How Our Humble, Helpful Hero Blew Up

HOW DO YOU ACTIVATE A SELF-AWARE CHARACTER?
START WITH A SELF-AWARE CAMPAIGN.

Every morning, Guy eats the same bowl of cereal, puts on the same blue shirt, and goes to the same dead-end job. Occasionally, he might get blown up or mugged, but as something called an NPC, he always gets to start over.

In gamer parlance, an NPC is a "non-playable character" — a forgettable after-thought who serves as fodder for the main action. By wanting to escape his NPC destiny, Guy's a lot like the millions of fans who want to escape their daily grind, too.

And that became the mission: to help Guy break out of his rut, we had to forge a breakthrough campaign of our own.

That meant tactics that would explode off newsfeeds like one of Free City’s errant rocket launchers, but also drive interest in Guy as a hero, and Free Guy as a new IP:

• 1) Drive AAA buzz through unexpected partnerships that plug Guy into the real-world
• 2) Leverage gaming tropes and humor to bridge Free City and real-world
• 3) Connect with lapsed “Dad gamers” and Gen Z through curated content beats
• 4) Embrace the “Make it a Great Day” positivity, forging it into a call-to-action
• 5) Celebrate Guy’s can-do attitude, guts, and journey in authentic ways
• 6) Imbue Guy’s role in film as a pop-culture icon into IRL beats that do the same

Grab your blue shirt and khakis—here’s how we helped level-up one of Hollywood’s biggest new IP launches in years.