This six-week campaign, timed to build buzz last fall for Sony Pictures’ latest James Bond film “Quantum of Solace”, was also built to promote Sony Electronics’ hi-def products, taking players on a series of weekly spy missions.
The message to be conveyed in the campaign was that the same professional quality that goes into Sony’s movies is the value behind its home viewing equipment, said Jacque Bibeau, PowerPact. “The Web site was meant to explain Sony quality and why it’s worth the premium price,” she said.
About six weeks before the picture’s November opening, the “Mission for a Million” game went up. Players were told that a vial of Sony HDNA (as in, “High-definition is in our DNA”) had been stolen by spies. Players had to complete a series of weekly missions using virtual versions of Sony HD products in order to gather clues to the vial’s whereabouts and win a chance to win $1 million, with an instant-win Bond trivia game overlay to encourage return visits.
“Agents” registered for the game and then used virtual Sony products to watch behind-the-scenes clips from “Quantum of Solace” and answer questions about the products and technology used to view the clips. In the last mission, players were directed to nearby retailers to locate access codes on the POS materials in order to solve their final puzzle.
The game was promoted by in-store signs, Sony e-mail blasts, press releases, and banner ads on selected tech Web sites and communities and retail partners’ sites. Push tactics such as text messages and recorded phone calls built awareness of the promotion and engaged target audiences. Players who got their friends to register and play received additional entries to the sweepstakes.
In the end, three consumer winners were flown to Los Angeles to view a pre-screening of “Quantum of Solace” and try to guess the combination that would open the briefcase containing the $1 million prize. None succeeded, but all three won a $10,000 gift card to be redeemed at Sony Style stores.
“Mission for a Million” contest entries reached 110% of goals set by previous similar sweepstakes, and gross impressions from online media were 24% higher than past results. The program was also more engaging than past promotions: Those who registered to play the game on the Web site averaged 11.2 page views and spent 4:37 on the site per visit. Unique visits to the main Sony.com site jumped almost 25% compared to the preceding five months, and 33% of game players opted to receive future communications from the company.
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