By creating an Alexa skill, we were able to reach an established, captive audience right in their very homes. With a single phrase users could access a branded experience that pulled them deeper into the game’s lore and gave users the opportunity to interact with our game’s character in a brand new way. Because there was such a broad range of answers and each interaction felt personal, unique and as though the user was truly having a conversation with our new protagonist.

Assassin’s Creed, one of the most popular gaming franchises, was releasing a new title. Ubisoft set two central objectives for promoting the release. First, since the game would be moving away from having an assassin as the protagonist, we needed to capture the imagination of fans by introducing a new Spartan hero and world. Second, because the game was coming out just 11 months after the last release (and during the most saturated time of year for video game releases), our executions had to be innovative enough to stand out for the casual gamer audience.

To integrate the Spartan spirit into lives of gamers and get them excited about the new Assassin’s Creed title, we decided to tap into their interest in smart speakers. Having learned about the lack of brand innovation with these speakers, experimented with their capabilities, and chuckled over the play on words, we created Alexios, the Spartan Assistant—an Alexa skill with the battle-hardened swagger of a Spartan warrior. The first-ever branded version of Amazon Echo, Alexios helps around the house and in the game, providing gamers with a combination of breadth, utillity, and comedic tone.

Using demographic definition tools, we zeroed in on a target audience that skewed male and over-indexed for working in middle management jobs, commuting, and having young children and/or being recently married. We used secondary research to get depth on our audience’s psyche and learned that they, relative to others, were extremely conflict-averse. Knowing these attributes, we hypothesized that our target needed a cathartic way to alleviate stress. This need presented a major opportunity for the game. After reflecting on the differentiating elements of the gameplay and finding a 7th century creed about what being a Spartan meant, our team had a strategic revelation. Since being a Spartan meant having unwavering courage in the face of conflict and a willingness to explore the unknown, our goal would be to find an innovative media tactic to inject “Spartanness” into our target consumers’ lives before, during, and after the game’s launch.

With the total of 900+ programmed responses, Alexios let users engage with a video game in ways they’d never experienced before. A total of 70 Amazon Echo units were distributed to gaming influencers. The :30 OLV and Alexa skill were launched September 18, 2018, and the game was launched on October 5, 2018. Units were distributed to influencers between September 19 and October 5, 2018. On October 5, version 2.0 was launched with gameplay integration, including up to 500 POIs.

Alexios garnered over 95 million earned media impressions. The introductory video received over 4.1 million views. All materials were posted organically on Ubisoft owned social channels (YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram) and went viral through PR outlets and influencers. The Alexa skill achieved a 5-star rating on Amazon.