Xbox Launches Sunset Overdrive with AR DOOH campaign
Xbox is using augmented reality DOOH in a global campaign to promote the launch of new open world game, Sunset Overdrive.
Conceived by Xbox and Empowering Media, and produced by Grand Visual, the campaign sees augmented reality (AR) DOOH executions taking place in San Francisco, London, and Melbourne during the week of the game’s worldwide launch.
Available exclusively on Xbox One, Sunset Overdrive is a stylised open-world shooter set in the fictional metropolis of Sunset City in the year 2027. The game requires players to transform the open-world into their tactical playground by grinding, vaulting and wall-running across the city while using a devastating, unconventional arsenal to save Sunset City starting 28th October.
The creative for the campaign draws on key aspects of Sunset Overdrive’s story and gameplay to create a digital out of home AR experience that conveys the dynamism and excitement of the game. Each of the three international activations is based on a similar concept, but creative has been tailored to the specific country, location, and screen environment.
The San Francisco activity — launched on 27th October and active for four weeks — appears on ten of Clear Channel Outdoor’s touch-screen equipped bus shelters. One screen features an augmented reality activation that shows mutants appearing to run amok in the street. Bus travellers are drawn into the world of the game as hordes of mutants appear to jump off the rooftops and out of the windows onto the sidewalk adjacent to the bus shelter. Creative also features an image of energy drink Overcharge Delirium XT (a key element of the game’s backstory), the game poster, and release date information.
The remaining nine San Francisco sites are touch screen sites displaying exclusive game content. Users are able to interact with the screen to select the content they wish to see.
“The Xbox team was thrilled with the opportunity to provide a truly immersive experience for our fans, bringing the open world of Sunset City into the real world in a unique, compelling and memorable way,” said Julie Lowe, Xbox Group Marketing Manager, Global MarCom.
In the UK, activity is taking place at Canary Wharf where Grand Visual has worked with Dentsu Aegis Network, JCDecauxLive, and Russell Signs to create a special build site that incorporates a large LCD screen into a purpose built crate. Creative for the UK activity features four different augmented reality concepts played in a loop. Much like the San Francisco AR activation, members of the public are presented with an immersive experience in which game characters appear to come to life in front of their eyes. The UK activity started 27th October and continues until 31st October.
The Australian element of the campaign will feature a single augmented reality DOOH execution on a JCDecaux Innovate screen situated in Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station. Again, the creative will feature the mutant horde, but this time members of the public will think they are looking through a window and witnessing the mutant mob overrun the station. That activity will run from 30th October through to 3rd November, coinciding with the popular gaming Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
Speaking about the global campaign, Dan Dawson, Creative Technology Director of Grand Visual, said:
What this campaign demonstrates is that the proliferation of interactive screens offers brands and agencies an international canvas for creating engaging digital out-of-home campaigns. This campaign has made full use of Grand Visual’s global teams, our knowledge of the worldwide DOOH landscape, and our experience in interactivity and augmented reality. The result is multiple immersive activations, born from a single concept, that will be experienced by people on three continents simultaneously.
