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Chaloner Associates |
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Creative & Imaginative PR |
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Case Study: Velvet Assassin
Release: OUT NOW Xbox 360 £39.99, PC £29.99 SouthPeak Games: www.southpeakgames.eu PEGI: 15+
Introduction
Velvet Assassin is a stylized and surreal third person, stealth action title that aims to reinvent the World War II gaming genre. Velvet Assassin takes you into the shadows of Nazi-controlled Europe to face the horrors of war by combining incredible stealth action game play with a dark, haunting story for an altogether unique experience.
Target Audience Primary: · Males 18 – 34 Hardcore gamers with an affinity for World War II and/or stealth action titles Secondary: · Male 18-34 360 and PC owners looking for a more mature, atmospheric, gaming experience. The Brief With the sensitive nature surrounding the real-life experiences of Violette Szabo some of the press have picked up on the link between her and the VA character Violette Summer. We have, wherever possible played down and controlled the comparisons. Due to the targeted audience we decided to concentrate on the “lads mags” and also the national press who we felt would have an interest in the main character (Violette Summer) as well as the action and violent elements of the game. In addition to the above we also targeted traditional PC magazines (for the PC SKU) as opposed to the pure gaming press who again would perhaps review more favourably and be less critical of the title.
Results Competitions We targeted a selection of “Lads Mags” and National Newspapers, in total reaching a potential 5,061,846 consumers.
The image above is of the competition which ran in the News of the World on Sunday 3rd May. This achieved around one fifth of a page coverage. The News of the World is a national tabloid with a readership of 3,031,025 every Sunday. In addition to the above competitions we also investigated the options surrounding a “star” prize to run in one of the daily nationals such as The Sun or the Daily Mirror. The prize was to be a trip to the US to visit the International Spy Museum based in Washington DC, USA. We were given a budget of approx £2k but in the end the client decided against this competition. Reviews Again we targeted lads’ magazines and newspapers and aimed to keep the title away from the specialist press who were considered potentially critical of the title.
Quotes from reviews Nuts - 4/5 (Game of the week), “Great new stealthy action game…………” MSXBOX WORLD – 7.5/10, “If you’re a fan of stealth, then Velvet Assassin is well worth a look. Bit-tech.net – 8/10, “Velvet Assassin is full of lovely touches…..”
The image above is the review from Nuts magazine where it was featured as “Game of the Week”. Nuts is a weekly magazine with a readership of 234,034. To further promote this title we have agreed coverage with a number of both print and web based media; these include: · News of the World · The Observer · The Guardian · Timeout Magazine · The Sun · Front · Tiscali.co.uk · Orange.co.uk Along with an extensive list of reviewers from specialist gaming press, lifestyle, national newspapers and men’s magazines. |
