2016 Game Marketing Association Award Winners Revealed

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The 2016 Game Marketing Association winners have been announced, celebrating the most entertaining, humorous and creative promotions for video games. Marketer association and awards host, PromaxBDA, revealed all the winners via Twitter today.

Microsoft was a big winner, with its Rise of the Tomb Raider promotions, done in collaboration with Square Enix, taking home many awards. Other fan favorites include Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s Hack In Black and Madden NFL 16 (with its hilarious Madden the Movie promotion) picking up several awards.

There were several categories that the awards covered, including Best Live Action Promotional Content (which Star Wars: Battlefront won); Best Use of Music In a Promotional Video (which Fallout 4‘s “The Wanderer” from Dion took easily); and Best Cool Sh*t (yes, that’s the actual name of the award ), and Rise of the Tomb Raider‘s Original Art Series took it with ease.

Highlighted categories and first-place winners include:

Outstanding TV Or Theatrical Ad

Legend of the Last Lava Pup

Clash of Clans: Legend of the Last Lava Pup benefitted greatly from star power, featuring Academy Award winner Christophe Waltz and Late Late Show host James Corden.

Outstanding Promotional Trailer

Rainbow Six Siege: Siege the Day, Ubisoft

Once again, star power makes all the difference, as actor Idris Elba dramatically walks players through what to expect from Siege.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=554XiLSZZeA

Best Live Action Promotional Content

Star Wars Battlefront – Become More Powerful

With help from its many fans (and actress Anna Kendrick), EA grasped the Force for this effective advertisement.

Outstanding Overall Marketing Campaign of the Year

Fallout 4 Campaign

Bethesda sold millions of copies of Fallout 4 thanks to a very lucrative and effective advertising campaign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3IlHBBGCIw

Best Use Of ESports 

Heroes of the Dorm

Heroes of the Dorm not only helped put eSports on the television map, but also pushed ESPN to do more coverage in competition.

Best Digital Marketing Campaign

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Survival Billboard

Survival Billboard paid off for Microsoft, adding a unique survival angle that reflects Tomb Raider‘s raw nature.

Best Use of Social Media Campaign

Call of Duty Hack In Black

The latest Call of Duty promotion was a big hit across many social channels.

Best Promotional Partnership

Mad Max Uber

WB Interactive and Uber paired together nicely to give several people rides in Mad Max-inspired rides.

Uber Mad Max

Most Effective Buzz Generating Tactic

 Halo 5: Guardians “A Hero Falls”

The thought of Master Chief being wiped out of the Halo universe devastated fans, and drove plenty of buzz for the hit sequel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SENJV2_XuLM

Marketing Team Of The Year

Microsoft Xbox won for Marketing Team of the Year, with its campaigns for Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider among others.

The 6 Most Powerful ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Promotions

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The wave of comic book movies continues with the release of X-Men: Apocalypse this weekend. In the superhero-themed movie, where a team of mutants gifted with powerful abilities takes on the most powerful being in history, hits theaters on May 27. Continuing from the tremendous success of X-Men: Days of Future Past, and featuring an all-star cast that includes James McAvoy (X-Men movies; Wanted), Michael Fassbender (Prometheus; Inglorious Bastards), Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games; Joy) Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina; Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones), the movie is almost sure to be a huge hit.

The size and scope of the movie are matched only by the promotional campaigns and partnerships that came from it. Here are the top promotions that helped bring forth the Apocalypse.

X-Men: Apocalypse Takes Over Snapchat

xmen-snapchat-hed-2016

Today, 20th Century Fox purchased an entire takeover of Snapchat Lenses—photos and videos that users can apply to their snaps. There are nine Lenses in total, and each is based on a different character from the movie, including Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, Beast, Apocalypse, Quicksilver, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Cyclops. This represents the first time a movie has purchased all the Lenses for a day, and they’re ready to make you look like you have superpowers of your own.

Although Snapchat ads are proving to be extremely popular, they’re also very expensive, with prices ranging from about $350,000 to $750,000 (depending on the day) for a single sponsored Lens, which lasts for 24 hours.

Furthermore, fans can purchase tickets using the Snapchat app. Although it doesn’t sell tickets directly, users can access the Fandango or Movietickets.com mobile websites from within the app, then instantly get back to snapping.

