Why is this work relevant for Media?

The campaign was completely contingent on the choice of media and especially the choice of the media partner within that. Not only did media decide that video made the most sense for connecting with our audience, but the choice of Asphalt and GameLoft as the game to engage with our audience, and the brand match between our product feature and the gaming partner was also a media decision.

Background

With gaming consoles penetrating deeper, Dell wanted to drive innovation perception and consideration for Dell Gaming. Dell sought to win share with the G series laptops using the innovative Game Shift Technology (G-Key) which easily enables system to boost processor power when necessary with one click. Dell had to make the best of the demand surge during the lockdown, and the key challenges it was facing was two-pronged. On the brand side, they were behind in terms of innovation, product design, premium perception, and brand consideration. On the sales side, Dell saw a dip in market share while Lenovo and HP grew by 151% and 17% in market share YoY, respectively. The other challenge was to deliver a campaign that not only delivers the key product message but does so while engaging with our young TG which balks at the idea of run-of-the-mill banner ads.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

There has always been a negative connotation and a cultural prejudice against gaming in India. However, the lockdown completely shifted people’s perceptions about gaming as an activity. Gaming had finally become normalised in India. This, coupled with a surge in demand for laptops, was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Dell Gaming. We realised the best way to reach out to the gaming audience was by reaching them where they are present most: on their favourite game. Even though only 50% of gamers showed acceptability for in-game advertising, the positivity towards in-game ads were much higher when the visuals are good, the ads are innovative, engaging, and relevant to them. We not only needed to make an ad that is visually appealing, and engaging, but also choose a game which is highly relevant to the ‘Game Shift Technology’ innovation on the G-Series laptops.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

PUBG the category builder was banned in India and the gamers fragmented to games like DOTA, FIFA, Asphalt and Free-Fire. We shortlisted Asphalt as the game to ride on. Apart from its cross-platform popularity, Asphalt has 5 Million+ MAU in India with an average play time of 56 minutes making it one of most loyal gaming fan bases in India. Its most integral feature of Nitro boosters, which sees 50 million+ booster triggers per day, was perfectly in-line with the ‘Game Shift Technology’ innovation on the G-Series laptops. Thus, the ad strategy was worked out by marrying both the concepts of the game shift technology and the nitro-booster using interactive video technology with the aim to drive maximum engagement.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We made ourselves available on critical touch points throughout the game. The first touch point we made ourselves available at was the starting line. Our creative would trigger as soon as the user enters the race thus communicating the message of our Game Shift Technology (G-Key) as a performance-enhancing key parallel to the nitro-booster. The second touch point was the shop and tokens segment of the game. Owing to the premium price of the laptop, we also wanted to target premium players within the game. We did so by positioning ourselves in the shop and the tokens segment where premium users could spend real money to buy tokens and game-money to enhance their cars’ performance. As an additional layer, we retargeted the exposed audience through programmatic ads. We also supported the campaign through banner campaigns on other gaming apps, and high SOV YouTube campaign targeting specific gaming channels Link: https://bit.ly/3nb0aEK

List the results (30% of vote)

The hero campaign with Asphalt turned out to be one of the most engaging ads in the history of Gameloft India. • We had an engagement rate of 27.49% which was 120% above industry benchmark • 65% was the all-completed engagement which was 116% above industry benchmark of 35% (No. of impressions with engagement, where people completed all the engagements) • CTR for the engaged audience was over 9% which is 200% better than industry benchmark of 3%