Title | CARTEL COM |
Brand | UBISOFT |
Product/Service | GHOST RECON WILDLANDS |
Category |
G03. Messaging Campaign |
Entrant
|
DDB PARIS, FRANCE
|
Idea Creation
|
DDB PARIS, FRANCE
|
Idea Creation 2
|
UBISOFT Paris, FRANCE
|
Production
|
STUDIO 5 Paris, FRANCE
|
Credits
Alexander Kalchev |
DDB Paris |
Executive Creative Director |
Alexis Benbehe |
DDB Paris |
Creative |
Pierre Mathonat |
DDB Paris |
Creative |
Patrice Dumas |
DDB Paris |
Head of Copy |
Noémie Blum |
DDB Paris |
Art Director |
Alban Callet |
DDB Paris |
Managing Director |
Marie-Elise Archambaud |
DDB Paris |
Account Manager |
Loup-Eder Noël |
DDB Paris |
Account Supervisor |
Geoffroy Sardin |
Ubisoft |
Vice-President |
Guillaume Carmona |
Ubisoft |
Marketing Director |
Clément Prevosto |
Ubisoft |
EMEA Marketing Group Manager |
Pierre Miazga |
Ubisoft |
EMEA Senior Brand Manager |
The Campaign
What if you found yourself in possession of a Narco’s best friend: a burner phone?
And what if this phone started ringing? How would you react, what would you reply and most importantly, what choices would you take? Cartel Com is a 48-hour interactive thriller in which you could communicate in real time with seven characters.
We sent influencers the burner phone of Carlos, a young narco who was an informant for the CIA. He has gone missing and you have 48 hours to help his family escape the wrath of the cartel.
Creative Execution
First, we sent over 75 phones to entertainment influencers and journalists in France and the UK. They received a craft paper envelope in which there was a letter introducing the project: this is the phone of Carlos, a young narco that has gone missing. The letter encouraged you to turn on the phone. As soon as you did, you received a message that started the story. You could interact in real time with each of 7 characters in your phonebook, call and send them messages.
To achieve this, over 48 hours we had 7 writers and 5 voice actors communicate and respond in real time with the influencers. Each text received a response and you even received phone calls with clues and hints. Thousands of texts were sent, each a custom reply. In the end, it was up to you to decide how you want to end the story.
Over 90% of the carefully targeted influencers and journalists (such as BFM, Shots, LBB) responded and engaged with the operation. The operation generated over 400k€ of free press.
By now there have been so many movies and TV series about cartels, that we had to find a fresh and relevant way to engage with influencers. We found out that despite the immense wealth that cartels possess, they still communicate with untraceable burner phones.
The idea was born: show the inner workings of a cartel by sending out the most mundane object: an old cell phone. We wanted to let people figure out the story for themselves and be an active participant, instead of simply observers. Each text that you sent had an impact on the story.