Enroll In A Super Education

Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, the home base of the X-Men, is both a refuge and training ground for mutants to learn control over their powers. Students also happen to put those skills to work saving the world, but you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell from the school’s commercial, which features the fictional character Jubilee, and is supposedly from 1983. If you have a mutant child, then there’s no better education that at Xavier’s.

Find The Ideal Home With Coldwell Banker

Coldwell Banker might be one of the more unlikely X-Men: Apocalypse promotional partnerships, but the team put together a series of ads that emphasize the theme of coming home after a stressful day at work. Of course, “work” meaning a day of combating god-like super-beings in an effort to save the world, and “home” being a luxurious mansion that doubles as a boarding school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrgbD0XMxDM

However, instead of overlooking the fact that the X-Men team lives in a giant mansion, Coldwell Banker decided to embrace it in a faux “Home of the Week” series, where a Coldwell real estate agent highlight’s the Xavier’s mansion’s greatest features.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV6Kh6MXtS4

Crunch Gym Challenges You To Strengthen Up

The X-Men train to master their mutant superpowers in a place called The Danger Room, but regular humans don’t have to such an ominous sounding place for a workout. Instead, they can simply head over a Crunch fitness center for a superpowered exercise program. Crunch is currently offering an interval based class inspired by X-Men: Apocalypse. Members are challenged to channel strengths from their favorite characters, all the while building up their power and stamina to take on the world.

As an added bonus, Crunch is also hosting a sweepstakes, where a winner will be able to visit the sacred pyramids of Chichen Itza in Mexico for the ultimate mutant-powered vacation. After visiting the pyramids, and learning how its inhabitants predicted the apocalypse, winners will “defy gravity” and hover over the ocean in a jet packing experience. Next is learning flight in a zipline experience, followed by an Earth-themed adventure where they get to drive amphibious vehicles on an underground tour.

Power-Up With Candy

The movie’s partnership with M&M’s candies works perfectly with the gym membership, but the famous chocolate in a hard candy shell has also been a longtime favorite among movie-goers. To celebrate the launch of the movie, Mars Chocolate introduced four movie-themed bottles, featuring the animated M&Ms dressed up as characters from the movie.

The candy jars were also accompanied by a special commercial, featuring the characters Nightcrawler and Storm, who both happen to share a weakness for milk chocolate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J64QS4tE6ic

A Beast Of A Burger

If you want to take your X-themed meal to the max, then Red Robin has you covered. The gourmet burger restaurant is currently serving The Berserker X Burger in celebration of the release of X-Men: Apocalypse. This mega burger “comes loaded with Sriracha onion straws, spicy pickles, zesty aioli, a fire-grilled, all-natural beef patty, lettuce, tomatoes and melted cheddar on a special “X” edition brioche bun.” It’s special power is obviously the ability to defeat hunger.

Additionally, purchasing a $25 X-Men Apocalypse-themed limited edition gift card will get you a free ticket to see the movie when it hits theaters on May 27.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ojh8-DOT3Y

Mutant Emoji

The movie also released a set of X-Men: Apocalypse-themed emoji to collect and share on social media!

xmenloop.gif-5461803777

How Film Engine Could Change The Motion Picture Industry

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Film Engine is a new company emerging with, as the name suggests, an advanced engine specifically catered to film. As we learned at Digital NewFronts, VR and fostering content creation are two of the biggest takeaways for the upcoming year.

Video game content creation suites like Unreal Engine, Unity and CryEngine have become free-to-use in recent years, creating opportunities for developers to make their otherwise unaffordable projects a reality. Following in this tradition, Film Engine is essentially an uber-version of CryEngine that allows filmmakers—student, indie and AAA—equal access to real-time VR graphics rendering.

How does it do this? “Instead of sending a project through layout, animation, lighting, rendering, grading, and editing separately, you can work on each simultaneously with real-time feedback,” reads the official website. “Tasks that once took days can be done in real-time in Film Engine, freeing up the time and the resources to focus on visionary storytelling.” Working alongside film industry professionals, Film Engine is ten years in the making.

[a]listdaily spoke with Jean-Colas Prunier, creative director of Film Engine to discuss the implications of accessibility and real-time rendering for the motion picture industry.

