Pictured above: Jon Edwards, God of War product manager at Sony
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE ASGARD It won’t escape anyone’s notice that Sony is investing big in its God of War marketing campaign, though when we ask for more details Edwards’ only answer is: “God of War is one of our big titles for 2018 and the marketing investment is indicative of that.” He continues: “We want to make sure that we convey the stature and magnitude of God of War; this is an epic action adventure game which will be brought to life via big AV placements across TV and cinema.” But even before the TV and cinema ads, God of War started appearing in every Londoner’s daily life as giant posters were everywhere on the tube since even before the release date was announced in January. The out-of-home advertising campaign has been going on for a while then, with God of War being used alongside Horizon Zero Dawn as the literal poster child for the ‘Only on Playstation’ campaign.
“There are lots of reasons to love your PS4 but our great exclusive titles are one of the biggest.”
“There are lots of reasons to love your PS4 but our great exclusive titles are one of the biggest,” Edwards says. “The ‘Only on PlayStation’ campaign serves as a reminder of this and, as such, we’ve drawn on the likes of Horizon Zero Dawn, GT Sport, God of War, Uncharted 4, Shadow of the Colossus and Detroit: Become Human over the course of the activity. We have something for all the players and this campaign allows us to remind people of this.” And the marketing campaign will only get more intense as we get closer to the game’s release date, Edwards continues. “The ATL spend will place God of War in front of a huge audience. TV, cinema and VOD will deliver the trailer to a substantial mainstream audience across sport and film audiences – Tomb Raider, Pacific Rim 2, Ready Player One,” he details. “There will also be out-of-home placements on over 2,500 buses around the UK and hundreds of 48 sheet [billboards]. Alongside this, there will be a large digital and social plan providing new content and high impact advertising across a wide range of gaming sites, mainstream media outlets and more, providing an always-on approach to God of War.” Edwards adds that Sony will “continue to support [God of War] across the year,” as it’s a “key title” for the publisher. He concludes: “Our pre-orders are in line with our expectations at this point and we anticipate a significant increase once the reviews go live.”
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