I've just been having a look at some new work from Weiden + Kennedy Amsterdam, on behalf of the Burnout series of games by EA. The campaign is built around a fake Eastern philosophy called Kah Ra Shin, which promotes "Inner peace through outer violence".
First of all, I like the insight: Anyone who's played video games, particularly ones that involve smashing stuff to bits, knows their stress-busting qualities. And I imagine the Eastern philosophy treatment works well for the Kill Bill generation too. What's more, there's no arguing the site isn't beautifully crafted.
But that's not why I chose to write about it. The thing that interests me is the level of brand presence. The banner ads have none, there's a subtle logo on the website, and some of the content on the site and the YouTube channel of the movement's elders plugs the game.
Now, it's clear that over-branding Kah Ra Shin would've ruined my enjoyment of the piece (and I have no doubt W+K's creatives repeated this like one of their mantras). But, if it wasn't for a bit of perseverance on my part, there's a chance I would have missed the Burnout connection (where the game is mentioned in the content is done nicely, it's just not very up-front). And it's not as if the campaign relies on the intrigue of me not knowing where this mysterious organisation came from: its obviously a joke, and obviously done by a brand. And it's done so well that I reckon Burnout should take more of the credit. But is that just because I like EA?
I guess the trouble is there can't be any hard and fast rules about how prominent branding should be in pieces like this, because it's dependent on the context of the creative idea, the brand's reputation, and who's interacting at the time. (Royal Mail's stoplateness.com is another example that I liked, but was unsure about how branded/unbranded it should've been.)
So all I can say is, for me, EA got pretty close to getting it right for Burnout. What do you think? And have you seen any examples that raise the same issue?
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2 comments:
Interesting from a non-advertising perspective too much branding really does turn me off an advert whereas a more subtle but fun approach tends to make me enjoy it more- but then I might not be the target audience for everything and its probably that that determines it- I wonder if there is research into various demographics and say branding- do young kids for example seize on brand names or colours in a way that adults don't.
Did you look at the Kah-Ra-Shin site Gracchi?
Would be interested to know what you thought of the level of branding on that particular piece...
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