Launching one of the world's most popular games on a shoestring budget.
PopCap Games was already the king of casual video games. Known mostly for Bejeweled and Zuma, they were just about to release the game that would alter the company’s future.
But they didn’t care much about it.
As the Copy Chief for PopCap’s marketing group, I was the point person for all customer communications. I had established the brand voice and managed messaging across every game release since I arrived. This new game, Plants vs. Zombies, was about to release — and the company wasn’t investing much in a game they thought would be a minor amusement for a small audience. A few of us believed it was gonna be much more.
The company allotted about $27,000 to launch the game. Put in perspective, we probably spent twice that just on the launch event for the previous release, Bejeweled Twist.
$15+ Million in Sales
10 Million Social Followers
100+ Million YouTube Views
Ad Age Hottest Brand of the Year
All starting with a $27,000 marketing budget
Our team knew the game was a gold mine. And we knew, at the end of the game, a music video meant to be a congratulatory celebration for those who finished the game, was the biggest opportunity to promote it. We got permission from the studio team to pull the video and release it on YouTube. Soon, it had hundreds of thousands of views — and helped PopCap reach over 10 million social followers.
Beyond the music video, we knew there was plenty of fun fodder. I partnered with our illustrator and creative sensei Glenn Mitsui to find a way to promote the game using unorthodox (and cheap) methods. We found a guy who could make a giant paper mache zombie head (of course), grabbed our camera, and began filming intentionally shoddy videos designed to capture an inside glimpse into PopCap and tease the newest game.
At the same time, we created a host of launch pieces — from PR kit gifts, mass email marketing and landing pages, and a series of teaser trailers.
By the time the game launched, it was not only a critical darling for the brilliance of the game, it was a weird and wonderful marketing success — named one of the hottest brands of the year by Ad Age.
Not only did the original PC game sell like crazy, we eventually took the game to new platforms: becoming the fastest-selling iPhone game ever, crossing over into consoles, and even pop culture ubiquity with a little help from Jimmy Fallon and fashion shows in China.