Aside from motion capture, how does Film Engine allow filmmakers to create in real-time?

Film Engine 2
Jean-Colas Prunier, creative director of Film Engine

At its core, Film Engine is designed around what we call a real-time filmmaking pipeline or workflow. It provides an integrated suite of tools that allow a user to work in parallel and in real-time on all the different areas involved in the making of a film, such as layout, animation, lighting, and editing. In addition to this real-time filmmaking pipeline, Film Engine leverages other real-time technologies, especially those used in virtual production like motion capture, camera tracking, and green screen compositing. We noticed that one of things that slows people down is the difficulty inherent in getting all of these technologies working together. We thought, “wouldn’t it be great to design Film Engine to be a hub in which all data produced by these systems can be easily recorded, combined, and used instantaneously within the same pipeline?” Until Film Engine, there was no tool on the market designed to connect them all. But it is possible to do that with Film Engine, and we put a lot of effort in making it incredibly simple to use.

The Film Engine website states, “While game engines like CryEngine can be powerful tools for cinematic work in games, they lack some of the features necessary for traditional film industry workflows.” Can you elaborate on the needs of this workflow and do you think Film Engine will inspire improvements in game engines as a result?

We don’t see CryEngine strictly as a game engine, but what we call a multi-purpose real-time engine. One of the reasons we choose CryEngine as the engine powering Film Engine is because all the features implemented in the engine are scalable. In some situations, speed is the priority; in others, quality is more important. In film, quality takes precedence, and CryEngine can deliver both. It is the perfect engine for an application like Film Engine.

Most game engines are not designed that way, which is why CryEngine is very unique compared to many of its competitors. I like to make a distinction between what I call game engines and real-time engines. What I call a real-time engine is an engine that is designed from the ground up to provide the scalability necessary for filmmakers. A real-time engine performs just as well in situations where speed is critical as it does in situations where quality is  the priority, even if takes more time to render a frame.

Furthermore, the film industry needs the freedom to render assets of arbitrary complexity. The upper number of vertices or textures used for a model should be unlimited.

So we built Film Engine on top of a real-time engine that doesn’t put limitations on the complexity of the assets. Formats such as Open Subdivision surfaces, OpenEXR, Alembic, FBX, OpenColorIO, OpenVDB, and more are defacto industry standards. So we also adapted the engine in order to add the features and formats film, VFX, and animation studios expect. Film Engine follows the standards defined by www.vfxplatform.com.

Do you think there will someday be an engine that can handle both games and film without a need for two separate programs?

While making films and games have similarities, the process and the workflow in producing content for either one or the other have also a lot of differences, and the Film Engine team put a lot of effort in designing a workflow that feels natural to filmmakers. I like to see Film Engine as three layers. The first layer is the hardware layer or the GPU. The second layer is the real-time engine. The third layer is the front-end of the application or the workflow. So while I think the ideal products for making games and for making films can share the same first two layers, the same GPU and the same real-time engine, I do believe the third layer needs to be specific to each application. Here I like to use the metaphor of vehicles. While most vehicles share the same principles and the same underlying technology, each vehicle–whether a car, a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and a Formula 1 race car–has a design or “interface” that is adapted to a specific need. The same applies to software like CryEngine and Film Engine. Same principles, same underlying technology, but different interface, and that is unlikely to change in the near future.

When will Film Engine become available?

What’s important for us right now is for everyone to know that the technology is here and here to stay. We will communicate about the technology’s availability to the public and to professionals very soon. We are in early beta development phase right now, and plan to have a version 1.0 of Film Engine in the next few months. Information regarding accessibility will be communicated when we launch. In the meantime, if you are interested in the technology and want to receive updates, you can subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

‘Total War: Warhammer’: Two Franchises, One Epic Fantasy Game

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Created by Games Workshop in 1983 as a table top strategy game (Warhammer Fantasy Battles) using fantasy miniatures, the Warhammer franchise has grown tremendously across different media. Its dark and gritty setting, populated with different races and creatures struggling against one another, has been a major source of inspiration, particularly with video games looking to bring it to life. That’s where The Creative Assembly comes in.

