Gamers have, since the beginning of PC gaming, been competing to see who could set up the craziest, most expensive or beautiful rig. When Ubisoft asked us to help launch Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, we decided to once and for all, win that competition.
BACKGROUND
In November 2020 Ubisoft was planning to launch the newest title in the world-famous Assassin’s Creed game series; Valhalla. The games location is in Norway, and Ubisoft asked us to produce an idea to launch this in true Viking style.
Traditional game launches, believe it or not, is usually done in real life. The challenge this time was how do we help launch a game completely digitally, on a very tight budget.
GOAL
To create attention and engagement among the fans of the series and potential new fans with social media as the main channel.
CONCEPT
To create the world’s most beautiful gaming experience, in the world’s most beautiful place, Norwegian nature. And you can not create a great gaming experience without RGB-lighting (this is an established fact in the gaming environment).
What would be the world’s most beautiful RGB-lighting you ask? The Northern lights of course.
We set out to create a fully operational PC setup outside in the frigid and beautiful Lofoten Islands, far to the north of Norway.
IMPLEMENTATION
Together with Kite Communications and Event, we travelled to Northern Norway with a PC setup from MSI worth around 10k EUR. Our goal for the trip was to place this outside in the cold harsh weather, at a location that once held the high seat of one of Norway’s most powerful Vikings.
When we arrived at the location we were absolutely blown away by the natural beauty, and as you can see in the “behind-the-scenes”-video, we were at times, quite literally, blown away.
We came with one goal in mind, to capture the Northern lights shining above, while the game shined below. And boy did we succeed.
After capturing what we believe to be decidedly the world’s most beautiful gaming experience we set out to share this in social media and PR. The entire campaign was 100% without paid reach.
Check out the behind-the-scenes video here:
RESULTS
Total reach: 43 million
Engagement: 200 000+
PR: 8,5 million
In addition, we received a lot of internal praise in Ubisoft worldwide, as well social media posts from huge organizations such as Visit Norway and MSI Global. Best of all: AC Valhalla set a new record as the biggest Assassin’s Creed Launch week ever.
Awards
Sabre Awards 2021
Finalist in the category «Social Media/Social Networking Campaign»In2 Sabre 2021
Winner in the category «Social Media/Social Networking Campaign»Sponsor and Event Awards 2021
Winner in the category «Product Launch of the Year»Digital Communication Awards 2021 Winner
Gold in the category «Social Media Communications»Digital Communication Awards 2021 Winner
Silver in the category «Community Engagement»European Excellence Awards 2021 Shortlist
Finalist in the category "Brand Relationship"European Excellence Awards 2021 Shortlist
Finalist in the category "Social Media"European Excellence Awards 2021 Shortlist
Finalist in the category "Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland"Global SABRE Awards 2021
One of the worlds top 40 campaigns of 2021