Talk about working with big brands!
The picture above is from my trip to Paris to visit Ubisoft today. Upon entry to their Montreuil offices you are greeted by these pair of humongous Rabbids from the popular Raving Rabbids franchise.
The effect is an immediate and infectious sense of fun. That is the power that brands can have over us.
Brands interact with us every day, many on an unconscious level and some are so ubiquitous that is would now seem inconceivable that we would ever be without them, think Coca-Cola.
It is my belief that the video games industry creates brands that are far more powerful and influential than any other, for the sole reason that no other brands can interact with you in the way a game can.
I may be able to drink a can of Coke and enjoy it, maybe I like the shade of red and the aesthetic appeal of the cursive script and over time their adverts have ingrained a concept of what Coca-Cola means. But ten minutes playing Halo and I “am” Master Chief.
That is what games can do that no other medium can and why your video games brand wields more power than any generic marketing campaign, no matter its budget. So make your brands big, really big.
By this I don’t mean throw tons of money at adverting them, though that of course does help. But make your brands larger than life, fully formed characters with a real purpose . No one ever got excited about a brand that didn’t tell you anything, didn’t make you feel anything.
So decide what your brand is and then make it tell its own story with its own voice. Keep consistency and make sure you use it everywhere. If your not using your brand no one else will.
A good brand is a figurehead and the ideal marketing proposal.
