Not every campaign brief asks you to build a world-first NPC of a Hollywood action star and drop him into one of Fortnite’s most-played maps. But when EssenceMediacom came to us with the task of making Universal Pictures’ Nobody 2 culturally unavoidable for 25-34 year old gamers, that’s exactly where the brief took us.

Overwolf Ads has been named a finalist at the ThinkLA Idea Awards in the category:

• Best Entertainment Campaign: How Universal Pictures Dropped Hollywood Icon Bob Odenkirk into Fortnite to Drive Box Office Success for Nobody 2

The Campaign

The starting point was a data truth that only Overwolf could see. There are 1.86 billion PC gamers in the world, and 113 million of them play on our platform. Inside that audience, Fortnite players skew heavily toward action lovers: people playing action and shooter titles are 1.7x more likely to visit the cinema monthly and 34% more likely to see an action film on opening weekend.

In other words, the Fortnite audience and the Nobody 2 target audience were basically the same people. The question was just how to reach them in a way that felt as good as the film.

Working with EssenceMediacom and production partners Sawhorse, we built a world-first: a fully bespoke NPC of Bob Odenkirk’s character Hutch Mansell, living inside Speed Realistics 2v2, one of Fortnite’s most popular action maps. Custom voice lines recorded by Odenkirk himself. Wearable cosmetics and weapon skins pulled directly from the film. In-lobby movie posters everywhere you looked. The result was not an ad placed near a game. It was the film, inside the game.

The Results

• 25M+ NPC impressions
• 1M+ players engaged with the branded cosmetics
• 27 minutes average time spent on the experience

Huge thanks to the teams at EssenceMediacom and Sawhorse for bringing this to life alongside us. This finalist placement belongs to all three of us.

Winners are announced at the ThinkLA Idea Awards Gala on June 17. Fingers crossed. Bob would want this.

See the full finalist list here.

See You at ThinkLA Gaming Brunch

We will be at the ThinkLA Gaming Brunch on May 14. If you are going to be there, come find us. We like talking about gaming, advertising, and what happens when you let the two get genuinely creative together.

About Overwolf Ads

Overwolf is a world-leading gaming platform empowering brands and advertisers to reach over 113 million monthly gamers across hundreds of the world's biggest titles and premium gaming websites.

Ranked by Comscore as the #2 Biggest US Gaming Property, winner of ADWEEK's Top Ad Tech Company, Digiday's Best Gaming Ad Tech and The Drum's Best Platform/Tech Partner of the Year, Overwolf is trusted by global brands and agencies such as Universal Pictures, H&R Block, Lancôme, AMD, Monster Energy, Nissan, KFC, WPP, Dentsu, Havas, The Trade Desk and more.

For more information on Overwolf, visit www.overwolf.com/ads.