Case Study
Arcane | Riot Games, Netflix
We leveraged our extensive experience working on campaigns for some of Netflix’s most successful titles to date (Stranger Things, Bridgerton) and fused it with our deep bench of gaming expertise. Across the whole campaign–including Trailers, Key Art, OOH, Digital, and more–we strove to provide the best consumer experience honoring the overwhelming excitement and attachment to the game in a way that crossed genres to a theatrical episodic experience.
Key Art
Our approach for the Key Art and Character Art was vibrant and minimalist to spotlight the characters that League players know and love. However, rather than hero or action poses that might emulate League of Legends art, these expressive poses reflect the personality and inner turmoil of each character.
Using double exposure, we subtly showcased the setting and story. In the Key Art, the scene depicts the backstory of main characters Vi and Jinx, a promise to fans of new lore they’ll discover in the series. In the Character Art, the double exposure explores each character’s connection to their city and hints at their story in the series.
We then brought this to life in motion for digital out of home.
Final Trailer
Unveiled during the League of Legends 2021 Worlds Semi-Finals, our Final Trailer aimed to build hype for fans in the final week before launch. The trailer showcased the familiar League universe within the series, divided between the “City of Progress” Piltover and the underbelly of Zaun. We aimed to highlight the incredible animation and creative fight sequences with sound design that built in intensity. Knowing that League of Legends fans would be looking at the trailer with a microscope, we also included a few easter eggs to build excitement.
Imagine Dragons EPK
This behind-the-scenes featurette dives into the title sequence song created by Imagine Dragons and J.I.D, “Enemy.” As fans of League themselves, this wasn’t the first time that Imagine Dragons had worked with Riot and League of Legends, and this piece explores the history of the partnership while providing a background to how the song came to be. The piece also highlighted that not only was the band behind the music, but they also inspired animated characters within the series.
Now Streaming
Our “Now Streaming” :60 was rolled out as a digital trailer on launch day. Using a song from the soundtrack, “Goodbye” by Ramsey, we worked with our internal composition team, Synchronic, to build additions to the backend of the cue. Leaning on some of the more beautiful and emotional shots of the show, this piece offered a different side of the series that hadn’t previously been explored in the earlier assets.
Fortnite Arcane Crossover
As part of a larger integration into Fortnite, we designed this loading screen depicting the character Jinx making her first appearance in the battle royale.
Acclaim and FYC
Our awards campaign began conservatively with a few print spreads for the Annie Awards. When Arcane won a stunning 9 Annie Awards–more than any film or TV series, winning in each category it was nominated for–we quickly extended our awards campaign to produce a suite of assets for Emmy consideration, including OOH, digital takeovers, banners, social.
Our design for the Emmy FYC creative captured Jinx’s scratchy cartoon graffiti from the series, positioning the creative as if Jinx herself had defaced the creative. At this point of the campaign, we brought in more of the world together with the characters to portray the vast scope of the series.
The Results
Arcane became the number one digital original series with American audiences (ref) and the number one English-language series in the world on Netflix (ref). It was the third-most in-demand series in the world across all platforms, 67.1 times more demand than the average show worldwide (ref). As a testament to the series itself and the marketing strategy, the show also successfully increased demand over the course of its run, with demand increasing 629% from its initial debut on November 6 to its final act on November 21 (ref).
The success of the series even had an impact on the game itself. Since the series’ release, the popularity of the show’s main characters increased within the game itself, with the pick rate for characters Vi and Jinx spiking to all-time highs. (ref)