We had a simple idea, based on thousands of years of human history: If moms hate something, 18-year-olds are going to love it. Standing out from hundreds of other violent, graphic video games isn’t easy. So how could we get a generation of cynical gamers to pay attention? We didn’t show them the game. We showed it to their moms, and secretly filmed all 200 of them reacting to the most graphic and violent footage Dead Space 2 had to offer. The theory was confirmed. They hated it. And 18-year-olds loved it.

During the NFL playoffs on January 15th, "Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2" was launched as a thirty-second television spot featuring footage of real moms reacting to the video game. Millions of viewers were driven to yourmomhatesthis.com.

The campaign website housed a long-form video series of individual moms, a making-of documentary, and video of two moms playing the game against each other. Along with broadcast, targeted banners and a social presence drove users to a twitter contest. People were asked to enter by showing the game to their moms and filming the reactions. The responses went beyond contest entries, with user-generated parodies, remixes, tributes and mash-ups. From there, it was picked up in mainstream and industry press.

To date, the campaign has earned over 300 million media impressions.

After the campaign launched, average time spent on the website was almost seven times the industry norm. The site also earned the most repeat visits out of all the game websites in the entire EA games label, with visitors averaging over nine return visits to the site after the campaign launched. User generated content and write-ups in mainstream outlets such as New York Magazine, The LA Times and Salon.com led to over 300 million media impressions. And, within the first two weeks after launch, Dead Space 2 outsold the original game two to one.