Research Portfolio (U20: P1, M1 U24: P1)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

Call of Duty black ops 3 was the newest game to be added to the Call of Duty franchise back in 2015. it was the trilogy to it's past versions, both Black Ops and Black Ops 2. The game took a different approach to the typical Call of Duty game in the hopes to modernise the franchise and lead Call of Duty fans into a new era of gaming. 

Aims and Objectives:

Aims and objectives of the game:

Both Treyarch and Activision wanted to change the mentality of the Call of Duty franchise. Ever since the first Call of Duty game was released, its predecessors have all followed a similar pattern which makes for the core basics of a call of duty game. These could range from things such as a typical 3 lane map design or the core movement dynamics in the game staying the same. 

Treyarch decided that 2015 and Black Ops 3 was the perfect opportunity to make a change. They introduced new and innovative ways to play the game such as a co-operative campaign mode and a brand new movement system throughout the game in jetpacks. From this we can determine that one of the main aims was to renovate the way call of duty is played and bring the franchise as a whole into the modern times. 

Another aim we can determine was a key factor in the production of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 was sales. A new and innovative Call of Duty game was bound to make millions for the game developers and publisher. This promise lead to a bigger investment in game development from shareholders than any other Call of Duty game had seen in the past. 

We can see that the way Treyarch were going to reach these aims was mainly down to sales of the game. We can now see that Black Ops 3 sold over 250 million copies in 2015, also making it the years highest selling video game. 

Aims and objectives of the campaign:

One aim Treyarch hoped to reach through the campaign was to increase the interest of players in time for the release of the game. This was hoped to increase sales. One way Treyarch attempted to do this was through the multiplayer teaser trailer released on youtube. This showed off some of the new features in the game and showed how Treyarch were ambitiously trying to change the way Call of Duty was played for years to come. One of the new features shown was the specialist feature which allowed players to pick a character with certain special abilities that improved the playability of the game by making situations more dynamic. We can see in the trailer they are at the forefront of the video in order to highlight this change. 

Another aim of the campaign was to reinforce the fact that Black Ops 3 would be the most co-operative call of duty yet. The game aimed to make it very easy to connect with other people and play with friends. One of the ways this was shown off in the campaign for the game was through the billboard which showed off the 4 characters you play as in the co-operative campaign mode. This billboard was designed to remind people who had seen the trailer of the new co-operative story mode which is something that had never been done before. 

Target audience:

Call of Duty’s target audience is different in different peoples opinions. Their primary target audience consists of gamers. The way they target these gamers is by heavily advertising the game in common areas gamers might see them. Gamers tend to spend a lot of time online and on social media, Treyarch used this information and used it to their advantage by running a large social media campaign for the release of the game. Due to their age rating of 18+, Call of Duty’s target audience is ranged from 18-25 however this still doesn’t change the fact that a large percentage of the games player base were below the age of 18. Another audience Treyarch hoped to target were war veterans. This is because playing a game such as Call of Duty helps them to live in the action which could be something they miss, however due to the advanced futuristic feel to Black ops 3 it create the line between being too realistic for them that it might bring back some bad memories. 

Key messages:

One key message we can see throughout the campaign was the ways in which the game had changed from previous years. This was hoped to attract players into buying the game who might have given up on the franchise due to the mixed reception of the previous game, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. They showed these differences in every way they could, by heavily showing off the movement changes in gameplay trailers and reveal trailers to highlight the new co-operative story mode. 

Approach:

Due to their target audience, Treyarch and Activision took a more digital approach to marketing the new game. This was because their target audience are more so digital natives, so to ensure that the campaign reach a lot of potential customers they advertised in places people from their target audience were likely to see it. This approach was successful as the interactions from the marketing campaign creates high levels of excitement before the game was released which ultimately increased the number of sales the game made. 

Representation:

From the campaign we can see that the marketing is quite reflective of the game itself in its representation. From the reveal trailer and multiplayer teaser trailer we can see only 1 black character. This is a controversial topic as for such a big game with such a wide audience, there should be more representation of minorities within the game and marketing campaign itself. 

Campaign logistics/Choice of media:

The campaign for Black ops 3 was released in many different ways. There were traditional methods such as magazine articles in popular gaming magazines such as ESPN and Playstation Magazine. These were to encourage hardcore gamers who might buy the magazines to buy the game when it comes out. However the main ways that the campaign reached customers was through digital methods. One digital method that was released was YouTube videos released to highlight gameplay and features of the game. There were large amounts of social media posts created on the Call of Duty social media pages to entertain fans while they were waiting for the game to release. Some other ways they managed to promote the game were, having a panel at Comicon which is a massive event for video games that happens every year and also inviting content creators to come and play the game early in order to build up hype for the game as the content creators would go away and make YouTube videos on their channels for their subscribers to see.

Call to action:

From this image we can see some of the clear call to action techniques Treyarch and Activision are using in order to get their audience to interact with the game. Along the right hand side of the screen we can see they have multiple interactive links such as an option to watch more trailers and in the top right hand corner a share button so that the viewer can share the video to friends and family. This therefore improves the interactivity of the video and the overall outreach the trailer has as it can easily be shared around. We can also see an option for the viewer to learn more about how to buy the game on pre-order and what benefits that has to them such as access to the Beta. This is in the video in order to gain more of a chance for the viewers to buy the game as it becomes very easy to get to the purchase page, on the Call of Duty website, from the video. They also do not mention to viewers that the pre order option is more expensive that buying the game on release day. This is done in order for the game to make a bit extra money while at the same time making it some what worth it for the hardcore fans of Call of Duty as they get access to the Beta game which is where the developers open the game before the initial release date in order for fans to play the game for a couple days and report any bugs or give feedback on the game. This then allows for the developers to ensure they are releasing the best game possible when it comes to the initial release date.  

Legal and ethical issues:

Because of the nature of the Call of Duty games, there are lots of ethical and legal issues that follow when they create any sort of campaign. Call of Duty has an 18+ age rating set by PEGI as there are lots of graphic and realistic parts to the game. When they make a marketing campaign there are lots of different boundaries they need to consider such as not showing too much of the graphic content in any trailer videos they show. Another issues that might arise when they were planning the marketing campaign is to ensure the campaign is not misleading for what the game is delivering. Due to the advanced nature of Call of Duty Black Ops 3 they needed to make sure that their marketing campaign reflected the game and did not mislead any potential customers. 

Regulatory Body:

The Advertising standards authority (ASA) is the regulatory body for marketing and advertisement, responsible for enforcing and maintaining the rules around advertisements. This will relate to Call of Duty because they must make sure that they stick within the ASA's guidelines and regulations in order for the campaign to be shown to the general public. The other regulatory body is Pan Europe Game Information (PEGI) who are the regulatory body for video games. Call of Duty must make sure they are up to date with any regulations that PEGI implement. PEGI gave Call of Duty an age rating of 18+, the maximum rating, due to its contents and realism. 

Burger King

In 2017 Burger King came up with a new way to market their Whopper burger, created in the 1950's therefore meaning the company needed to find a new and inventive way to market the product. Their method although highly controversial, was ingenious and something never done before. It allowed Burger King to escape the boundaries of the TV advert by essentially extending the time frame they have for the ad. 

Aims and objectives:
The main aim of this campaign was to