If there was nothing else, this ad would be a brilliant way to show off the wide range of Wargaming Group’s games and to stand out in a genre of ads that tends to rely on awe factor alone. But it’s also great to watch with its real-life protagonist and abundant humour. Win-win by MullenLowe UK for Wargaming’s World of Tanks.

The ad’s main intention is to draw in a wider audience, notably older players and is built on the observation that your reactions get slower as you get older so you get worse at games based on dexterity – which gives kids with faster reactions the upper hand. (Fun fact: After sixty, reaction times begin to get faster again.)

But in World of Tanks, strategic thinking beats fast fingers – so mum and dad have the upper hand and this is played out in the campaign film.

https://youtu.be/_shFTHmzwb0

The campaign launched in digital media in Australia on July 19, before launching on TV, VOD, cinema, and digital media in the UK and North America in September.

Felix Morgan, global head of strategy at World of Tanks, commented, “In a sector focused on creating brain-off dopamine loops and designing games for younger and younger audiences, World of Tanks sits in a fairly unique position. The multiplayer PC game is designed to be the perfect experience for strategic thinkers to get ahead of the competition using their brains, not just their dexterity or twitch reactions. That insight led MullenLowe Group UK to this daring creative platform, supported by a hard-working performance strategy, that we will be implementing across the USA, UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia.”

Mark Elwood, executive creative director at MullenLowe, added, “The campaign has a bold strategy and creatively harnesses a powerful yet previously untapped insight into the gaming industry; as you get older your reaction times slow, and you start losing to kids who are more nimble.

“Gaming is the biggest untapped creative opportunity in marketing, and few agencies have had the opportunity to create big bold brand campaigns with the new free-to-play behemoths, like Wargaming.”

Credits:

Creative Agency: MullenLowe Group UK

Chief Creative Officer: Mark Elwood

Creative Director: Gavin Cumine

Creatives: Angus Crombie & Drew Davies

Strategist: Alpesh Patel

Producer: Nicholas Kurs

Assistant Producer: Phoebe Robertson

Account Management: Giulietta Bateman, John Stowell & Ben Good

Executive Partner: Phil Rumbol

Typographer: Cris Jones

Designer: Daniel Flint

Integrated Digital Producer: Jemma Hamid

Media Agency: Mullenlowe Mediahub

Production Company: Iconoclast

Director: Alaska

DoP: Benoit Soler

Producer: Harriet Towler

Editing: Gaia Borretti  @ Assembly Rooms

Post Production Company: Nash

Producer: Flavia Gannam

Sound: Ben Leaves @ Satellite Sound

Lead Sound: Jungle Studios

Sound Design: Ricardo Bertran, Carla Córnea & Celso Moretti

Client: Wargaming

Global Head of Media: Nicolas Estrem

Global Head of Strategy: Felix Morgan

Global Marketing Producer: Winston Linn

Global Marketing Director: Mariia Chernova