Halo Wars Marketing Campaign

Microsoft put our team to the task of creating a new marketing campaign for the launch of Halo Wars in both the States and Japan. (Irvin, Dan, Elisha, and me)

First we decided on putting together a set of commercials that would span an over arching story in anime form. This part of the campaign would be launched in both the U.S. and in Japan. Gamers from the states are already used to Halo so even if ads are in a format they aren't used to it shouldn't have a negative impact on sales, but the Japanese are not that familar with Halo yet so having the ad be in a format they enjoy and are used to seeing would help push the franchise into the minds of Japanese gamers.

Next we needed some campaign elements that would only fly in Japan. In Japan character goods are all around and are attached to many different things. We thought of chibi Halo key straps, plush artillery weapons for ufo catchers(claw machines), and giving out items capped onto coffee cans to reach out to a slightly older crowd.

The coffee cans was one of our key components of the domestic campaign. Tommy Lee Jones is a key advertiser for BOSS coffee in Japan, so to add a comical aspect to our strategy we would have Master Chief Vs. Tommy Lee Jones labeled on certain BOSS coffee cans. Inside there would be either Master Chief phone straps or Master Chief figurines.

Note: Money was not an issue.

Needless to say this promising marketing campaign won over the other three teams and our team walked away with the grand prize. Including a game t-shirt that wasn't size XL!
I hope they really do take our marketing campaign idea for the launch of Halo Wars next year.