The Requirement

Codemasters tasked Heaven Media to produce a full integrated campaign which engaged not only existing fans of the Operation Flashpoint series, but also broadened the appeal to a wider demographic creating new business wins on the IP.

The project was set to run for 4 weeks leading up to the release of the game and for 4 weeks following to maintain exposure and offer the best possible content to those enjoying the game.

The Solution

Heaven Media proposed a comprehensive pre awareness campaign as well as launch and post launch activity to keep consumers engaged in the title during optimum acquisition time frames.

We began with a brand new, internally developed mini site completely dedicated to the game. The site included in depth features about the game, the background, the different modes and blogs from players give the game to test before release. We also ensured that the community had a home and forum at one of our premier esport websites www.tek-9.org.

The site also held all of the videos produced about game play, including player comments and the thoughts of those testing the game. The videos were added gradually over a period of 4 weeks leading up to release in order to maximise traffic and exposure, ultimately being viewed over 250,000 times (including YouTube posted videos).

Video content was also bolstered by the inclusion of a 3 part exclusive interview with the Codemasters developers, shot live on location at their head office and professionally edited and produced internally at Heaven Media including the use of a professional presenter.

To help new players, the site would also develop Guides for all parts of the game, taking players and fans through some of the key areas including weapon use and a superb mission guide.

To help the game on release, Heaven Media also ran a Mapping contest to stimulate user and community generated content as well as providing in depth information on how to develop content for the game

We would also ensure a tournament was run to promote the game and open it up to new and existing fans of the series on our dedicated tournament site EsportsHeaven. This would also have the honor of being the first tournament played in using the game across the globe.

The Coverage

Esports Heaven meanwhile would run a min tournament just as the game released to show the potential it had as a competitive title with full coverage on tek-9.org, Heaven Media’s professional coverage site for games like Operation Flashpoint. The tournament took place between some of the very best professional gamers in the UK including teams from Team Dignitas and Reason Gaming (two of the most prominent multi gaming teams in Europe).

Heaven Media also ensured that the community had a voice with dedicated forums provided on tek-9 for feedback and discussion on the game, allowing players to have an outlet, outside of the producers to air their thoughts and discuss improvements which we would ultimately pass back to the development team helping them understand issues far better and much clearer.

This was all in addition to regular, daily updates placed on the dedicated community site which generated over 100,000 views and over 25,000 people checking it out in the 4 weeks leading up to the release of the game.

In addition we also designed and implemented a full site skin for OFP Dragon Rising on our Game review site, Gaming Heaven.

Social Networking & Media

The impact of social network sites like Facebook and Twitter were also fully utilised by Heaven Media and Codemasters during the lead up to the release.

YouTube was also fully utilised for the display of exclusive game play videos as well as the developer interview Heaven Media recorded. The videos reached over 250,000 views on YouTube in just a few short days, with one specific video reaching 130,000 views alone.

Heaven Media believe it is essential to get your message out there to as wider audience as possible, which is why they fully utilise social networking and media sites like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Branding

Branding for the game was exceptionally important as Codemasters wanted to make sure the logo was recognised en mass when the game hit its release date. Heaven Media ensured that banners were displayed all across the group of sites, including both esports and hardware sites, reaching an estimated 2 million visitors during the 8 week period of the project. The game itself was exposed to 9 websites generating 44million pageviews during the same period of time.

Heaven Media also ensured that the logo was prominently displayed on all news posts within the group linking to features and videos, included in the videos, adopted for the community site in full and displayed during the tournament on Esports Heaven.

The logo also reached other websites such as Team Dignitas, Reason Gaming, Games Radar and N4G thanks to clever marketing of the world’s first ever tournament hosted and run by Heaven Media.

Statistics & Achievements

• 17 hours of game footage recorded, edited and produced.
• 9 internal Heaven Media sites utilised for banner adverts.
• Complete Site skin developed on Gaming Heaven generating 1.2million impressions during a 2 week campaign.
• 9 internal Heaven Media sites used to promote via news posts.
• 250,000+ views on YouTube for videos produced by Heaven Media.
• Exposure to more than 2 million individuals during the 8 week project.
• Hosted the worlds first ever OFP DR tournament using two of the UK’s most prominent teams.
• Widespread reporting of both tournament and videos on sites like Games Radar and N4G.
• Dedicated community site produced with a mass of content.
• More viewers than an average League 2 football match on the live video cast.
• Huge brand exposure to the right target audience.
• Over 30 different sites carried Heaven Media generated videos and content.
• 24 brand new, never seen before maps, developed as a direct result of Heaven Media competitions.

Reporting

In addition to all of these services, Heaven Media also provides every customer with a full report on the solution they offer; including an ROI report detailing everything you could possibly need, to assess the impact of the campaign and Codemasters were no different.