Cannes Lions

The Taiwanese World of Warcraft

DENTSU CREATIVE TAIWAN, Taipei City / WORLD OF WARCRAFT / 2023

Film
Supporting Content
Supporting Images

Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Background

World of Warcraft, a cultural phenomenon that once saw more than half of the population playing. Fourteen years after its original release, World of Warcraft invited players to return to the frozen lands of Northrend to reexperience a beloved expansion with Wrath of the Lich King Classic. How to once again rise to the leading brand with this rerelease, and find a way to reinvigorate interest in the brand with Taiwanese players?

Idea

Blending a 400-year-old cultural tradition with modern day gaming

Partnering with Pili, the most iconic puppet Show, World of Warcraft characters and scenes were created using Taiwan’s famous puppet show craftsmanship.

PILI is the most representative puppetry troupe with over a million fans and 400 online forums.

Many had grow up watching PILI and continues to be popular among young people today. Like World of Warcraft, it has heroes, strategy, and epic storylines.

Strategy

Native awareness has increased in the past few years, with 「Taiwan Culture」 being a shared value across various generations. The people of Taiwan highly regard their culture.

Dating back to the 17th century in the Chinese world, the Puppet Show is a classic Taiwanese performance art exemplifying visual storytelling that speaks to Taiwan’s customs and traditions through the ages.

Unifying Taiwanese and World of Warcraft cultures, we created a uniquely authentic experience.

Execution

Dating back to the 17th century in the Chinese world, the Puppet Show is a classic Taiwanese performance art exemplifying visual storytelling that speaks to Taiwan’s customs and traditions through the ages.

Blending a 400-year-old cultural tradition with modern day gaming

Partnering with Pili, the most iconic puppet show, World of Warcraft characters and scenes were created using Taiwan’s famous puppet show craftsmanship.

Wrath of the Lich King, a hugely popular story for Warcraft players, was recreated in puppet theater and rewritten with local Taiwanese dialogue.

Taiwanese fans overwhelmingly enjoyed the production seeing the puppeteers’ performance and western characters speaking in authentic Taiwanese accents.

Outcome

Taiwanese fans went crazy seeing the puppeteers’ performance and western characters speaking in authentic Taiwanese accents.

After the campaign launch :

1. Within 24-hours the film was a Trending Video on YouTube

2.Blizzard Entertainment’s HQ shared the collaboration with its 1.6 millions of fans

3.Taiwan monthly new user acquisition has increased by 9 times

4.Taiwan new subscribers has increased more than 100%

Similar Campaigns

1 items

Share Your Dragon

72ANDSUNNY, Los angeles

Share Your Dragon

2023, WORLD OF WARCRAFT

(opens in a new tab)