Barton F. Graf 9000 just rolled out a new campaign for the Supercell game Clash of Clans that's got an interesting mix of elements—namely, an unexpected celebrity pairing plus a new focus on real, epic moments from actual Clash of Clans games users have played.
The "True Tales of Clash Achievery" campaign launched today with a spot called "The Legend of the Last Lava Pup." It's narrated, amusingly enough, by Christoph Waltz as a kind of bedtime story to James Corden, who appears to be Waltz's son in this scenario.
In the suspenseful tale of a epic game that one user played, a Lava Pup, the lone survivor of the army, saves an entire clan seconds before the clock runs out. The footage switches from Waltz and Corden in a bedroom to battlefield scenes animated by Psyop. Then, at the very end, gameplay footage shows the preceding story as it happened in the game.
Combining three different perspectives—live action plus cinematic animation plus gameplay animation—is a novel storytelling method for video games. And it's a really nice way of using humor, spectacle and real gamer stories to keep viewers engaged.
The film went live on YouTube today. TV and social elements launch Dec. 25, as does a microsite where players can submit their own moments of achievery and view the stories being featured. Out-of-home ads launch Dec. 28 in New York, London and San Francisco.
Barton F. Graf, which used Liam Neeson in a Super Bowl ad for Clash of Clans back in February, has been mining Clash community pages, forums and even Reddit to find real stories for the campaign, emphasizing the idea that every Clasher has a story.
CREDITS
Title: "The Legend of the Last Lava Pup"
Client: Supercell
Brand: Clash of Clans
Agency: Barton F. Graf 9000
Founder/Chief Creative Officer: Gerry Graf
CEO: Barney Robinson
Chief Strategy Officer: Laura Janness
Executive Creative Director: Scott Vitrone
Art Director: Michael Hagos
Copywriter: Sam Dolphin
Producer: Erica Kahr
Head of Integrated Production: Josh Morse
Account Director: Kate Faux
Account Supervisor: Mike Andreozzi
Director of Business Affairs: Jennifer Pannent
Senior Strategy Director: Sean Staley
Junior Brand Strategist: Kirk Luo
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Director: Tim Godsall
Executive Producer: Eric Stern
Line Producer: James Graves
3D/Animation Production Company: Psyop
Director: Fletcher Moules
Animation Lead: Jean-Dominique Fievet
CG Lead: Stephen DeLalla
Executive Producer: Amanda Miller
Producer: Lucy Clark
Editorial: MackCut
Editor: Gavin Cutler
Asst. Editor: Pamela Petruski
Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
Music Production : Butter Music & Sound
Music CCO: Andrew Sherman
Music EP: Ian Jeffreys
Music Producer: Ryan Faucett
Mix: Lime Studios/Loren Silber