CHALLENGE
18 – 34 year old men have virtually abandoned traditional media. Reaching them with a message about Castrol
® motor oil meant exploring alternative media channels
Strategy
Integrate Castrol
® branding into gaming elements, surrounding young men with brand messaging in an environment that they have fully embraced. The brands are positioned against power (Castrol
® SYNTEC
®) and performance (Castrol
® GTX
®)
Solutions
• In-game placement: MS3 brokered a relationship with Electric Arts (EA) for Castrol® SYNTEC® to become an Official Sponsor of the popular Need for Speed Most Wanted racing game, to place SYNTEC® advertising in naturally occurring environments within the game play. MS3 collaborated with EA to oversee all in-game placements to ensure relevant messaging and brand assets were integrated seamlessly into game play. Groundbreaking for Castrol®, this approach proved to the brand that their target could be found outside of traditional media.
• Media Outreach:
•
Online media on gaming sites, and targeted email attracted the SYNTEC® audience, using "cheat codes" as a driver.
•
Real-time in-game integration deployed through the internet keeps the Castrol® name in front of consumers as they play new games
•
Masterbrand initiative through custom advergame
Taking the gaming strategy to the next level, MS3 also created an
online advergame to give users a virtual racing experience that educated on the benefits of Castrol
®. Five different brands participated; five different tracks, cars, and driving experiences are reflected.
• Search Engine Optimization techniques incorporated to increase traffic to the site and improve ranking
• New site architecture improved usability and made for a more engaging user experience
Results
• Castrol® SYNTEC® was the ONLY major synthetic brand to gain share in the fourth quarter of 2005 and consumer pull increased by almost 30%
• Dynamic Logic study showed significant lift in unaided awareness and familiarity of the Castrol® SYNTEC® brand after consumers played the Need For Speed game
• The banners promoting the cheat code performed 150% better than similar online media creative running at the same time.
• Need for Speed exceeded sales expectations by over 3 MM units, making the Castrol integration a very efficient marketing spend
• PR: Several media outlets, including The Boston Globe, Reuters and TheHollywoodReporter.com ran articles about videogame integration and highlighted the Castrol SYNTEC placements within Need for Speed Most Wanted. Excerpts from two articles are linked below.
•
Promo, "Greased Lightning", May 1, 2006 (Top Winner in PROMO's 2006 Entertainment Marketing Award!)
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