Case Study
How Code:D-Blood trended No. 1 organically on Twitter in Japan
Key Results
17M
impressions
#1
Twitter Trend organically in Japan
1M
tuned into the Live Event
The opportunity:
EVA is a cult classic anime from 1995, a huge iconic anime among Millennials and Gen Z in Japan and also Asia and there is a new in-game IP collaboration between CODE:D-Blood (@CodeDragonBlood) and Neon Genesis Evangelion (EVA). CODE:D-Blood, published by Tencent Games in Japan, was looking to drive maximum conversation and buzz from casual gamers to avid gamers with this in-game IP collaboration for the title, which launched just months ago.
Gaming fans are very active on Twitter, almost on the platform daily. We saw 2 billion gaming-related Tweets in 2020, up over 75% YoY1. Due to the pandemic, 37% of Japan Twitter users are spending more time on computer / video games2.
Partnering with Twitter, CODE:D-Blood was able to connect with the gaming community on the platform and used engaging real-time features to blur the lines between worlds by bringing iconic elements from the story and game onto Twitter.
The strategy:
CODE:D-Blood took over Twitter and Tokyo with a 9 day campaign simulating the arrival of the angels, doomsday, iconic elements from the story and game into the real world.
To tease the in-game collaboration, everything in-game and on Twitter started to turn red, intensifying closer to launch day. promoted videos highlighting the backstory of the main characters of the game were released to immerse the fans prior to the launch. Fans were able to like to subscribe for live updates as the story unfolded and through the use of Video Website Card, fans are directed to a designated site where they can find all information on the upcoming launch.
At launch, CODE:D-Blood released a promoted video on Twitter showing Shibuya being taken over by an emergency event, they took over the Digital OOH at Shibuya Crossing replicating the first game event in real-time in Tokyo. All these drove fans to tune into the Live Event on the launch day.
To sustain the momentum, CODE:D-Blood continues to drive fans to download the app through retargeting engaged users with the Video App Install Card and releases a series of in-game battle locations and sightings characters of the game to increase the time spent on the game.
01
Tease with video creative that pique interest from fans.
Using promoted video showcasing conversation between two main characters of CODE:D-Blood as an initial tease of the campaign, this helped generate interest from fans.
02
Direct users to the landing page via a Website Card.
Alert fans to the launch of the custom game site, through the Video Website Card format, leading fans to the game site designed to hold all information about the upcoming IP collaboration and tease to stay tuned for more.
03
Follow up with a mobile app campaign.
CODE:D-Blood continues to push people to download the app through retargeting engaged users with the Video App Install Card and strong call to action that this collaboration is only happening for a limited time only. This not only delivered content to the right audience of gaming fans but also drove maximum engagement and downloads.
The success:
With the help of Twitter, CODE:D-Blood implemented a successful launch by cutting through the clatter during the year end festive season and generated buzz on Twitter to attract both the fans of the game @CodeDragonBlood and EVA to download the game.
CODE:D-Blood trended organically to Number 1 in Japan and to Number 4 globally, achieved 17 million impressions and almost 1 million tuned into the Live Event on Twitter. The game had returned to Number 4 on the most downloaded app chart on the iOS store.
We’re extremely pleased with the results, the buzz and talkability generated amongst the target audience had suppressed our expectation. The team at Twitter worked alongside us as partners in overcoming various challenges and pushing the creative limits for this launch. We look forward to scaling higher heights with Twitter in our next launch.
Source:
1. Twitter Semantic Core, January - December, 2020 vs 2019.
2. GlobalWebIndex Coronavirus research Wave 3, survey conducted in late April 2020, JP Twitter users.
Solutions Used
Launch something new with video
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