2011 Sammy Award Finalist, Best Branded Social Game: Initiative for Lionsgate "The Expendables"
Agencies: Initiative, Break Media
Executives Involved in The Campaign:
Lionsgate: Erika Schimik, Danielle DePalma, Courtney Harris, David Hayes
Initiative: David Goodrich, Jennifer Lyons, Samantha Lim, Lynde Moffatt
Campaign Brief: Challenge:
Studios are constantly challenged with marketing a theatrical brand from scratch and re-vitalizing it for home entertainment. With limited budgets, we needed an idea to capture moviegoers’ attention and convert that into box office and home entertainment sales. To win the number one spot during release week, we would have to make The Expendables the must see action film of the summer and a must buy holiday gift for men. The Expendables matched up against blockbuster films like Iron-Man 2 and Inception, Predators, and The A-Team.
Insight:
Men are savvy online users and more hesitant to respond to advertising. To reach this elusive audience, we needed compelling content to differentiate The Expendables from all other films and develop a program that could bridge the window from theatrical to home entertainment.
These moviegoers grew up watching our star studded cast comprised of iconic 80s action heroes, such as Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Allowing adult men to re-live their past would create anticipation for The Expendables. They would share this excitement with their friends, as it provided the perfect occasion for male bonding, either in theaters or as the ultimate “bro-gift” in home entertainment.
Strategy/Execution:
We used nostalgia reminiscent of their youthful memories and provided value through a retro style 8 bit action game from the 80’s. Building a custom game for theatrical provided an opportunity to re-brand it for home entertainment and maximize our dollars.
We commissioned Break, who has an extensive reach into young males, as well as success in creating custom viral entertainment. The Expendables game was distributed across both Break and Facebook. Within Facebook, to further generate word of mouth and fans, users needed to like The Expendables page in order to play. This provided re-marketing opportunities throughout the campaign and generated earned media, as a user’s “like” populated their newsfeed and announced it to their friends. Social features were included within the game, and allowed players to share and create a bonding activity.
As the home entertainment release was during the stressful holiday timeframe, we wanted to provide an escape for users. We re-skinned the game with a holiday theme and marketed The Expendables DVD as the ultimate “bro-gift” to align with the season.
Results:
* The Expendables won the coveted #1 box office title for two weekends in a row. Opening weekend earned almost $35MM and grossed over $100MM theatrically.
* #1 in Home Entertainment Sales in the first week of release.
* Featured in the “Most Played Games” on Break.com
* 2010 highest played Break game
* 700,000+ game plays to date on Break
* 200,000+ game plays on Facebook
* 7,891 hours spent playing the game
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