Famous for the Total War series, The Creative Assembly made a name for itself developing deep, historically-themed, strategy games where players command huge armies. One of the most popular games in the franchise, Total War: Rome II, let players build the world’s first superpower through military, economic and political means—featuring prominent historical figures such as Marc Antony, Lepidus and Caesar himself in its add-ons. That experience is being combined with the Warhammer franchise to create one massively epic game: Total War: Warhammer.

Al Bickham, studio comms manager at Creative Assembly, talks to [a]listdaily about bringing two brands together to create the definitive Warhammer fantasy strategy game releasing on May 24.

What made Creative Assembly realize that the Total War and Warhammer franchises would work together?

The two properties map incredibly well. They’re both essentially games in which everything leads to rank-and-file armies smashing each other to bits, and we’re not the only people to have spotted that natural fit. One of the most common responses to the initial announcement that we were making a Total War title based in the Warhammer universe was “How hasn’t this happened before?!”

Total War usually works with real historic battles and factions. Was it quite a shift to work with fantasy?

In some regards it wasn’t such a shift—all the history books for the Warhammer world are right in front of us, and the lead writer on the game, Andy Hall, is ex-Games Workshop, so he knows the lore intimately. It was a case of applying the process of creating a Total War title to a deeply-established high-fantasy background as opposed to a historical one.

In other regards, it’s like nothing we’ve ever attempted! The rich Warhammer universe presented us with some interesting new design challenges. How do we bring magic, monsters, heroes and flying creatures to a game series that has always been rooted in the reality of historical backdrops? Our motion-capture facility hasn’t seen as much use as it normally does, as we’ve had to hand-key animations for the many weird and wonderful creatures that Warhammer comprises. It’s been a huge learning experience and a crazy-fun challenge.

TWW 2

How have you been working to ensure the game stays true to both the Total War and Warhammer brands?

Our design principles as a studio are quality, authenticity and fun, and that’s what we’re aiming for with Total War: Warhammer. We’re enormously enthusiastic about representing the Warhammer IP as accurately and arrestingly as we can, and that’s not a box-ticking exercise; it’s what the potential players of our game really want, so the more reverently, accurately and strikingly we treat the IP, the better it is for everyone.

We’re working this detail into the Total War framework of a grand strategic campaign game of statecraft and expansion, interspersed with spectacular real-time battles comprising thousands of troops. In Total War terms, there’s a greater variety of gameplay features and mechanics between different playable races than we’ve ever attempted before, so each race looks, plays and feels very different. In short, our aim is to make the definitive Warhammer strategy game, and I think we’ve achieved that.

Is it difficult to promote a game that combines two such well-known franchises?

In many ways, it’s been a dream project for our PR, community and marketing teams. The content of the game is so richly compelling, and the deep level of Warhammer knowledge out there means that people really get it. Moreover, there’s a great thirst for user-generated content—Let’s Play videos, livestreams and so forth—so when people get the game, we’re fully expecting we’ll see the community’s own takes on the game and its content.

How have you been working to appeal toward gamers who aren’t familiar with Total War or Warhammer?

The setting, characters and content do a great job of transcending boundaries. It’s a really compelling high-fantasy setting that, while it shares some core tropes with other fantasy universes, has a style, personality, narrative and history all its own.

Warhammer has a large number of factions. How do you choose which ones will appear in Total War: Warhammer?

Initially at least, on a geographical basis. This is the first of three titles (we have plans for two follow-up expansions to come over the next couple of years), and deals with The Old World—the central Europe, if you like—of the Warhammer world map. Initially, we’re dealing with the races that appear in that landmass. Over time, through expansions, DLC and free content packs, we’ll be expanding the world mass and the faction rosters to encompass all the other major races covered by the 8th Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

What do you think makes Warhammer such an enduring franchise?

It’s enormously characterful, insanely detailed, wonderfully imaginative, and over its 30-year lifespan, it has pretty much defined tabletop wargaming as a popular hobby.

Ubisoft Dives Into Chinese Gaming Market

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Considering that the Chinese mobile gaming market is a monster ($7.1 billion and rising), it’s no surprise that highly popular game publisher Ubisoft wants to get in on the action. The company officially announced that it will release a pair of Android games in China alongside its publishing partner Ourpalm.

