How Beauty Brands Are Tapping Influencers On Instagram

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Beauty brands are all about “the look,” so marketing on Instagram is the perfect match. After all, why describe what a product looks like when you can just show it?

According to Fashion/Beauty Monitor, 57 percent of beauty and fashion companies use influencers to market their products. The Instagram influencer market could reach $2 billion by 2019, according to a study by Mediakix.

Brands like Covergirl and Maybelline combine influencers and hashtags on Instagram to encourage audience participation, such as #ProjectPDA (Public Display of Application), which invites users to post pictures of themselves applying make-up in public.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU965qeF0Zt/?taken-by=evonwahab

Twenty-eight percent of Internet users between the ages of 18-and-29 use Instagram, Pew Research reports. These consumers come to Facebook’s photosharing platform to keep up with the latest trends, watch videos and get how-to instructions.

Contests offer incentives for sharing Instagram posts about a brand or product. Hair product line Got2b invited fans to show off their hairstyles for a chance to be the face of the next campaign. The company frequently reposts striking hair photos from its followers and offers giveaways through its channel.

Taking advantage of Facebook’s family of analytics tools, beauty brands are sharing campaigns across social media platforms. Video and carousel ads across Instagram and Facebook earned Too Faced Cosmetics 58 percent more engagement. “We learned how effective Instagram was for brand awareness,” Krysta Brown, senior manager of digital marketing at Too Faced Cosmetics, said on Facebook’s blog.

Studies have shown that more than half of consumers research purchases online before committing—since make-up cannot be returned to a store, seeing the product in action before a purchase helps build confidence toward that path.

Instagram is currently testing the ability to make purchases directly from the app with companies such as J. Crew, Warby Parker and Kate Spade.

“It’s been a little frustrating to us in the past to not be able to have people purchase on Instagram,” said Jenna Lyons, J. Crew’s president and creative director, per Bloomberg. “Not only has it become a place for people to get influenced by their friends, but they’re walking into our stores with their phones and saying, ‘do you have this?’”

‘Total War: Warhammer II’ Expands Trilogy With More Epic Action

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Total War: Warhammer shook up strategy gaming when it released in May last year by combining the deep strategic gameplay of the Total War brand with the brutality of the Warhammer fantasy universe. They were two flavors that went perfectly well together, and now the developers are preparing to do it again with a standalone sequel.

Total War: Warhammer II is the second game in a trilogy and it features four new races: Lizardmen, High Elves, Dark Elves and an unannounced race. The game is driven by a new narrative based in Warhammer lore that takes place on a map called The New World, which has four new continents to explore and a magical vortex that threatens to destroy everything. Although the game has some new features, the core game remains intact from the previous installment. Players are tasked with ensuring their race thrives by destroying rival ones.

[Left] Mark Sinclair, game designer. [Right] Andy Hall, lead writer. The Creative Assembly.
AListDaily sat down with The Creative Assembly’s Mark Sinclair, Warhammer II’s game designer, and lead writer Andy Hall to go in-depth the sequel releasing in September. The first thing we asked was why Creative Assembly chose to turn the Total War: Warhammer franchise into a trilogy.

“The Warhammer tabletop game has so much content—with 16 races and about 30 years of lore behind it—so it’s not feasible to fit it all into one game,” answered Sinclair. “So, the first game has a slice of all that, this second game will have another, and the third game will finish it off. At the end of it all, we’ll have a giant campaign map that’s a giant free-for-all.”

Strategy game trilogies aren’t unusual, as demonstrated by games such as Blizzard’s StarCraft II, which was similarly released in three standalone installments. However, years separated each of those games. It’s been just over a year since the first game came out, and Hall revealed why Creative Assembly was working with such a relatively fast schedule.

“We didn’t want to leave it too long because these games—in addition to being standalone—merge together as parts of one giant jigsaw,” Hall explained. “We don’t want to leave it too long for players, and there is a desire from them to get our stuff out as fast as possible.”

With that being the case, we asked why the developers opted to go with a full standalone sequel instead of launching a major expansion to add-on to the first game. Sinclair responded by saying that with so much new content, a sequel simply made logical sense.

Hall added that, “It was always going to be a trilogy, and if you’re a High Elf fan, but don’t care much for the other races, then you can buy this game and be ready to go. You won’t have to buy the first game and then an expansion just to play as High Elves. But if you own both games, they will merge together after our first big patch to form one big map, making for two different modes of play. There’s the bespoke Vortex campaign for Warhammer II, and then there’s going to be a mega campaign, which is what Warhammer players really want. This is the game they’ve always wanted. They want to use their favorite race and take over the world and this allows them to do that.”

The response from fans appears to be strong. “I think it has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Sinclair. “Everyone who has played Warhammer I is very happy with what we’ve produced and the most common comments were, ‘where are the Lizardmen or High Elves?’ Now, I hope we’re pleasing everyone.”

