The brief was to create a truly unique, global cultural moment around the launch of PlayStation®5, bringing to life the campaign strapline “Play Has No Limits”. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the maker of PlayStation® wanted to create a moment fans could witness as one when they couldn’t be together, ensuring the launch could be experienced and shared without a large physical audience. The challenge was to create a global cultural moment that was visible to the mainstream, making the brand and console famous whilst achieving consistency of creative execution at a regional level.

To measure efficacy, SIE defined “hype” as earned media and social buzz with everything ultimately linking through to industry news and mainstream media coverage.

To bring to life “Play Has No Limits” on a global stage during the pandemic, SIE needed to interrogate the notion of what a stage is and what a show can be without people there to physically witness it. With doors shut to traditional “stages” and audiences, their idea was simple - defy the limits of reality on iconic buildings and sites across the world. SIE distorted reality using volumetric and anamorphic projections, with PlayStation®5 console and DualSense wireless controllers seemingly breaking through the screens - the purest articulation of the campaign strapline.

SIE further realised limitless play by drawing a blue thread around the globe and capturing it for the fans at home. This built-for-camera approach allowed them to creatively direct both content and capture and stitch everything together into a moment for fans which built to a midnight crescendo when the console went on sale, region by region.

PlayStation®’s global gaming audience are used to indulging their passion for gaming online and at key moments, they enjoy coming together physically. During console launches this is particularly important, with IRL playing a pivotal role in driving excitement and buzz. SIE expected their fans to be at the same level of fever pitch ahead of launch to which they were accustomed. However, for the launch in 2020 all in–person physical events were cancelled and needed to evolve to a digital format, but, rather than diluting the magic of IRL by porting a physical launch event online, SIE needed to find a new source of magic to excite fans from home. SIE also had the challenge of realising the concept of limitless play at the most limited time in the community’s collective memory. For this to work SIE needed to create unity in isolation, play amidst restriction and freedom in restraint.

The live shows took place on the eve of PlayStation®5’s launch across the globe, building up sequentially as each region approached midnight (the exact moment the console went on sale.) Content was projected onto iconic buildings and sites in 25 countries and regions from Dubai’s Burj Khalifa to Venice’s St Mark’s Square, from Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay to Tokyo’s Kanda Myojin shrine, SIE even transformed a mountain range in Switzerland’s St Moritz. Five anamorphic placements defied limits, running at up to 8k on 80m+ screens.

Delivering the first globally coordinated social campaign in PlayStation®’s history, every show was filmed as it went live to create a 30 second edit for each of the regions, within 6 hours of activation, and pushed out through PlayStation®’s owned channels at a global and local level. This culminated in a final global montage uniting all the regions and the gaming community together.

The activation generated some world-firsts - PlayStation® was the first ever 100% brand takeover of London’s Piccadilly Lights as well as its first anamorphic installation and the content for Burj Khalifa broke the speed of sound.

SIE created 29 activations across 25 regions, with each having its own 30 second edit and culminating in a global 90 second montage bringing everything together. All the content was posted sequentially on a global Twitter thread to follow the blue light across the world, resulting in the longest Twitter thread in the brand’s history to create a worldwide conversation between fans.

The content generated 24.4m views and 3.5m interactions, with 153 pieces of global media coverage spanning an 860m total readership.

Contributing to the launch of PS5™, catapulting the brand momentum to a record high in the history of the brand. SIE also won market share for PS5™ amongst their closest competitors.