Video game maker Ubisoft has released a promotional game and launched a campaign to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The integrated effort, which was created by interactive agency Pereira & O’Dell, includes direct mail, display ads, TV, print and online video. Launched September 22, all of the creative is focused on the game’s features. The initiative will run through November.
Unique among Ninja Turtles games, it lets players fight a character against any other, rather just the Ninja Turtles versus the bad guys.
“The idea is to change how gamers traditionally think about Turtles game,” said Michael Micholic, brand manager of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “This is a different style of gaming than what we have done in the past, and we wanted to educate fans about this new style.”
The campaign targets existing Ninja Turtles fans, though the brand is also open to acquiring new ones. To retain existing fans, Ubisoft has distributed poster sets to fans and gamers. Each poster in the set features a Ninja Turtle, with the letter “V” on the left side and “S” on the right to form the word “vs.” It is meant to convey that fans can pit the Ninja Turtle characters against each other.
“They are interactive in the way that you can play with them in different ways,” said PJ Pereira, chief creative officer of Pereira & O’Dell. “You decide the order and the combination, like the game. It is as close as you can get to the game without actually playing the game.”
The campaign also includes online videos of the various scenarios that the game presents.
“We find video to be the most effective channel to sell video games,” added Micholic. “It’s a video game; you can’t put it on radio.”
