Best Computer: Hardware Rich Media Online Campaign

Audience
Gaming enthusiasts and Hardcore gamers / teens and young adults
(these groups are highly knowledgeable and often quick to disregard media if the visuals/language are not current and/or in tune with current trends)

Synopsis:
For the first time since Alienware joined Dell’s portfolio of gaming products, the two brands would appear side-by-side in a limited-run campaign designed to drive traffic, raise awareness and increase sales, while targeting the highly knowledgeable and finicky gaming crowd. Using a graphic novel look and feel as our inspiration, we decided to personify the two brands with original character designs and illustations. We created a 5-week, episodic campaign that was the first execution of its kind for GameSpot.com - a leading online destination for gamers. The brand-based characters - XPS as brute warrior, Alienware as precision killer – played out a loose story in which the heroes join forces to take on enemy soldiers, robots and more. Each episode was carefully designed to focus on key gaming drivers - violence, destruction, intimidation, dominance, etc. Each episode featured cleverly animated illustrations using GameSpot’s primary banner space, as well as full-page background takeovers timed to toggle with the animated story. The results not only met our targets, but completely shattered metrics for previous ads on the GameSpot site, including a 9X click-thru increase, 60% drop in cost-per-click and a 3X sales increase for Alienware systems. And that was just for the first week. Overall, we entertained the audience with an innovative, story-driven ad, while enticing them to visit Dell.com/gaming, where they could learn more about the high-end gaming products available to them from Dell and Alienware.

Contributors:

CM Bronze Business Unit:

CRITICAL MASS

Location: USA