GUITAR HERO 4 VIRAL CAMPAIGN

Got to love this. Viral film for Guitar Hero 4 that follows on Heidi Klum's starring performance in promoting a Guitar Hero title.

You know what's bloody brilliant about the two of them?

That this one makes absolutely fuck all sense if you haven't played the game. You just have no idea what is going on. As my wife elegantly put it, you will ask yourself "what is this shit?". If you are a loyal you will probably find it all very jolly and jovial, watchable, genuinely clever and therefore viral it out mercilessly.

Heidi's knockers, on the other hand, are going to appeal to pretty much anyone red-blooded, straight and male. Come to think of it, a fair few lesbians are going to like it too. And quite a lot of gay men. And some women.

So we have an "advertising" campaign that is for the same title but has two creatives that bear no resemblance to each other, deliver totally different messages, share only in common that they are for a similar title and are in the same medium (kind of - actually, they will of course pass through totally different channels because they will appeal to different people).

Do you know what? This feels like a PR approach to viral and online, rather than an advertising approach. The creative is tailored totally to the channel (ie. different types of people - the web is not the channel in this case). You may not be able to tell that the creative is part of an overall campaign for the same product by looking at it, but that simply doesn't matter, both creatives are wholly in tune with the brand.

It's the way forwards for digital communications, if you ask me. An approach that creates compelling content for the people who are going to engage with it and become the channel through which the message is carried through and across communities. Fascinating stuff.

via ITIABTWIC?, which takes a totally different approach to a critique.

Comments

[Will]

I'm a big fan of little easter eggs in advertising/marketing/PR.

It's a very computer gamey concept - the notion of an in joke which rewards those who spend time with the brand or game. Pleased to see it's happening more and more, though i'm unsurprised that it's a computer game that's done it. ;)