AKIBA STEALTH

TitleAKIBA STEALTH
BrandUBISOFT JAPAN
Product / ServiceASSASSIN'S CREED UNITY
CategoryA05. Branded Live Experience
EntrantDENTSU Tokyo, JAPAN
Entrant Company DENTSU Tokyo, JAPAN
Contributing Company DENTSU Tokyo, JAPAN
Production Company HAT Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Jyunya Tanimoto DENTSU INC. Creative Director / Copywriter / Planner / Agency Producer
Ryusuke Nanki DENTSU INC. Planning Director / Planner
Atsushi Otaki DENTSU INC. Planner / Copywriter / Agency Produce
Yosuke Shidara DENTSU INC. Agency Producer
Yusuke Kumon DENTSU INC. Account Director
Kenichi Sato DENTSU INC. Account Executive
Yusuke Mori DENTSU INC. Account Executive
Maiya Kinoshita DENTSU INC. Copywriter / PR Planner
Yuhi Shimomura DENTSU INC. Art Director
Yohei Nemoto Dentsu Public Relations INC. PR Manager
Yusuke Matsuo Dentsu Public Relations INC. PR Planner
Yuichiro Inoue RYDEN INC. Interactive Director
Hideo Matsumoto RYDEN INC. Technical Director
Sumiyo Miki RYDEN INC. Production Designer
Kiyokazu kawaharada Honeycomb Lab. Inc. Technical Director
Kosuke Kasuga Honeycomb Lab. Inc. Programmer
Hirokazu Kagiya TOW CO.,LTD Producer
Daisuke Noro HAT INC. Producer
Ryo Takebayashi HAT INC. Director
Yoshitaka hirano HAT INC. Production Manager

The Campaign

Assassin's Creed is one of the best-selling video games in the world. However, it was not as wide-spread in Japan because people preferred Japanese games. Using the release of the new Assassin's Creed Unity as an opportunity, we aimed to overcome this challenge. AKIBA is the nickname for the Akihabara area in Tokyo, which is the sacred ground for Otakus and video game fans.

Results

“Assassin’s Creed Unity” is a video game sold over 73 million copies around the world, but is still little known in Japan. Our goal was to raise awareness and interest of the game within Japanese gamers to ultimately increase the new game’s sales in Japan. We focused on the game’s distinctive feature, "Stealth Missions", in which players blend into crowds and surroundings to evade enemies and complete the mission. To promote the video game, the real-life stealth mission inspired treasure-hunt game "AKIBA STEALTH" was held in Japan's biggest video game district, Akihabara, for one time only. AKIBA STEALTH incorporates the iBeacon technology. iBeacon was usually used to give out coupons and shopping information in an O2O setting, but for the first time in the world, we programmed it to recreate the excitement from the game and turned the city of Akihabara into a game field.

With the smartphone app linked to iBeacon, users can enjoy the world of the game in real-life, evading disguised enemies and searching for the treasure. In addition, as part of the integrated campaign, a short film based on the event in Akihabara was released.

The solution connected the game’s virtual world and the reality in Tokyo. Making the gamer’s favorite city the stage of the event created publicity and successfully increased the number of Assassin’s Creed Unity fans. - Increased Rate of Purchase Per Console (Compared to previous game): 1540% - Media Exposure: covered by 144 news sources (such as, Shots, kotaku, Tokyo Otaku Mode, and other major overseas media.) - Earned Exposure: 1,000,000USD

AKIBA STEALTH used the iBeacon technology in a revolutionary way to recreate the experience that was only for video games. Now, people can actually experience the excitement that was only limited to the virtual world, giving a deeper connection with the brand.