The first game will be its mobile hit Hungry Shark World (the follow-up to Hungry Shark Evolution), in which players control a predator of the sea as it fights to stay alive by devouring everything in sight, along with an unannounced title in its Assassin’s Creed franchise. Both titles should be huge draws, but the company is most interested in seeing what kind of impact Hungry Shark World makes in this new market, considering how it has already drawn over 51 million unique players since its release in other countries, including the U.S.

“Hungry Shark mania is on in China and we are really confident with the launch of this new episode, which is even bigger, hungrier, and sharkier,” said Aurelien Palasse, Ubisoft’s head of publishing for Greater China.,” said Aurelien Palasse, head of publishing, Greater China, Ubisoft.

The Assassin’s Creed game is set to be a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game being co-developed by Ourpalm, but neither company has divulged any new details about it.

“We’ve got our most experienced team working on the new Assassin’s Creed title, and have high expectations for it,” said Zhang Pei, vice president of operations for Ourpalm. “We can wait to show the Assassin’s Creed community in China what the game is about.”

The partnership was first announced in 2014, with Chris Zhang, Beijing Ourpalm VP, stating in a press release that, “Hungry Shark Evolution already has performed excellently in Europe and the United States, and we are aiming to bring it and more games from around the world to local Chinese gamers, starting with this deepening of our strategic cooperation with Ubisoft.”

These games could be the first steps to even more games hitting China in the future. After all, its mobile Rayman games (including Rayman Adventures) have been big hits with fans, and Ubisoft has a number of other games in its portfolio that could potentially take off in China.

For now, at least, the companies are moving slowly but surely into the market, and it could certainly pay off in the long run.

ELEAGUE Exec Talks About Joining With Advertising Partners

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In December, Turner announced a partnership with WME | IMG to form an eSports initiative; one that would involve broadcasting Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match-ups on TBS. That eSports league, called ELEAGUE, continues to expand with key advertising partners getting in on the action. Last week, it was confirmed that Arby’s, Credit Karma and Buffalo Wild Wings will serve as official marketing partners for the group, each taking part in advertising for ELEAGUE events, which kick off next week on May 24 on digital platforms, with a Friday night showcase to follow on TBS. According to the press release from Turner and WME | IMG, the companies involved will have customized, contextual brand exposure with ELEAGUE’s multi-screen coverage, utilizing AdTrack sponsor integration. This will allow the companies to promote during uninterrupted game coverage.

In addition to finding a place on broadcast television, ELEAGUE has also reached an extensive deal with Twitch, one that will feature programming every Tuesday and Wednesday with ELEAGUE match-ups, along with an “alternate viewing experience” to coincide with the TBS broadcast. “Twitch has become the live streaming destination for millions of gamers on a global scale and we’re looking forward to directly connecting ELEAGUE with its passionate community,” said Christina Alejandre, General Manager of ELEAGUE. “We’re incredibly excited for the launch of ELEAGUE and Twitch provides us with a premier destination for fans to congregate and engage with our live event coverage.”

Seth Ladetsky“ELEAGUE presents our partners with an incredibly attractive environment to showcase their messaging to a highly-engaged, dedicated millennial fan base,” said Seth Ladetsky, senior vice president of Turner ad sales, during the announcement last week. “The combination of these brands, and additional soon-to-be-announced partners, underscores the value of our eSports coverage.”

Speaking with [a]listdaily, Ladetsky added, “For advertisers that have followed the growth of eSports, they understand how powerful this environment is, with incredible growth potential. We have been in conversations with  brands since we first announced our investment in this space. When you combine all of the value with being an official marketing partner and the trust that we have garnered over the years with advertisers, we are fortunate to already have several partners in place prior to the launch.”

As far as how WME | IMG came about to getting partners on board, Ladetsky explained, “For advertisers that have followed the growth of eSports, they understand how powerful this environment is, with incredible growth potential.  We have been in conversations with  brands since we first announced our investment in this space. When you combine all of the value with being an official marketing partner and the trust that we have garnered over the years with advertisers, we are fortunate to already have several partners in place prior to the launch.

“Turner is comfortable with developing multi-screen coverage plans and advertiser partnerships for not only our sports coverage, but our breadth of news and entertainment brands, too. With eSports originating on digital, we need to maintain authenticity with how we cover this sport, so digital was an essential part of any plan we developed.”

