Japanese mobile gaming and social networking company, Mixi Inc, introduces its mobile mega hit to the US in epic fashion with Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine Nine, PopStar: Never stop, never stopping). Monster Strike, which has reached over 30 million downloads worldwide, has maintained its popularity by consistently introducing new features such as event quests and new monsters to pique gamers’ interest.
The video campaign features Coach (played by Samberg) calling upon a cast of key Monster Strike characters at half time including Cthulhu, Crabotron and Freekfrogg to keep people from drifting apart. “It’s ugly out there”, Samberg says, noting that mobile platforms have been separating people and not bringing them together. With a rallying cry “We trust! We bond! We strike!” monsters are initiated to get back in the game with more striking power. Watch Andy Samberg deliver his inspirational speech to the assembled creatures of Monster Strike
Working with San Francisco-based advertising agency Pereira & O’Dell, Director Wayne McClammy, and CGI partner, Tippett Studio, the campaign includes both long form as well as customized video content targeting multiple segments. The ad campaign largely relies on Facebook as part of its content strategy to reach North American mobile users as users’ expectations for quality content soars.
“Mobile gaming has become less and less social, isolating individual players from the people around them and focusing all of their attention onto a tiny screen with the exclusion of the people around them,” said Hiroki Morita, President of Mixi, Inc. “Monster Strike is designed to bring groups of people together in a fun, social setting, which is reflected in our campaign that sees Andy Samberg encouraging people to actually engage and play in the same space.”
Monster Strike uniquely combines action elements, role-playing game leveling and monster collecting with unique “pull and fling” controls, which send players’ monsters pinballing across the screen and into other monsters, activating powerful bump combos in their wake. Players collect and raise a stable of monsters, which are then taken on battles that culminate in encounters with powerful boss monsters. Supporting up to four players in a quest, Monster Strike is designed as a social experience with friends gathered together in the same space.
“’We trust, we bond, we strike!’ is a comical behind-the-scenes approach to introduce only a handful of Monster Strike characters being rallied at halftime,” said Jonathan Woytek, Executive Creative Director at Pereira & O’Dell. “The classic locker room scene is the perfect vehicle to introduce this motley assemblage of monsters stateside. Inspirational, funny, and a little weird.”
Follow Coach and his Monster Strike team on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/monsterstrike.us . Gamers can download Monster Strike for free on the App Store and Google Play.
