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MCV INTERVIEW MURRAY PANNELL, MARKETING DIRECTOR, UBISOFT
BLOCKBUSTERS: Pannell predicts things for (from left to right) Assassin’s Creed 2, Avatar and Splinter Cell: Conviction
people want to play in the way they might want to watch a film made by a famous director. Ubisoft announced a number of titles at E3 and you have a fairly packed schedule leading up to Christmas. What are the key games? I think there are some very clear blockbusters, such as Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction on the schedule, along with other games for different audiences – such as the new Rabbids title and Red Steel. It’s a very diverse and wide line-up, which is another of the real contrasts I have found coming in to Ubisoft. I think we have a number of world class games that have every chance of doing significant numbers. If we invest our time and effort into pushing those up ten per cent across the board, Ubisoft will go from having a good year to a superb year. My remit to my team is to focus on the winners, do 100 per cent of the basic on the rest – but just make sure we put our real time and effort on those top games. There are five or six that can sell over a million – certainly some of them like Assassin’s Creed 2. James Cameron’s Avatar is also part of that mix, but the industry has a mixed history with licences. What’s your strategy going forward? My view on the situation is that if you can tie into some of the big blockbuster momentum you’ve won half the
battle. And from what we know so far, them are active on communities. We all Avatar looks set to be a world-changing want Assassin’s Creed to be a true mass kind of cinema given its pedigree and market title, for example, but that still elements like the 3D. It reminds me of needs to have a core excited fanbase at the experience I had at EA when I its centre. That vocal minority can really worked on the first Harry Potter game – Avatar reminds me of which was an incredible working on the original Harry entertainment Potter game at EA – a true phenomenon. My expectation is entertainment phenomenon. that the quality of Murray Pannell, Ubisoft Avatar and the experience that you see when you go to change the way a game is perceived – the cinema will create an amazing buzz that core of people includes the press that we can hopefully ride the wave of. and retail too. If the people in the know And of course the game is very special, get excited it sends shockwaves too. throughout the industry and beyond. From working on things like Halo and Do movie games present unique Gears of War I’ve seen that if you spend marketing challenges? some time working on just that I think the challenge is that you’re ‘hardcore’ audience, in some ways the slightly out of control of the franchise. masses will follow. So at the end of the day it will be the In a year where we might be very studio who has a lot of say of what can conscious of costs and very tight on be said and when it’s said. But what we’re spending and how we properties with one creative visionary in spend it, going after the core is going to charge can be really successful. Avatar be absolutely critical. has James Cameron, and with Potter there was one person ultimately in What about Ubisoft’s hugely charge of that – J.K. Rowling – who successful range of casual Imagine everyone was terrified of disappointing. games – that must be quite a That can give real focus. contrast for you? True. Personally my biggest challenge is Ubisoft was one of the first finding out more about that audience to dedicate time to because that’s something I’ve never online communities – really done before. something Microsoft Coming in it’s clear Ubisoft has a good team on the Imagine range, run by did plenty of too. Will you be Mark Slaughter. When it comes to the continuing that? contrast with core gamers, what Ubisoft My experience is that you ignore your has done is experiment quite a lot – core user at your peril, and many of
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that’s what I like about the company; it will give everything a go and see if it works. In terms of marketing to the core audience it is of course a slightly different thing – it’s very much about selling a lifestyle and selling a set of values that people buy into. There’s also a balance you have to get right in that market of getting the fundamental user base of girls into it, but also giving the parents very much the authority to know about the products and trust in the content.
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The marketing for Assassin’s Creed 2 has started early, with a TV ad and other activity – has this been an intentional early drive? The Five TV ad alongside The Da Vinci Code was a tactical opportunity, and the game fitted tonally with the content of the movie. One thing Ubisoft had identified strategically was that we wanted to build the awareness and hype from early on. It sort of goes back to my point about having the key opinion formers on board and talking to them early – you can’t build a real hype machine in three months. It’s very difficult to tell if that specific example will have a very tangible effect on the sales, but it did drive pre-orders up overnight. It was something that was set up by the team before I arrived, but I am always keen to experiment with new things – I don’t mind us spending some money on TV and this kind of creative approach to marketing so long as we’re learning from that.