SITUATION:

When Tomb Raider released its most thrilling video game trailer yet for the new “Shadow of the Tomb Raider,” which features the sacrifice of a child, intense jungle warfare, and a near drowning, initial reactions called the CGI trailer disturbing and dark. While this game trailer represents the white-knuckled action that will make the newest version of the legendary Tomb Raider franchise one hard core fans won’t be able to put down, Square Enix realized the level of brutal intensity was scaring people away and had to find a way to reach more mass audience.

BRIEF: This game may be intense, but it’s also a lot of fun. Shift the conversation from the game's brutal scenes shown in the trailer, to how entertaining the game truly is in spirit.

OBJECTIVE: Counterbalance the intensity of Shadow of The Tomb Raider in order to drive pre-order sales to a wider audience.

“Shadow of The Cute Raider,” took both hard core and mass audience fans from “eww” to “aww” with a live action scene-by-scene reenactment of the suspenseful original CGI game trailer, but with an adorable and cuddly animal cast. An Australian Shepard playing Lara Croft battles yarn-chasing jungle cat combatants and dashes off to save a puppy from a hairless feline version of the evil High Priest, who wants to...groom it. While the villains are distracted by laser pointers, the High Priest is dispatched by a cat’s greatest enemy: a Toomba (AKA a Roomba).

While Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the darkest game of the Tomb Raider trilogy, it is also just a video game. And ultimately the reason gamers play games, is to have fun and be entertained. Our strategy focused on finding a way to prove the fun and entertainment this new Tomb Raider would bring, show fans that we’re not taking ourselves too seriously, and give our hard core fans something to talk about in order to break through with mass audiences. We went straight to the thing the internet loves the most - dogs and cats.

To reignite core audiences, reach mass audiences, and overcome press fatigue in the weeks leading up to game launch, Shadow of the Cute Raider selected the best day possible. Releasing content on August 26th, National Dog Day, Shadow of the Cute Raider made fans “aww” across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Buzzfeed Animals. Profile pictures were changed from video game Lara to dog Lara and community management responded to fans with barks and tail wags. Microsoft and Playstation amplified the content on their own channels and influencers helped to spread the puppy love. In addition to driving pre-order video game sales, Shadow of the Cute Raider also partnered with Microsoft to give fans a chance to bid on a one-of-kind Shadow of the Tomb Raider custom-branded Xbox One X console, generating $8,300 in proceeds for the Best Friends Animal Society.

REACH: Shadow of the Cute Raider YouTube video views achieved more than 2.4M globally - 2X more views than the original CGI video game trailer released.

ENGAGEMENT: Social benchmarks on Facebook were beat by more than 2X.

IMPACT: Shadow of the Tomb Raider video game pre-orders soared 62% in a single week.