NINTENDO
I worked with Nintendo at Waste.
They're a great brand, but their advertising has always felt a bit safe. We ran a focus group when we started which confirmed what we thought: no one believed the inanely grinning, demographic box-ticking models in their ads had ever picked up a Switch in their life.
Our approach was to show real gamers - and real friends - with real gaming emotions - concentration, frowns, disappointment, elation.
Our job was to show Switch 'moments' - instances where we nudged people and reminded them of the Triple A or casual games they could be playing when they were out and about.
We came up with some lovely stuff - from contextual ads at train stations that reflect journey times, or live delays, with messaging around specific software titles - to ads in urinals and even Pornhub takeovers.
Then we made some OOH and social.
The Nintendo UK team were rightly convinced that the European or Global TV spots they'd been forced to run would perform better if they were made especially for the wittier, savvier UK audience.
We were asked to make some 30" spots which showcased intrinsically British moments in which Switch made an archetypal UK Summer better. We wrote a load of lovely, nuanced, knowing ads that riffed on our attitudes and relationship with the weather (weary acceptance of rain, mass exodus to the coast, never enough fans when it's too hot etc), our countryside (camping, canal boats and riverside pubs) and national identity (village cricket, ice cream vans).
Then we made some print ads.
The original scamps, and a single client select from the hundreds we shot, beautifully art directed by Tasmin Lobley and shot by Konstantin Suslov.
UBISOFT
I also worked with Ubisoft, another fantastic gaming client.
At Waste we'd been doing standard rich display for software titles like Assassin's Creed, but were pushing to get involved not only in larger, cleverer formats, but earlier in the creative process.
We made a bunch of digital six sheets for Tom Clancy's The Division 2, and created bespoke ads for the Waterloo Motion screen and the Old Street digital canvas.
When I left Waste, we'd been invited to do the creative for on Watchdogs Legion.
