Meta Quest and BBDO Disrupt Reality to Launch First VR Game

BBDO and Meta teamed up to create a FOMO-inducing integrated campaign to launch Meta’s Asgard's Wrath 2, the biggest Virtual Reality RPG ever created and a game IGN has given a rare 10/10 rating to - describing it as "a landmark game-changer that only comes around once in a blue moon.” In the game, the trickster god Loki unleashes chaos across the realms through a series of cosmic portals. Our campaign aims to bring that chaos into the real world by disrupting key cultural moments and focusing consumers' attention on Asgard's Wrath 2. 

The game officially launched on Friday 15th December, but the chaos started a couple weeks ago when 'found footage' of Loki’s minions started appearing on social. Soon after, similar chaos interrupted the Golden State Warriors @ Phoenix Suns game live on ESPN. Richard Jefferson, the NBA announcer, informed a televised audience that a ‘mysterious portal’ had opened just outside the Footprint Centre in Downtown Phoenix – and then showed them the chaotic scene unfolding outside the arena as the monsters from Asgard’s Wrath 2 invade reality.

The story continues with the launch of a reality-blending cinematic trailer. Loki’s realm merged with our own as a portal opened in the protagonist's living room, and she slipped on a Meta Quest 3 to go do battle. Now inside the game, they’re immediately catapulted into the exciting action of Asgard’s Wrath 2, dodging monsters in ancient Egypt with the trickster god Loki looming over them, trying to disrupt reality. 

Finally, Loki’s chaos spread to The Game Awards both inside and outside the Peacock Theatre in LA. Matt Mercer (the voice of Loki) joined host Geoff Keighley on stage during the ceremony to introduce the World Premiere of our Gameplay Trailer… until the segment was gate crashed by Loki himself warning of his impending chaos. Directly outside the Peacock Theatre, as attendees were leaving the awards, a giant, 300 square-foot glowing portal ripped open the Los Angeles skyline, filled with Loki and his beasts. The portal, which lit up the night sky with a deep iridescent purple glow, was so realistic that most people viewing online assumed it was CGI.

With hardly any paid support, this stunt got over eight million views in less than a week and caused a wave of conversation online from gamers and non-gamers alike – going viral on TikTok and becoming the subject of multiple Reddit threads all praising the campaign and building hype for the game launch. Some even said we 'hacked the matrix' with this one. Others said this looked like the 'future of advertising'.