Travel back to 1886 with PlayStation and Uber
Sony
Issue 35 | June 2015
Agency
Whybin\TBWA
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Dave King Creative Directors Tim Huse Lisa Fedyszen Julian Andrews Jonathan McMahon
Production Team
Ops Director Sarah Hobden Exec Producer Liz Rosby Editor Jim Hudson Producer Nicola Brown 8 Director Julian Geraets 8 Executive Producer Katie Millington 8 Producer Charlotte McConnell
Other Credits
PlayStation NZ Marketing Manager Krister Robinson Uber New Zealand Marketing Manager Aj Tills Group Account Director Rebecca Hyndman Account Director Louise Cargo Account Manager Bayley Kite
Date
February 2015
Background
In order to launch the game 'The Order: 1886', Sony PlayStation needed to connect with gaming journalists and bloggers and get them excited about yet another action game title.
Idea
The solution was to create a partnership with Uber and customise their app to allow this specialist target audience to experience 'The Order: 1886' in a novel way.
Unique codes were distributed to the journalists and bloggers Sony wanted to reach. When these were activated, rather than a typical Uber car appearing out of the darkness of the night, a custom-built horse and carriage appeared, along with characters from the game.
The journalists and bloggers could enjoy playing the game while travelling to their destination. As in 'The Order: 1886', past and future merged together in one experience.
Results
The idea gained the attention of the all- important gaming, media, blogs and fan websites. 72% of the codes distributed were used, resulting in coverage across all of New Zealand's major gaming sites, blogs and social media.
Our Thoughts
Dave King is one of the most innovative direct creatives in the world with a string of mould-breaking campaigns to his name including ‘Yellow Treehouse’ and ‘Yellow Chocolate’ for Yellow Pages. Now here he is with another wonderfully inventive idea. Why is it that most B2B marketing is so dire? Does the word ‘business’ automatically mean your communications have to be dull and bland? This campaign is evidence that B2B can be every bit as inspiring as bigger budget B2C communications.
Incidentally, Uber come out of this imaginative partnership looking pretty good too. With this game, it rather looks as if everyone’s a winner.