By Chris Ong
Yearly, June
marks an important month for me, it's not just only the month that I was born in,
but also the month where gaming’s most important expo would be held. Since
1995, the Electronic and Entertainment Expo (E3) would gather thousands of professional
in this industry for major announcement and the giants will share their vision
and plans for the year. Same for this year, some 48,000 people from 102
different countries attended the event held from 11th to 13th
of June.
If you
still think that gaming are for kids, then tell that to giants like Sony,
Microsoft, Nintendo and Electronic Arts who are pumping crazy amount of money
into this business.
Think twice
if you think that gaming would not need any advertising. What can be better
than seeing your favourite video game character which you see only on your digital
screen, appearing on a big billboard, poising to strike. This not only sets my
blood rushing but also brings me to another level of excitement and
anticipation for the game. Evidence? We are already seeing more outdoor and
indoor banners at this year’s expo.
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| Banners within the Expo Area, Beautiful aren't they? |
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| Batman and Assassin's Creed, what more can I ask for! |
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| All geared for next generation! |
The
highlight for this year’s event was the revelation of the next generation
console from both Sony and Microsoft. All eyes are on Sony since they announced
the new Playstation 4 console since February this year. Here’s the catch, they
announced it without showing the world how does the physical console looks
like, therefore, people from the industry and also the public wants to catch a glimpse
of this beast in E3 this year.
Sony sure
knows how to tease the people, just one day before the great event, a campaign
was launched on the digital screens along the streets of London, Birmingham,
Manchester and Leeds during the rush hours. With the display only showing the
message “See You In The Morning”.
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| Along the busy streets |
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| See you In the Morning! |
This teaser
campaign helps to build anticipation and excitement for the event and the great
revelation form Sony. Next morning, just a few hours after (Time zone
difference) their official launch in Los Angeles, these screen immediately
changed the message and along with the world, revealed the look of the new
Playstation 4.
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| Revelation of the console along with the whole world! |
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| We really saw them the next morning |
This would be the very first reveal of the
design and look of Sony’s black box console that goes on sale later this year.
What I really love about this campaign is the simultaneous launch and
announcement of the highly anticipated home entertainment system which captures
and teased the thousands of traffics users along the streets since the previous
day. As mentioned by the Associate Director of the site owners, Ocean Outdoor,
“This is a genius use of premium digital outdoor to head one of the most
anticipated launches in the home entertainment sector of the year”
Back in Singapore, our own team have helped
Electronic Arts (EA) with their launch of the yearly and highly anticipated
sports title, NBA2K12 back in 2011. Situated strategically on the LED screen in
the only mall that has more sports equipment than the whole of Orchard 313,
this display that was at Queensway Shopping Centre not only targets on the
massive amount of sports enthusiast daily, but also the heavy traffic at every
hour.
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| Keep the "Game" moving |
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| Capturing the crowd that is waiting for the traffic |
Combine with a Die-cut display of the
game’s logo, it manage to generate more buzz and attention to passer-by. With a
mall totally dedicated for electronic device, Sim Lim Square would also be the
top location that these companies can advertise in to reach out to their mass
consumers. Gaming culture might not be that big in Singapore, but recently,
I’ve seen more and more games doing their advertising outdoor to reach out to
more people. I, for one, strongly feel that this trend will grow and believe
that gaming companies will make use of this media to further create their awareness
globally.
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