Your Mum hates Dead Space 2
Issue 18 | March 2011
Agency
Draftfcb San Francisco, Wieden + Kennedy Media
Creative Team
SVP, Creative Director: Tony Vazquez, Colin McRae; Copywriter: Eric Molina; Art Director: Justin Hargraves
Production Team
Senior Producer: Jeremy Arth; Director: Charles Jensen; Production Company: Goon Media
Other Credits
Planning Director: Mary FlorCruz; VP Management Supervisor: Isaac Clemens; Senior Account Executive: Eric Townley; Assistant Account Executive: Aushlee Cummins; Media Supervisor: Danielle Pak; Media Planner: Alex Kniess; Media Director: Kelly Muller
Date
January 2011
Background
Marketed as a horror game, Dead Space 1 was a critical success that sold a couple of million units around the world to gamers but survival-horror is a niche and the challenge in launching Dead Space 2 at the end of January 2011 was to make it more accessible, reach a broader audience and grow the franchise.
Idea
What could accurately convey the nature of the game yet still communicate its coolness to a broad audience?
The answer was simple: your mom.
200 mothers were invited to take part in consumer research and shown Dead Space 2. Every one of them absolutely hated it.
They were filmed by hidden cameras expressing their dismay, disgust and bewilderment and the advertising simply used clips of them sounding off with the tag-line, ‘Dead Space 2. Your mom wouldn’t like it’.
Soon, the videos of the moms were being re-cut and customized. #yourmomhatesthis became an enormously successful Twitter hashtag. The human truth created huge buzz for the game.
Not everyone wanted to play a game where strategic dismemberment was a mechanic but everyone, regardless of their age, could relate to wanting to play a game their mom hated.
Results
The campaign is very recent and detailed sales figures are not available. However, the videos have accumulated over 2 million views on their YouTube channel. Videos were also re-cut and customized by users to reinforce various memes. A photoshop contest on the most popular video game blog (kotaku.com) saw 800 entries.
The campaign was picked-up by mainstream press and generated broader interest.
Our Thoughts
It’s a genius insight, isn’t it? Your mom won’t like it. And, hilariously, when you look at the videos, every mom behaved satisfyingly to type.
There is much talk about how an idea moves from ‘owned’ media to ‘earned’ and this illustrates how to do it; by having an idea that people can join in with.
People were showing their mothers the trailer and then tweeting her reactions. They were filming her as she watched game footage and uploading the videos.
And you don’t get that sort of involvement with a second-hand idea.