To create and capture interest in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the 11th entry in its seminal first-person shooter video game franchise, Activision leveraged search, YouTube and other social networks, and display to drive cultural awareness and encourage everyone to buy the game. As part of this effort, Activision promoted the game with tailored messaging for each target audience and a compelling offer to sample the game via a multimedia experience to engage and move beyond the core demographic of male hardcore gamers and promote awareness with non-Call of Duty gamers. These tactics created excitement about the new game release among existing fans, resulting in the die-hard fans generating buzz and engaging non-Call of Duty gamers to learn more about the game. The campaign effectively activated the target audience, motivating them to watch the video and garnering 10 million views in just 2.5 days.

A cost-effective global ad strategy was devised that engaged Activision’s core audience, spurred viral sharing and drove efficient views at scale with endemic targeting over a 22 week period, leveraging:

• Gamer Influencer Talent

• Social support across Facebook and Twitter

• Promotion across the GameSpot and CBSi network

• YouTube Channel amplification.

The campaign strategy drove impressive results for Activision, quickly surpassing historical view counts with its Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare trailers, garnering one million views in less than 10 hours and four million views in less than 36 hours for its gameplay trailer, while also trending on YouTube. The live action trailer achieved 10 million views in just 2.5 days, shattering YouTube view count benchmarks.

Other results include:

• The world’s biggest entertainment launch of 2014 (by revenue) including music, movies, books, and gaming

• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was the top selling game of 2014

• Captured 88% SOV on brand terms and 80%+ SOV on all keywords targeted

• Facebook campaigns reached 20 million unique users and drove 1.3 million engagements

• Touted by Google as fastest to market in gaming for new trailer launches

• First to market in gaming for Instagram Video advertising