gnet Scores Nine Honours at 2017 Clio Entertainment Awards

Hollywood-based agency gnet took home nine honours from last week’s Clio Entertainment Awards for their creative entertainment marketing work. The agency earned a coveted Clio Entertainment Grand Award, for their extensive integrated campaign for Microsoft Xbox’s Dead Rising 4 video game. The campaign, titled “Let the Slay Ride Begin,” also earned a Gold, Silver and Bronze award for its effectiveness, originality and creativity. The agency also received an additional two Silver and three Bronze awards and five shortlists for their campaigns for Activision’s Call of Duty WWII, Call of Duty, Modern Warfare Remastered and Destiny 2. Prior to the Clio Entertainment accolades, their Dead Rising 4 integrated campaign had already earned awards from PromaxBDA Game Marketing Awards, The Golden Trailer Awards and had won top honours as the coveted Advertising Age Small Agency Awards “Integrated Campaign of the Year.” Clio Entertainment, formerly The Clio Key Art Awards, is the original and definitive distinction in creative communications for the entertainment business.

The campaign leaned into the humour of the game’s holiday theme, creating trailers and social media executions that highlighted the irony in twinkling, festive lights amidst the oncoming zombie apocalypse. 

Starting with an unexpected, indoor snowfall experience from the game’s E3 2016 announcement, the campaign put a priority on generating social media fan buzz throughout its duration. The announcement trailer featured game’s anti-hero Frank West using his phone to post photos of his zombie-slaying exploits. This coincided with the start of a real-world Twitter account in Frank’s name that would be a constant source of fan engagement.  The campaign culminated with an ambitious Facebook Live event at launch called “Man vs. Holiday.” Garnering more than 500,000 views during the live broadcast, and millions later on YouTube, this stunt featured Workaholics star and comedian Blake Anderson enduring holiday-themed tortures while trapped in a giant snow globe with rabid zombies. 

Additional contributors to the integrated campaign were Dentsu (EMT), twofifteenmccann, Ayzenberg, Assembly, Wunderman Seattle, and McCann London.