Forget bus ads or radio spots. Two big video game publishers are using Snapchat and Twitch today to hype new, officially unannounced titles.
The first game being teased is probably Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 because it comes via an update to Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, a game developed by Activision subsidiary Treyarch. The update changes some of the artwork within the 2012 shooter to feature one of Snapchat’s QR code-esque “Snaptags.” Scanning it will friend the Snapchat account “callofduty.”
So far, the Snapchat account has sent out two cryptic nine-second videos, the second of which ends with footage of a helicopter and soldiers.
The more loudly announced campaign, dubbed #CantKillProgress, is being run by Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix on Twitch. It features a faux livestream of a man in a jail cell who is occasionally subjected to strange punishments like (at the time of this writing) squatting with a mop handle clutched in his legs.
Savvy viewers currently think this is a teaser for a new entry in the Deus Ex franchise, which was published by Square Enix subsidiary Eidos and last had a new title in 2013’s Deus Ex: The Fall.
The point of these campaigns, like all viral marketing, is obvious: Get people with very little information like yours truly talking about them and asking, “What does it mean?”
But just as I’m sure Activision and Square Enix’s marketing folks are scrutinizing how people react to these stunts, their choice of platforms is interesting. What didn’t they do that they might have done otherwise to promote these games?
I’ve reached out to Activision and Square Enix for comment and will update this story if I get anything interesting back.
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