It's a big year for gamers, with new consoles from Xbox and PlayStation hitting right before the holiday.
And while fans have mostly just had to decide which part of this new generation deserves their investment, the brands behind the launches have had an uphill battle like no other—even by the standards of the perennially precarious world of video game hardware.
There were issues Microsoft and Sony certainly saw coming, such as the collapse of brick-and-mortar retail (GameStop is closing 450 locations this year after shuttering a net 320 stores last year). And the gaming universe has changed dramatically in recent years too, with "games as a service" becoming the norm and titles often blurring across platforms, making exclusivity a tough dragon to chase.
But of course there was one confluence of problems no one saw coming: the Covid-19 pandemic. The global disaster disrupted every supply chain and production process you can imagine, with marketing certainly being one major industry to take a hit.
In my colleague Sara Spary's writeup on Adweek today about Xbox's epic console launch ad from longtime agency 215 McCann, we learn some fascinating details about how the ad actually got made during the bafflingly uncertain summer months:
A few excerpts:
"From the beginning, Microsoft was clear about the No. 1 priority being the safety and health of all involved in the production,” said Mandi Holdorf, director of integrated production for 215 McCann. “We were in pre-production when the severity of Covid-19 was realized, and we quickly pivoted to capturing the spot in two parts to accommodate the pandemic restrictions without compromising vision.”
“During the first shoot, we captured talent’s facial data with a small two-person crew and a remote rig in L.A. in June,” Holdorf said. “A nimble approach allowed us to avoid any interaction between talent and crew. We held off on the second shoot until we were able to capture the live-action opening on a sound stage in Los Angeles at the end of July, once restrictions had been lifted. We worked within restrictions by having only essential crew on set and everyone else attended the shoot remotely, including the director, DP, client and agency.”
“The largest Covid-related hurdle we faced was with managing the CG workflow between both Los Angeles and London,” Holdorf said. “We found ourselves on daily hour-long Teams calls with our creative team and the ‘small’ group of 30 VFX artists all working remotely from their respective homes. Covid-19 absolutely changed the game in how we managed our production workflow but it didn’t affect the creative or our end result.”
Learn even more about the spot (and, of course, give it a watch) over on Adweek.com.
Have you made a choice on whether you'll go with a new Xbox or PlayStation 5? I'm still on the fence, so drop me a note with your take at the email below or at @Griner on Twitter.
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
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