To conclude, Ladetsky noted how it’s more of a commonplace practice to see partners such as this get involved with eSports. “While we understand it’s still at an early adopter phase, we know many companies are quickly becoming aware of this attractive sport.”

ELEAGUE has already kicked off its advertising for next week’s premiere, with basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal inserting himself into a round of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Glu Mobile’s ‘Britney Spears: American Dream’ Is Ready To Drive Fans Crazy

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Glu Mobile, makers of the wildly popular Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, is out to turn mobile game players into stars again, this time as an up-and-comer in the music industry. In the newly released Britney Spears: American Dream, the pop music star will help guide players through their music career. They can even sing-along with some of her greatest hits, as the game features some of her hits songs in addition to having Apple Music and Google Play Music integration.

The game’s timing couldn’t be more perfect, since the singer is receiving the Billboard Millennium Award at the Billboard Music Awards on May 22, and is opening the show with a “kick-ass medley” of her most popular songs.

Niccolo De Masi, Glu Mobile’s chairman and CEO, talks to [a]listdaily about how Britney Spears: American Dream is turning gamers everywhere into pop stars, and how—after achieving immense success with Kim Kardashian: Hollywood—the company is singing, “Oops… we did it again!”

Niccolo De Masi, CEO at Glu Mobile

What makes Britney Spears the ideal music celebrity to base a game on?

Britney Spears is one of the most celebrated artists in pop music, with a truly diverse fan base. In addition to her nearly 100 million social followers worldwide, she brings the passion and dedication we look for in any celebrity partner.

What role does Spears play in helping the player progress?

Britney’s in-game character serves as the player’s mentor in the game, guiding them through the highs and lows one might experience in the music industry.

How do players compete with other singers and progress in the music industry?

Players compete with friends and other real-life players with each song they create. Once they record a song, they create an original album/single cover within the game and share it with these friends to get votes. The more votes they receive, the more album sales they generate, and the higher up the Top Charts they rise! Players also compete against in-game rival, Aston Kole, in the same way.

What are some of the Britney Spears songs featured in the game?

Britney Spears: American Dream features the master version of “Oops!… I Did It Again” as well as instrumental versions of “Toxic,” “Womanizer,” “Piece of Me,” “(You Drive Me) Crazy,” and “…Baby One More Time” and more.

Britney Spears_American Dream_04

Britney Spears has gone through a number of different looks during her career. How did you decide on which ones to use for the game?

Britney was influential in determining which looks were featured. We’re extremely pleased with how well the renderings came together and think they portray some of her most iconic and looks.

How does the music service integration work? Will players be able to record their own covers of songs?

Through the integration of Apple Music and Google Play Music, Britney Spears: American Dream players can easily access a collection of Britney Spears’ latest releases, greatest hits, albums, and videos. Recording original audio isn’t a component of the game, but “recording” a song is an action performed, after which players can design their very own album/single cover and post it to social media channels.

Will there be any kind of promotional tie-in with Spears’ performance at the Billboard Music Awards?

We’re always looking for ways to connect the game with Britney’s real world, so you’ll have to tune in. We’re all very excited for her performance and are wishing her nothing but the best of luck!

Britney Spears_American Dream_01

[a]listdaily Weekly: Spotify ‘Shows’ Off; Facebook Under Fire

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This time on [a]listdaily Weekly we’re talking music, video games and (uh, oh) Facebook scandals. (And we’re not talking about that embarrassing Christmas party photo.)

Spotify is branching out into the world of digital video, producing 12 new original shows. The music-centric programming will include a documentary series covering pivotal music industry moments and Rush Hour, a Russell Simmons project chronicling the progress of two hip-hop artists. Although music will remain the main focus for Spotify, they are determined to get a piece of that digital ad spending pie. Since digital ad revenue is expected to reach $13.3 billion in 2020, there will probably be more than enough pie to go around, too. Hmm. Pie.

Digital Newfronts gave brands a chance to present their new programs to ad-buyers last week, with enough song and pizzazz to rival the presentation of Simba in The Lion King. From social media to virtual reality and everything in between, one thing was certain—digital has become the new TV. eSports was a hot topic this year, as Activision Blizzard showcased the MLG.tv Enhanced Viewing Experience to advertisers for the first time. 

