Uncommon Stockholm serves up the most tactile ad of the week

You can practically feel the tensed rubber in Uncommon Stockholm’s Clash Royale ‘Hero Balloon’ effort, which is made entirely from 10,000 balloons.

Uncommon Stockholm (Uncommon Creative Studio) has created a vivid new film for Supercell’s Clash Royale, and every single detail (yep, even the grass, clouds and popping eyes) are built from real balloons.

More than 10,000 of them were used to bring the game to life in a campaign that takes the threat in the arena literally.

The technical achievement here is pretty impressive, but the rubbery medium also works well to faithfully translate the game’s playful chaos into the real world.

Gaming’s creative Renaissance

We often note how a campaign stands out in its genre, but frankly, the gaming industry’s creative has been decidedly on point of late.

EA and Hazelight Studios recently unveiled Split Fiction: Friend Edition – a 'special' edition of the anticipated co-op adventure from the team behind the 2021 Game of the Year winner, It Takes Two. The campaign playfully depicts a ‘mail order gaming companion’ to enjoy the title with.

Then there was Mother Los Angeles’ partnership with Electronic Arts for a Battlefield 6 campaign that puts players, not celebrities, front and centre. Zac Efron and footballer Jimmy Butler appeared, but the campaign was really about the fun the players can have, echoing its core message that "the real heroes are the gamers".

Supercell: Clash of Clans ‘Clashteroid’, meanwhile, was a high concept filmic version of the spirit of the game. The spectacle, handled by DAVID New York, was built around the premise that an asteroid is set to devastate the colourful in-game world, and only players can unite to avert disaster.

Finally, we have to nod to Jung von Matt Sports and Sparkasse’s horror-themed Fortnite game. 'Schwein Gehabt', which translates in English as ‘having a pig’ (an expression also meaning ‘being lucky’), took whackiness and originality to new heights.

Game on.