Call of Duty games are made for adults. At least, that’s what the ‘Mature 17+’ age rating says. However, a huge market for them has always and will always be under 18s. Those rule breaking youths are buying up the franchise’s many successful games almost as much as the adults, or rather, their parents are. Hence, their marketing tends to subtly reflect an awareness of that, seeing as they can’t actively target this demographic. It’s standard gameplay. It’s enticing to anyone with an interest in gaming.
This year is different. This year they really wanted to make you feel something. If you’re in their target demographic, we’re guessing they probably succeeded.
Call of Duty has always been one of the more sociable games. I remember rushing home after school to chuck on my headset and wait in the lobby for my mates. You do too? Brilliant, then this advert will work on you in the same way it did me.
https://web.archive.org/web/20201120212044/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4HGnM9ujVg
Pulling on the fact that groups of 20-30’s can all be at very different stages in their lives, it manages to make you laugh whilst staying surprisingly accurate too. Let’s be honest, we’re all mates with a Dave aren’t we?
If there’s one thing we can learn from the ‘Reassemble’ campaign as it was so aptly christened, it’s that understanding the popular opinions of your brand is vital.
Now maybe we’re reading into this a little too much but think of it this way. Why do the squad have to get back together? Because they have separated. Whilst the theme of this video seems to blame that on life taking it’s course, Call of Duty’s reputation has been waning with each release for quite a while now.
This is arguably the first edition in 6 years that isn’t plagued (in the eyes of many) by futuristic additions. Could it be that the squad only ever disbanded because the games no longer appealed to them? Are they now getting back together because, finally, there’s a game they all want to play?
If the millennial market is what you’re after, it’ll pay to know where they are and make sure you’re in the same place. We haven’t had a bad thing to say about this campaign so far, so as you might’ve guessed, they nailed this part too.
As much as it pains me to say it, I’m a ‘millennial’. So bravo Call of Duty you reached me, in the place where myself and 59% of the rest of the world’s 18 – 29 year olds are, Instagram.
Sorry, this isn’t a section about Pitbull. We just wanted to give a fair mention to the fact that this campaign has been cloned and actioned across the world effortlessly.
The U.S. version features a slightly larger cast and has racked up an impressive 4.3 million views on YouTube and the French version a humble 228,000 views.
If the younger you was a Call of Duty fan, and you were hit by this campaign, well you’re probably not reading this are you – you’re probably half way through winning the war.
