In the United States and in many parts of the world, there is a school of thought that would consider product placement and sponsorship to be as far as one needs to push Branded Entertainment. Gran Turismo is the legendary car racing simulation game created by artist, designer, and race car driver, Kazunori Yamauchi, and is Sony’s best selling PlayStation game with over 70 million units sold. The gaming category is held to the same audience ratings standards as the film and television industries. While we are subject to the standard broadcast regulations, the biggest challenge, especially for a worldwide campaign remains getting people’s attention in a landscape that is full of media options.

Audiences were drawn to teaser trailers for “KAZ” via the Gran Turismo, PlayStation, and Sony websites. Fans were also reminded of the “KAZ” premiere via publicity, blogs, forums, social media, digital and online media. “KAZ” premiered exclusively on HULU for 3 weeks and was the #1 documentary. Following, it was released worldwide on YOUTUBE, VIMEO, CRACKLE and on Sony VOD channels leveraging the Sony distribution network. The soundtrack was released on iTunes. The “Vision GT” announcement followed in NYC at the Jalopnik Film Festival.“Ayrton’s Wish” was released with website, online and digital support and was included free within the game.

Gran Turismo 6 set a new standard for an Integrated Campaign led by the Branded Content Platform. The campaign was received with overwhelming response by media and fans alike and garnered over 20 million impressions, 2 million plus views for more than 2 hours of Branded Entertainment.

Gran Turismo 6 launched in Japan and after 2 days of sales, it had double the number of physical game sales over the second place game, and doubled the sales of the PS3 console. The game was a bestseller in France, Germany, Norway, Finland and New Zealand, number 2 in Australia and Italy and has remained to this day in the top 10 game sales in both Europe and North America.

The film “KAZ: Pushing the Virtual Divide” went on to win Best Game Show Marketing in 2014 and Branded Content GOLD at the London International Advertising Awards.