Launch date:

September 13, 2014

Objective & Challenges:

The objective was quite simple and direct: raise awareness and generate trial of Mattel’s suite of games. The challenge was two-fold. The first was reach - how can TrojanOne make an impact with a national audience on a very limited budget? The second – how can they create appeal for good ol’ card and board games when video games and online gaming is experiencing explosive growth?

Insight:

Instead of viewing the challenge as a negative, TrojanOne saw it as an opportunity to remind people of something that the virtual world doesn’t deliver…a live, physical experience that would celebrate the spontaneous fun and pure sociability that Mattel Games create. And because they knew this activation would capture people’s imagination and attention, they documented it to share with a broader audience.

Execution:

Drawing their inspiration from the existing creative platform for Mattel Games “Anytime is Game Time,” they set out to bring this to life in a fresh and compelling way. Since one of the best-known titles in the Mattel portfolio is Pictionary (and because it’s interactive by nature), TrojanOne created an immersive experience to engage shoppers at Sherway Gardens mall when they least expected it. The agency manufactured their very own poster that mimicked every other one in the mall and placed it in a high-traffic area.

On one side, a mall map. On the other, what appeared to be an ordinary ad for Pictionary. What people didn’t know was that it was actually an 80” HD monitor that was projecting a live wireless video feed from a camera that was upstairs in the mall’s office. So what looked like a photograph of a “model” holding a Pictionary game was, in fact, an actor frozen in a pose. When shoppers stopped to look at the poster, the actor, who could see the audience via an embedded camera, came to life and invited them to play Pictionary. When people guessed what he was drawing correctly, they were rewarded with prizes and surprising experiences – from a suite of Mattel games to 6’ tall teddy bears and massive birthday presents; even a 25-piece marching band that appeared out of nowhere.

The daylong activation was filmed and documented by 7 cameras. A video was then released on YouTube supported by a media buy and additional social amplification from existing Mattel Games bloggers.

Results:

TrojanOne was asked to create awareness for Mattel games and they did. Here are a few of the validated statistics:

• over 1 million YouTube views in less than one month
• 7.3 million combined social impressions (Facebook & Twitter)
• over 5 million media impressions
• total Canadian broadcast impressions: 3,123,635
• video watched in 141 countries