media plan
THQ Nordic has partnered with Havas Entertainment to recreate the haunted house from the 1992 single-player video game. alone in the dark And to celebrate the game's reboot, we invited 20 influencers.
Content creators like AngryJoeShow, Gnu, MissMikkaa, PewDiePie, and Rubius were first hand-submitted. alone in the dark– A themed puzzle box to solve on a coordinated live stream before heading to a haunted house in the middle of the night.
Realm Pictures renovated a Victorian building on the Ile de D'Oyly Carte as the Delceto mansion for the original game, where influencers filmed their adventures with Go-Pros and footage of them completing tasks similar to those in the game. Photographed by CCTV camera.
Participants posted content from their experiences to fans around the world via Twitch, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, and YouTube, and footage was also made into a hero edit on YouTube.
A chance to break the mold
With a significant number of AAA games scheduled to be released in the first quarter, THQ Nordic and Havas Entertainment are seizing an “opportunity to stand out by breaking the traditional marketing mold,” We have started creating a campaign without. The world's biggest gaming influencer appears in iconic gaming scenes. When building the entire haunted house, they decided to “sacrifice impact reach” to pack a punch.
“If there's one thing we know, it's that gamers are savvy and can spot a cynical marketing campaign a mile away,” says Alexandra Etzine, Client Partner at Havas Entertainment he explains. “That's why we set out to build an activation that creates meaningful moments in their culture and reintroduces gamers to the world of gaming. alone in the dark Make your franchise a reality by bringing your favorite influencers into the world. ”
The campaign leveraged first-party data from Endemic media partners to precisely target survival horror gamers. However, Havas Entertainment realized that by just targeting them, they would be missing out on a “wide swath” of potential enthusiasts, including those who had played the original version. alone in the dark However, they are no longer gamers, but also general horror movie lovers.
To target fans of horror entertainment more broadly, the campaign partnered with horror-focused media company Bloody Disgusting. alone in the darkthe podcast will be read aloud across the Bloody Disgusting Podcast Network, with custom editing and social amplification.
Meanwhile, the integration with publisher Future included contextual horror content targeting to speak more to this audience.
The supportive digital campaign was planned for four weeks around the reboot's March release date, along with OOH activities featuring the game's two main characters.
Partnerships with game publishers like IGN and Publisher Collective, It allows the game to expand not only into horror and entertainment media such as Den of Geek, but also into pop culture areas where there is a high crossover between movie fans and game fans, especially for fans of David Harbor and Jodie Comer. attractive. The main characters.
Additionally, using first-party data, your run results will be posted to PlayStation News, which will appear on PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation app to gamers who follow you. alone in the dark Or have you played the demo?
More than a big budget
The campaign took two years of planning and 40 creators, and the haunted house experience itself took place over nine days.
Sven Dwulecki, Head of Marketing at THQ Nordic, said: “This campaign is a perfect example of what can be achieved with creativity and passion, rather than just a big budget.
“We combined our creativity and focused on what truly captivates our viewers to create a haunted house experience. If you look closely, you'll find countless references to both originals. alone in the dark And our new game — it expands on the world without sacrificing a single moment of gameplay.
“Planning for an activation like this takes smart thinking and teamwork, and goes beyond just spending money. This approach not only improves budget efficiency, but also helps us understand what the game will include and how much it will cost. We've created standout, memorable experiences that have people talking about why they're not included. This shows that with the right vision and dedication, you can make a big impact, no matter your budget. It shows.”
Because the campaign was an experiential activation, traditional metrics such as cost-per-click could not quantify the success of the campaign. That's why Havas Entertainment has created a bespoke social listening dashboard to track the rise in social listening. Amount of mentions, engagement, and sentiment.reference to alone in the dark At the time of the experience, it was up 234% from the previous week.
