To launch the new World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands, Blizzard Entertainment created “Sound the Horn,” a social-first campaign with 14 North American and international celebrities. Partnering with creative agency 72andSunny Los Angeles, the campaign celebrates the fellowship and connection the game creates around the world.
The 14 new social films tie each celebrity together with a “fellowship chain” using the hashtag #soundthehorn and specific tags in the film itself.
The lineup of celebs consists of:
- Finn Wolfhard, Actor
- Sydney Sweeney, Actor
- Ronda Rousey, Professional wrestler
- Jimmy O. Yang, Actor and comedian
- Hacksmith, Youtube star
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Actor
- Danny Pudi, Actor and comedian
- Kristian Nairn, Actor
- Issac Hempstead Wright, Actor
- Marcus Scribner, Actor
- Tim the Tatman, Gamer/ Twitch streamer
- Alexander Dreymon, Actor
- Pierre Gasly, Formula One Driver
- Regina Wan, Actor
Blizzard worked with Mythic Quest creator and director Rob McElhenney to shoot the 14 celebrities, who were authentic fans of the WOW franchise, over six days of remote production in seven countries around the globe. Most films were directed entirely over Zoom and creative scenes were built around locations convenient to each celeb, places like their kitchen, apartment, living room, hotel or office for example.
To help fans participate and “Sound the Horn” themselves, Blizzard is giving the WoW community an Instagram lens, filters for Twitch streaming and emojis on Discord.
“Our intent with this campaign is to celebrate the connections that World of Warcraft helps provide to gamers globally. The ‘horn of gathering’ that is featured in the campaign is a really creative platform that we created to signal that it’s time to re-form those connections, and invite gamers that haven’t played WOW into our franchise,” said Matt Small, VP of consumer marketing, Blizzard Entertainment.
In addition to the 14 connected individual social films, the “Sound the Horn” initiative includes this longform film that will be live in the US as well as 17 different international markets throughout the month of December.