“The clamor for the different races, whether it was for DLC or in a sequel, has been very strong,” said Hall. “It always seems like we give the players something and then they’re ready for the next thing. We’re working really hard to rattle through it all.”

Getting the next big thing also means extra content for the previous game, given the incentives for picking up the game early. Sinclair said, “We announced a pre-order incentive for Warhammer II, so if you pre-order the game or buy it within the first week of launch, you get a free race pack DLC for the first game—which will be our final add-on for that game outside of power and ability updates.”

Dedicated players have already put in hundreds of hours into the first game. When asked if that meant that players were likely to migrate to a sequel, Hall said, “I would hope so. If I were a customer, I’d want to be able to expand my map by over 50 percent and sail my troops over to take over those new lands. That’s very compelling, I think. And Warhammer II players may want to pick up Warhammer I, so it could work both ways.”

Warhammer II and its mega campaign will let players who have invested hundreds of hours into the first game get a completely new experience when the sequel launches. “You can expand in a completely different direction, adding so many more hours of gameplay,” said Sinclair. “It’s mind-blowing how much content there is.”

There won’t be multiplayer crossplay between the two games if players each only own one or the other. “But if you own both games, you can play as all the races between them,” said Sinclair. Additionally, players will only be able to play the new free-for-all mode, where four players battle against each other for supremacy, by owning both games—making for even more incentive to own both.

Warhammer II delves into the ‘stranger’ parts of the Warhammer universe. “We’re getting into some crazy races now,” said Hall. “Besides the Greenskins, most of the races in Warhammer I were pretty much humans. Warhammer II brings some real ‘out there’ races to the table. You have dinosaurs riding dinosaurs and space lasers! Then you’ve got the Elves, who like to fight against themselves, and I think the mysterious fourth race will please a lot of people.”

We asked the two if this strange fantasy setting appealed to the mainstream history-themed Total War game fans. “We’ve definitely got overlap,” said Sinclair. “I think it’s fair to say that some of our hardcore historical fans were skeptical about Warhammer, but I think that even if you don’t like the aesthetic, Warhammer brought magic, giant monsters and flying creatures to the game. So, even if you don’t like orcs and goblins, we got a lot of people intrigued about how that worked in Total War. I’m sure there are people who won’t touch Warhammer and are keenly waiting for the next historical title, but I think the majority of people came over and a lot of them fell in love with it.”

How does Creative Assembly engage with its players to maintain enthusiasm for this trilogy? “People play the game and then they kind of look for the next thing,” said Hall. We’ve done some nice free DLC drops, including Bretonnia, which is a whole new race. We’re going to continue in that style. There will obviously be paid DLC so that we can keep the lights on, but we’ll also be dropping free bits of content to keep players engaged and coming back.”

All of us are constantly reading the Total War forums and taking in the feedback,” Sinclair added. “It’s a two-way thing where we’re always talking to them. We also have a veteran group of players who are our beta testers that give us feedback.”

Insomniac Games Details Working With Superpowered ‘Spider-Man’ Brand

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Fans have been in a frenzy for Marvel’s Spider-Man game since it was first announced last year at the PlayStation Experience event. That enthusiasm was sparked by the wall-crawler’s appearance in Captain America: Civil War and is further fueled by the upcoming movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming. Expectations were raised even further during E3, when Sony premiered the first gameplay trailer. Spider-Man marks the first licensed game from Insomniac Games, which is famous for the Ratchet & Clank franchise, but is also making a name for itself with multiple VR titles such as The Unspoken, along with other independent games.

With the blockbuster movie set to launch in July, the pressure is on for the game studio as it prepares for a 2018 release of the web-slinger’s newest game for the PS4. AListDaily spoke with Bryan Intihar, creative director for Marvel’s Spider-Man at Insomniac Studios to find out what goes into meeting the expectations for the brand.

Insomniac understands that there is an incredible amount of enthusiasm for Spider-Man, and its goal is to deliver a fantastic game to match it. The gameplay trailer that debuted at E3 demonstrated some of the open world gameplay, where players are free to choose their own paths across the world and deal with challenges in creative ways.

AListDaily asked Intihar if trailers for the movie Spider-Man: Homecoming was setting up expectations for the game. “Yeah, but I feel pressure regardless of Homecoming. I think the MCU (Marvel Comics Universe) set up expectations for a Marvel experience before Homecoming. It’s the same thing for Wonder Woman—the bar has been set so high from these comic book movies, TV shows, comics and cartoons that our video game needs to match or exceed it.” Although Intihar stated that he’s blown away with each new Homecoming trailer, each one does crank up the stress levels.