Speaking of Blizzard, the video game giant who brought World of Warcraft to the masses is gearing up for the launch of Overwatch—their first person shooter, 17 years in the making. Rather than exclaim, “LEROY JENKINS” and burst onto the scene, however, Blizzard has rolled out some serious marketing campaigns in preparation for the launch. The company has partnered with Taco Bell and Razer, created a Buzzfeed personality quiz, released a Pixar-quality animated short and offered an open beta. Fans attending PAX East had the chance to ride a series of Overwatch-branded Uber vehicles, including a single-seater Lamborghini. We’re still waiting for a partnership with Dairy Queen for some Blizzard-on-Blizzard action, though. Mmm. Ice cream.

5 Ways ‘The Angry Birds Movie’ Has Audiences Flocking To Theaters

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The Angry Birds Movie is set to launch this weekend in the U.S., and if its reception is anything like the international openings (which have already pulled in $43 million), then we could be looking at a big, bright future for the a franchise that started as a mobile game and turned into a global phenomenon. The game developer, Rovio, has invested $113 million into the film production, which stars Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live; Horrible Bosses) Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Bill Hader (Inside Out; Superbad) and Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live; Bridesmaids). Additionally, the company has worked with Sony Pictures Entertainment to create a marketing push that’s worth an estimated $400 million. That makes it one of the biggest campaigns ever for a Sony animated movie.

Here are some of the top promotions that are helping The Angry Birds Movie launch into theaters on May 20.

Seeing Red

Although the Angry Birds franchise is immensely popular, with millions of fans all over the world, it still needed to make its movie characters known. To help make a big impression, Red (the movie’s main character) got his own float in the 2015 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It helped to get the word out about the movie, and it helped grow awareness of the movie.

Furthermore, Rovio worked with Lego to produce The Angry Birds Movie playsets that feature all characters from the movie, along with constructs like the ship, a castle, and a handy catapult, so that birds and pigs can battle over coveted eggs. The fun is extended even further with the Piggy Smash Challenges, where fans are encouraged to watch a collection of animated story videos and recreate the associated challenge tasks using their playsets.

Getting Audiences To Theaters

Historically, movies based on video games haven’t done very well at the box office, but The Angry Birds Movie hopes to overcome that by including some extra incentives to watch the movie in theaters, instead of waiting for it to release for home video. In partnership with AMC Theatres, the movie released an animated video detailing all the benefits of going out to the movies with friends.

However, the best incentive is a free-to-play pinball-inspired mobile game called Angry Birds Action!, where players control Red as he “smashes and crashes through obstacles and bounces from wall to wall like a wrecking ball—all in the name, of course, of saving precious and fragile eggs.” The movie’s end credits will include an inaudible embedded digital watermark that audiences can scan using their smartphones to unlock extra content.

Hunting For BirdCodes

Scanning The Angry Birds Movie‘s end credits is just one way to unlock content. Other ways include BirdCodes—an augmented reality experience that can be found in a wide variety of products. There are over a billion BirdCodes out there, distributed through partners such as Lego, H&M, McDonald’s and Pez.

Angry

One BirdCode is included in each of the six The Angry Birds Movie Lego sets. They can also be found in specially themed McDonald’s Happy Meals to unlock mini-games and other content. Scanning certain designs on H&M apparel will also unlock BirdCodes, and that’s just the start. Rovio is working with over 100 partners worldwide to promote both the Angry Birds Action! and the movie. Other retailers participating in the augmented reality scavenger hunt include Walmart and Toys ‘R’ Us, along with retailers one wouldn’t necessarily associate with a children’s movie promotion, such as the Novotel European hotel chain, Home Depot, HSBC and Telefonica.

Having Fun With Ziploc

Ziploc might seem like an unlikely partner for an The Angry Birds Movie promotion, but it makes sense when you realize that kids need to put their lunches somewhere. It might as well be in an Angry Birds limited edition Ziploc sandwich bag. Purchasing any two Ziploc products until June 3 will earn you $5 off a ticket to see The Angry Birds Movie.

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The company takes the fun even further with instructions on how to throw an Angry Birds-themed kids’ party, including printable cake toppers, (Ziploc) goodie bag toppers, and a “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” game featuring characters from the movie.

