‘Clashteroid’ continues gaming industry’s creative run with a very meta ad
Game players often build worlds in their heads around their onscreen entertainment, and Supercell: Clash of Clans ‘Clashteroid’ is a filmic version of that spirit.
Clash of Clans has unleashed an ambitious campaign centered around ‘Clashteroid’, a spectacle handled by DAVID New York. The premise is that an asteroid is set to devastate the colourful in-game world, and only players can unite to avert disaster.
The ad uses cinematic drama and tongue-in-cheek humour in a sort of madcap ‘Back to the Future’-esque caper. The story begins by blurring into the real world, with the asteroid 2007 FT3 being referenced, which (in a break from the real world now) is depicted as mysteriously vanishing, only to be ‘transported’ by science communicator Hank Green into the Clash universe to save our planet. (Are you keeping up?)
Eighteen years later, the meteor resurfaces as the Clashteroid, on a collision course with every player’s village. This sparks a frantic, urgent event: 'Hammer Jam', where players rush to rebuild and upgrade their villages with the Meteorite Hammer before the impending impact.
The fate of your village, then, depends on whether you can fortify in time; if not, expect total destruction: at least according to the rather confusing narrative.
The action is timed to coincide, and indeed provide a backstory, for the inclusion of an in-game ‘hammer’ that’s teased in the clip. It’s a smart way to introduce an item with a bit of narrative centered away from the game itself, we thought.
The campaign rolls out across social and gaming channels, inviting millions to join the event and ‘save their digital village’.
‘Clashteroid’ is the latest of a recent spate of well-realised creative designed to engage gamers. We were recently quite taken by Mother LA’s efforts for Battlefield 6 as well as Mindcraft’s uncovering of dyslexia symptoms through gaming. Meanwhile, a horror-themed Fortnite game also proved how the gaming industry is often a step ahead creatively.
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