After many years, Vladimir Makarov, one of Call of Duty’s most iconic villains, was finally returning. But a brand new generation of gamers didn’t know who he is or why they should care about his inclusion in MWIII.

With our client, Activision, making him the center of their key art and marketing plans, we had to make his return matter to gamers and turn that excitement into pre-orders.

The active and lapsed gamers we needed to convince cared most about gameplay, so our objective was to continue to market Call of Duty as a blockbuster entertainment franchise, while finding a way to elevate the promise of the gameplay experience.

We released a chilling trailer that, through provocative gameplay and arresting live action, brought the game's villain, Vladimir Makarov, to life as the “Joker” of the Call of Duty world – a villain so fascinating, terrifying, and ominous, gamers would feel like they had no choice but to pre-order for the chance to battle him.

Our work combined live-action character-building with provocative gameplay imagery to bring Makarov’s sinister personality to life. We got permission from game developers to extend his look and origin story – portraying him as the now-tattooed boss of a Russian gulag.

Modern Warfare III was an immediate follow up to the best-selling Call of Duty game of all time in 2022, Modern Warfare II. Because that title built up a dedicated player base who was still enjoying the game, to hit business goals, we had to convince 16M gamers who were still playing Modern Warfare II or had lapsed after a couple of months to buy this game.

Those gamers don’t know who Vladimir Makarov is or why they should care about his inclusion in the game, but a game’s story is one of the biggest drivers of interest in a new title.

So, we had to make Vladimir Makarov the most feared and exciting video game villain – an enemy gamers can’t wait to battle against.

Like everything else in the gulag, the color in our film was bent to the will of our villain. It shielded his face until he was ready to reveal it. And it emphasized every nightmarish and inhumane millimeter of the setting. The opening hints of black and green emphasize the brutality of the place, before we descend into the blackness of Makarov’s cell. As he walks, the world reddens with his evil presence and prisoners around him pale as they lose their humanity. Then, we focus on his tattoos – crafted in tangibly black ink, we used color to ensure they stood out and remained legible so they could transition us into the world of gameplay, equally defined by the darkness of his plans. When he reaches his destination, he allows the tattoo artist’s light to reveal him – an unquestionable display of his unyielding influence, power, and control.

3,510,474 preorders in the first week. The second most of all time for a COD reveal.

25M organic trailer views across TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube