch commercial? Talk us through the technical production, techniques and special effects.
Kelly> The shoot was done remotely in Uruguay due to Covid travel restrictions. The challenge mainly revolved around the attempt to build a crossover world on a limited budget, between the human and rich fantasy world. Should it be a human world with ogres in it, or a fantasy world with humans in it? So a lot of thought has gone into making sure the world and setting fit the story and are believable.
LBB > BBH brought together fantasy character artist Jonah Lobe and game video creator Daniel for a live streaming session together with gamers to create the new legend. What was the strategy behind it?
Andrea> In gaming, the buy-in of the gaming community is crucial. Gamers are an extremely noisy community and often offer their opinions to game developers about the gaming experience. We took advantage of their need for participation and ownership and gave them a role to play.
LBB> Nearly 4,800 ideas were contributed by gamers during the live stream. How was the new legend chosen?
Kelly> It was a co-creation exercise with the gaming community. Suggestions and ideas about what the new legend would look like, the color, the shape, the characteristics of its properties, all came from gamers. Some ideas built on others, so the result culminated in the merging of these ideas.
LBB> What were the takeaways from the live stream and what kind of numbers did that yield?
Siying> We learned that the players were very involved in the world building process, that they were able to identify and suggest the traits, accessories and skills unique to each race and co-create with us and the influencer. This has inspired us and the developer to invite the players to this world-building process in the future.
LBB> How important was it in terms of brand building for Bloodline?
Kelly: Brand building is an interesting challenge when it comes to launching a new gaming brand. It’s not just about generating initial downloads and engaging players in the game loop, it’s also about creating an intriguing story that invites fans to join the game universe and build it together. In that regard, we are very encouraged by the participation in the launch activations and the way players are already invested in the story and world building.
LBB> How have other elements of this integrated campaign boosted and increased the brand’s market reach and penetration?
Siying> Within the first week of launch, the campaign helped the game title to earn a spot in the iOS Top10 most downloaded games billboard. It was also identified as a “Rising Challenger” in mid-core game titles by The Game Refinery, an industry database for mobile games. This success gave the developer the confidence to further expand into European markets.
LBB> Looking ahead, how will the lessons learned from this campaign’s success generate momentum for campaigns in other markets?
Siying> They helped us focus more on community building and social seeding for campaigns in other markets.
LBB> What are the key considerations when approaching game industry campaign work?
Andrea> Understanding where the game is in terms of development and publishing is crucial in defining the challenge and goal of the campaign. For example, these can vary between a game that has already made a beta launch and has a number of users compared to a game that hasn’t.
We also need to understand the product roadmap. Unlike, for example, a soda from the FMCG world, in the game industry the product is constantly iterating and evolving, and sometimes in real time, therefore there is a demand to synchronize the communication and play an active role in overcoming the difference between the ideal and the actual product.
Player engagement is extremely important for driving a successful launch, as engaging and activating the game’s “1000 true superfans” will help generate higher commercial value and create a more meaningful feedback loop for the developer. offer, especially in the early stages.
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