THE CHALLENGE
Differentiate Dead Rising 3’s launch amid crowded zombie-game releases and grab attention at scale.
THE INSIGHT
Zombie fandom feeds on chaos, creativity, and humor. Let’s unleash that energy authentically.
THE IDEA
Turn email into a game of trick or treat by creating an interactive experience that infects gamers worldwide.
THE EXECUTION
Humorous, shareable content across digital/social platforms.
Interactive zombie scenarios prompting fans to create content.
THE RESULTS
Massive 96.2% clickthrough rate
Exceeded sales expectations at launch - #1 pre-ordered Xbox One game on Amazon.com.
National ADDY, Echo award, Pulse awards for CRM and Best in Show
MY ROLE
Concept, creative leadership, social strategy, and execution of fan-driven viral content.
For Halloween, we turned email into an actual game of trick-or-treat.
The results were scary good (and we won a lot of awards and broke all kinds of records).
We sent our audience an email featuring a doorbell - and then begged them not to ring it - and then yelled at them for doing so - they were also rewarded with a treat. We immediately sent them another door.
And if these brave trick-or-treaters continued to tempt fate, they might get more treats. Or...
They may find that ringing the bell has earned the attention of the zombie horde. For them, it was game over and their inboxes were spammed with the living dead.
Game over! Your inbox is invaded by (information about the) zombies
More than 57,000 played. Some received treats from Dead Rising 3. Those players kept going at a 96.2% clickthrough rate. THE REST WERE TURNED INTO ZOMBIES.
But all of them were excited about the game—Dead Rising 3 quickly became the #1 pre-ordered Xbox One game on Amazon.com.
Each digital "treat" revealed an aspect of the game
Here's how it worked. While seeming complex, the users journey was actually quite simple.
