This month, Diego takes a deep dive into a campaign he loves, exploring its design-heavy production and how it boldly pushed boundaries and sparked conversation among fans.
Diego, Graphic Designer
“GTA IV” by Rockstar Games (2008)
Check It Out:
🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWg-wUBKf7Q
Diego’s Thoughts:
Rockstar Games has become one of the most, if not the most, popular gaming publishers over the years with their Grand Theft Auto series. Rockstar, at the time leading up to GTA IV, had achieved mainstream success with their entries that included GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas. With extra hype surrounding a new gaming console generation in addition to a new game, fans anticipated what Rockstar’s next move would be. In 2008, the gaming community finally began to see giant billboards in cities like NYC and Los Angeles promoting the characters in GTA IV, creating lots of anticipation. They even printed out physical “Wanted” posters for the main character, Niko Bellic, and placed them in select cities, which created a way for fans to talk about the game’s upcoming and highly anticipated release.
“Not Afraid of Pushing the Boundaries”
I liked how they used imagery for a lot of the promo, as well as the creative ways they used an interactive website to draw attention to the release. Rockstar gave the fans enough to be interested, without giving away too much. We’ve also seen them repeat these advertising tactics with GTA V and Red Dead Redemption II, which have also proven to be successful. They created their own lane in marketing to the point where they didn’t even need gaming expos such as E3 to showcase their next game. They could simply upload a trailer or place a billboard strategically, and their audience would go crazy. This shows that Rockstar was not afraid of pushing the boundaries and going all in with their marketing, especially compared to other video game companies.
Keep an eye out for next month’s blog, in which you will get to hear from Sarah about her favorite campaign that combines humor and clever wordplay to liven up a topic that can be a little dull and mundane.