Egg Savers

What would be an Angry Birds promotion without including a mobile game from the franchise that started it all? Rovio is hosting a two-week Angry Birds Friends tournament, featuring 12 all-new levels inspired by the movie. The game is available to download for free for both iOS and Android, so you can see how many eggs you can save before heading out to see how Red and his friends overcome the Piggies.

Crunchyroll Explains Their Strategic Partnership With Loot Crate

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Crunchyroll is an American website and community for Asian media, specializing in anime and manga. Founded nine years ago, this one-stop-shop for big-eyed characters and dramatic fight scenes delivers content to over 20 million users worldwide.

Anime is full of powerful dream teams, so Crunchyroll recently joined forces with Loot Crate to further their brand outreach. The result is a revamped version of Loot Crate’s Loot Anime subscription, filled with specially themed merchandise and Crunchyroll’s signature orange and black coloring on the box. May’s theme, for example, is “Unity,” and celebrates anime franchises with powerful teams like Dragon Ball Z, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and The Boy and the Beast.

The new Anime Crate features Crunchyroll items and branding. Source: Lootcrate
The new Loot Anime box is filled with Crunchyroll-chosen items and branding. (Source: Loot Crate)

[a]listdaily spoke with Dallas Middaugh, head of brand and community at Crunchyroll, who explains the power of their new partnership with Loot Crate.

In a February interview with IGN, you mentioned “exclusive benefits.” Are you able to elaborate on what that entails?

There are basically two benefits to subscribers with this partnership. The first is the $5 discount on the Loot Anime box for Crunchyroll members. But if you’re already a Loot Anime subscriber and not yet a Crunchyroll member, and given that a Crunchyroll subscription costs $6.95, it means that you essentially can become a Crunchyroll member for $2. The second benefit is that we’re helping Loot Anime to curate and stock the boxes, and we have connections to literally every anime producer in Japan. We can help the Loot Anime team anticipate what’s going to be the next big thing, and also help them get new stuff from the hottest current and past anime.

Is there a particular anime or manga series that you are especially excited to promote through this Loot Anime partnership?

Not fair! It’s like you’re asking us to pick our favorite child. Just looking at this season, we have so many great titles. Twin Star Exorcists is currently our most-watched anime, and it’s just getting started. Re: ZERO is a fantastic, fun twist on the ‘normal guy gets dropped into a video game world’ genre. This summer, we have the classic Berserk which has a new anime series starting in July. Look, we release 40-to-60 anime series every quarter! We’d love to see all of them in the box at some point, but that would have to be a pretty big box!

How do you hope the Loot Anime crate will expand Crunchyroll’s brand outreach?

It helps us in two ways. First, it’s a great perk for being a Crunchyroll subscriber. If you weren’t already interested in Loot Anime, now you can get it for a discount. Or if you were already subscribing to Loot Anime, the discount means you’re getting your Crunchyroll subscription for $2. Second, Crunchyroll consistently carries the majority of anime that releases every season. Not just the top titles, but also the lesser known (but much loved) lower tier anime that wouldn’t get an official release outside of Japan without Crunchyroll. We can now help get official merchandise for so many shows into the hands of fans—merchandise that might not have been released if it weren’t for this partnership.

In your opinion, what makes anime increasingly popular worldwide as an entertainment and pop culture art form?

Anime has been a fundamental part of Japanese culture for several decades, and it’s been an increasing part of worldwide culture over the past 25-plus years. You can make several arguments as to why, ranging from the coolness factor to the accessibility of the art. But in the end I believe it comes down to compelling stories and characters. Good stories and good animation is universal, and a lot of anime is very entertaining.

The Loot Anime box is new, but have you noticed an increase in premium memberships as a result of the partnership yet?

As mentioned, the reception by fans to the benefit has been great thus far, and the benefit is very compelling. While it’s early to determine the impact—the discount went live less than two weeks ago—we do anticipate a significant uptick in subscription for both Crunchyroll and Loot Anime.

What is the most important message you want to convey to those who are curious about anime or manga but don’t know where to start?

Come to Crunchyroll and poke around—we offer both anime and manga in abundance. A lot of the new fans of anime came in by watching Attack on Titan, so that’s a great place to start as we offer both the complete first season of the anime, and the latest chapters of the manga from which it was created.