The movie, out this week, follows Harrelson and a motley crew of humans battling for survival in a world overrun by zombies. As they make their way from coast to coast, they develop a set of rules to live by and find the best ways to stay alive in the face of an impressive army of zombie attackers.
The campaign, which kicks off this week and runs for the next month, combines a series of integrated advertorials across Nuts and NME magazines with an online seeding campaign at www.nuts.co.uk and www.mousebreaker.com.
The activity provides an A to Z(ombie) for Slaying the Living Dead, with crucial rules on how to survive in a world full of evil flesh-eaters from the two main characters, Tallahassee and Colombus. The creative points to a unique Zombieland game, where users can test their skills in zombie destruction. The bespoke game includes characters, weapons, quotes and settings from the movie.
The campaign was developed by Sony Pictures exhibitor relations & media promotions manager Peter Staines; Manning Gottlieb OMD account manager Nisha Prasad and IPC Ignite Sponsorship & Brand Solutions group head Anna Vercoe.
Peter says: “Zombieland is a high concept film featuring a great cast and hilarious script, but as a genre bending 'zom-edy' the challenge we faced was how best to convey the humour that drives the movie throughout. The advertorials and Mousebreaker game that IPC developed on our behalf capture the essence of the movie perfectly. They speak to our target audience in a funny and engaging way, which is vital when attempting to achieve cut through.”
Nisha adds: “With Zombieland being a fresh, non-franchise property, we had to overcome the fact that there was no familiarity amongst our target audience. As such it was really important to add elements to our campaign that would allow them to really interact with the characters and the concepts of the film – the bespoke Mousebreaker game and print advertorials were the perfect vehicles to do this.”
Anna adds: “The creative brilliantly summarises the campaign in a truly integrated way, conveying the humour and horror of Zombieland directly to our readers. And our bespoke Mousebreaker Zombieland game, seeded virally across Nuts and NME online, will create incredible awareness among the millions of UK young men who use the sites.”
In the latest round of audited results www.mousebreaker.com, www.nme.com and www.nuts.co.uk delivered a combined total average ABCe of over 10.4 million unique users each month, says IPC.
About Nuts
IPC Media says: “Nuts is PPA consumer Media Brand of the Year 2009. Nuts is the number one selling men's lifestyle magazine in the UK, accounting for two out of every five men's lifestyle mags purchased. Launched in 2004, Nuts has established itself as the biggest brand in men's media. Nuts.co.uk is Britain’s number one men’s lifestyle website according to the Hitwise UK Online Performance Awards 2008. Updated daily with exclusive images and video, the site delivers the very best in girls, sport, news, games, humour, gadgets and gear. Combined with Nuts – Britain’s best-selling men’s lifestyle magazine – the Nuts.co.uk website gives IPC an unparalleled total reach into the most-elusive and hardest to please audience there is – young men.”
About NME
IPC Media says: “The NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music. The award-winning www.nme.com, launched in 1996, has grown to be the biggest commercial music news site in Europe.”
About Mousebreaker
IPC media says: “Mousebreaker portfolio comprises www.mousebreaker.com, www.playforyourclub.com, www.blastbilliards.com, www.pixeldawg.com, www.camperstrike.co.uk, www.flashcricket.com and www.playapal.com. Launched in 2001 and acquired by IPC in June 2008, Mousebreaker publishes easy-to-play but difficult-to-master Flash games reflecting the tastes and interests of its male UK target audience – everything from the very best sports games (Jumpers for Goalposts, Top Spinner Cricket and Blast Billiards) to topical games (Winezilla!, Toss the Ross and Spank the Banker). The Mousebreaker portfolio, highly targeted at 18-to-24 year old men, enjoys an audience of more than 4 million unique users every month. And Mousebreaker gamers spend, on average, more than two hours each week on our websites – which explains why Mousebreaker is the leading UK-based free casual games portfolio.”
