Supercell
Dead or Alive
Credits:
Client: Supercell
Project: Brawl Stars Global Launch
Creative Lead: Ian Gambier
Creative Director: Louis Clement
Strategy Director: Christian Perrins
Account Director: Harry Fairfax-Jones
Awards:
Clio Awards: Multi-Platform Games
Drum Content Awards: Chair’s Award
Drum Content Awards: Best Interactive Entertainment Campaign
Drum Content Awards: Best Integrated Cross-Channel Cross Media
BIMA: Media, Entertainment & the Arts over 70K – Winner
Insight
Die hard fans were desperate for launch.
For the global launch of Brawl Stars, we devised a deceptively simple strategy that fused Supercell’s reputation for bumping off games with the Beta players’ fervent desire for it to go global.
Idea
Toy with their emotions.
With a single, mysterious image we convinced Beta players that their new favourite game was about to be killed. Community speculation went into overdrive, prompting millions of organic impressions, memes, conspiracy theories, online petitions and a trending hashtag: #dontkillbrawlstars.
After days of speculation, all was revealed with an eSports tournament streamed live on YouTube, featuring the biggest names in mobile games.
Impact
Obliterating our targets.
Supercell’s target was 2 million sign ups in the first 4 weeks. We got 5 million in 8 hours.
Brawl Stars soon became the #1 iPhone app in 32 countries, and earned over $17 million in its first week.
“Brawl Stars generates over $17 million in first week.”
— Game World Observer
“How Waste Creative and Supercell took Brawl Stars global overnight.”
— The Drum