HOW WE BUILT THE BATTLE ROYALE OF CONTENT
Marketing Campaign
WHO SAID PLAYERS WERE THE ONLY ONES WHO NEED A SURVIVAL GUIDE?
The golden age of battle royale isn't just a gameplay trend. It's a competitive one. Facing mobile, PC, and console combatants, PUBG Mobile turned to Armed Mind to help recruit players into the game and ensure they felt at home from their first drop onward.
Akin to the fateful “circle” in-game, when our partners at PUBG Mobile looked out, they could see challenges closing in:
- 1) Continue to differentiate in a market increasingly saturated with battle royale titles
- 2) Go beyond media to drive interest and installs through earned PR reach generated by best-in-class content
- 3) Help onboard new players to maximize them as long-term fans and brand ambassadors
- 4) Help drive chatter and buzz, while forging a sense of community between vets and newbs alike
Equal parts educational and sharable, we set out to create content that would not only drive chatter and buzz, but help demystify the battle royale combat of PUBG Mobile in ways that could help improve the techniques and playstyles of new and existing fans alike.
The only problem? Now, we’d have to avoid them on the battlefield.
Client Tencent Games
Project PUBG Mobile Global Content Campaign
What We Did
- Campaign Strategy and Audience Segmentation
- Campaign Ideation
- Social Campaign
- Original Digital Content
- Video Trailers and Content
- PR Amplification and Pitching
- Interactive IG Story Experience
PUBG MOBILE SURVIVAL GUIDES
Through 5 video "Survival Guides," we gave fans dozens of tips on how to excel on the PUBG Mobile battlefield, regardless of whether on their first drop or five-hundredth. Each video layered custom graphics over gameplay to create stylized instructional videos that immersed fans in everything from "PUBG Mobile Driver's Ed" to how to survive...well...naked.
BONUS SURVIVAL CONTENT
Each video "Survival Guide" was created in horizontal and vertical orientations to take advantage of different viewing habits on social. The videos were also accompanied by bonus lesson GIFs and annotated "coaching" screenshots, as well as a feature article that dove into depth on how to survive – and win – in-game.
EDITORIAL AMPLIFICATION
Everyone wants an edge in PUBG Mobile, and our "Survival Guides" were such a hit that we partnered with IGN to release each content beat with them as a first-look exclusive, providing massive organic reach for the brand, and a fresh bevy of tips for IGN's battle-ready readership.
INSTAGRAM PUBG MOBILE PERSONALITY QUIZ
It takes a special kind of someone to willfully airdrop into a free-for-all battle in nothing but their skivvies, but just what kind of someone? To answer, we created the first-ever interactive choose-your-own-adventure Instagram Story "personality quiz" where players could tap through video questions to discover where they stood on spectrums of tactical vs. reckless... and in some cases, logical vs. psychopath.
HELPING PLAYERS IRL
Nothing spells in-game doom quite like real-world distractions. Equal parts "public service announcement" and guerilla stunt, we created a two-part campaign to help players prep their mobile devices and real-world environments for battle.
While our call-to-arms video revealed tips for avoiding distractions on phones, our printable signage delivered hangable posters and door-knob hangers to players in need of a little PUBG Mobile privacy.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS
Surviving a battle royale skirmish is all about split-second decision making. We turned this mechanism into bite-sized "rapid-fire" content beats, where fans would be faced with a question of what to do, and then within the same video, see each outcome's fate. The videos were released with GameSpot as an exclusive, after which they released natively on social.
THE CAMPAIGN LOOT BOX
In just 10 content beats, our campaign generated massive awareness and earned sustained buzz by building a content stream “for mobile players by mobile players,” ultimately generating new player interest, attracting lapsed players, and strenghtening PUBG Mobile’s community.
Results
- 187.5MM+ EARNED MEDIA IMPRESSIONS ACROSS ALL 4 PHASES OF CAMPAIGN
- 1.8MM+ VIDEO VIEWS AND 291K ENGAGEMENTS GENERATED ON PUBG-MOBILE SOCIAL CHANNELS ALONE
- 1.3MM VIEWS AND 200K+ ENGAGEMENTS ON 5-PART "SURVIVAL GUIDE" VIDEO SERIES
- 500K VIEWS AND 95K ENGAGEMENTS ON 3-PART "DECISION TREE" VIDEO SERIES
- EXCLUSIVE EDITORIAL PARTNERSHIPS WITH IGN AND GAMESPOT DEDICATED HUB, HOMEPAGE AND SOCIAL PLACEMENTS
