Integrated Marketing Communication Brand News: Call of Duty Black Ops II

WHAT IS CALL OF DUTY?

• First Person Shooter Video Game

• Top FPS game among players

HISTORY OF CALL OF DUTY

• Launched in 2003 under Activision for PC

• 10 official games: 1 game released every year

• First game was released by Infinity Ward

• Infinity Ward and Treyarch switch development from

year to year

• Latest game – Call of Duty: Ghosts released

November 5, 2013

DEMOGRAPHIC

• Males, ages 13-40

STP STRATEGY

• Segmentation: Male gamers

• Target: Lifestyle – Gamer culture, ages 13-32

• Positioning: Differentiation from FPS

competitors: Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Halo

STRENGTHS

• Goodwill: Call of Duty Endowment Fund

• High output of games

• Timelines create anticipation

• Brand loyalty

• Vivid imagery and creative storylines

• Available on multiple gaming systems

WEAKNESSES

• High output of games can cause market flooding

• Activision decided not to release Black Ops II for

Nintendo Wii; released for Wii U

• New games released in proximity of top competitors’

release dates

OPPORTUNITIES• New gaming consoles being released

• Collaboration with celebrities, screenwriters, and musicians:

Sam Worthington

Michael Keaton

Michelle Rodriguez

Jimmy Kimmel

Hans Zimmer

Avenged Sevenfold

THREATS• Critics of Call of Duty: becoming stale and redundant

• Controversy regarding the correlation of gun violence and video

games

• Competitors: Battlefield, Halo, Medal of Honor

• New gaming consoles being released - Call of Duty: Ghosts

was released 10 days before Playstation 4

IMC PLANS AND TACTICS

• The American rock/metal band, Avenged Sevenfold’s

hit songs, Carry On and Shepherd of Fire

• Live Action trailers featuring movie stars and

YouTube sensations

• "Surprise" - Official Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Live-

Action Trailer

• Teamed up with Bad Robot Productions: Action

Movie: an application for smart phones

IMPLICATIONS

• Amazon.com: 4 out of 10 bestselling videogames of

all time are Call of Duty games; out of the top 5, Call

of Duty takes 4 places

• Black Ops II made $500 million the first day of

release, $1 billion within 15 days; surpassed Modern

Warfare 3

• Call of Duty: Ghosts – not as successful, but still

surpassing competitors

• #1 in the Top 20 Selling Video Games of 2012

THANK YOU!