Intihar added that he was inspired by the approach movies and television shows like Netflix’s Daredevil use to get at the heart of what the characters are about. He also stated Insomniac is working closely with Marvel to get the Spider-Man brand right. Although a trailer confirms that Iron Man will be making a cameo in Homecoming, Intihar indicated that there probably won’t be any extra superheroes showing up in the game, stating that “we’re focused on making a great Spider-Man game” and Insomniac wanted to focus on getting this part of the Marvel universe right.

However, the appearance of Miles Morales—who is Spider-Man in the Ultimate Marvel comic book universe and the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series—at the end of the gameplay trailer does go a long way toward growing the overall brand. Having the character show up at the end, comic book enthusiasts a chance to educate those who aren’t familiar with the character, thus growing awareness. Intihar confirmed that Peter’s story will intertwine with Miles’ and he also said that while Insomniac was in discussions with Marvel about including some sort of crossover with the movies or comic books, it looks like the video game will be a self-contained story that feels true to the Marvel world.

That being the case, Insomniac is taking a few liberties with the franchise, particularly with the iconic costume, which has a giant white spider design that’s specific to the game. “We want to respect the traditions of the franchise, but we also wanted to mix things up and the suit is a good example of that coming through,” said Intihar. “Some people love it, some people hate it, but we expected that. Then we saw people cosplaying with it and one guy got a giant tattoo of it, and I said, ‘Oh my god, the game better not suck’ when he showed me. But we didn’t do it for shock value, we did it because it’s part of the story. There is a story behind the suit, and I think it’s really cool and that it’s going to surprise a lot of people.”

Furthermore, Insomniac isn’t looking to bring in any of the iconic Spider-Man comic book moments seen in some of the films, such as choosing to save a train car full of people or his love interest. “We’re influenced by certain situations, but this is an original story and these are original events,” Intihar told AListDaily. “I’m a big Marvel fan, and as cool as it would be to recreate these events, I want to give people a new experience. There are characters and situations that they may know, but the exact boss fights are going to be more original. But that doesn’t mean that when they fight a villain, they won’t see similarities to the comics because there’s tons of lore. But we’re trying to capture the DNA of that [hero and villain] relationship and how they would fight rather than copying it beat by beat.”

When talking to Marvel, Intihar discussed what made a great Spider-Man story. The conclusion was that the best stories came from when Peter Parker’s world collided with Spider-Man’s. A lot of people have asked Intihar why the team at Insomniac chose to feature Mister Negative instead of a more well-known villain for its E3 gameplay trailer. Intihar said that, besides the visual effects from the negatively charged weaponry, “we thought that it would be a great opportunity to see those worlds collide. When he gets up there, he doesn’t see Mister Negative, he see Martin Li because he knows him. Martin runs the FEAST (Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training) shelters and Aunt May works at the FEAST shelters.” Insomniac wanted to push those worlds as close together as possible, but Intihar did note that Mister Negative was one of many villains that will appear in the game.

“We at Insomniac are dedicated to making this the best game we can,” concluded Intihar. “We wanted to do this character justice.”

Rémy Martin Transports Consumers With HoloLens Mixed Reality For Cognac Tastings

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While Microsoft was focused on E3 and its Xbox One and Xbox One X consoles, across town in Los Angeles, Rémy Martin debuted a new Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality experience that will travel the world for some alcohol-infused storytelling.

The “Rooted In Exception” experience takes place on a specially designed table that allows guests, wearing one of two HoloLens developer edition goggles, to see how the cognac brand’s blend is crafted. The 90-second, mixed-reality experience transports viewers to their Cognac Grande Champagne and Cognac Petite Champagne vineyards with Baptiste Loiseau, the cellar master of the house of Rémy Martin. Loiseau explains the cognac-making process from start to finish.

Maximilian Doelle, chief holographic officer at Kazendi, the European HoloLens development studio who created the experience, told AListDaily that one of the main advantages for consumer brand experiences with mixed reality is the high memory retention through the combination of 3D visualizations, 3D sound and haptics of the real world. In addition, the user feels much more comfortable being able to see the real world compare to VR and never get a headache from it.

“For brands, this also means that the solution is easily scalable since the only thing you need is a HoloLens, which fits comfortably into a backpack,” Doelle said. “In case a brand wants to update the experience for a local market, that’s not a problem—we can push remotely to the device and assist worldwide. “

Through mixed reality, groups of people, whether colleagues or consumers, can take part in shared holographic experiences and thereby enhance their capacity to communicate and collaborate with one another, Doelle added.

Emma Medina, vice president of marketing at Rémy Martin, told AListDaily the brand had experimented with augmented reality through a lifestyle shoot with Robin Thicke and virtual reality through brand ambassadors in the past because these technologies provide an interesting and interactive way to tell the brand story.

“France is far away and we can transport our clients there,” Medina said. “This technology allows us to take our customers there to understand the heritage and craftsmanship that goes into Cognac.”

HoloLens opened up a new opportunity for the brand to connect with consumers within restaurants, bars and stores around the globe.

“This was interesting because you can experience both the screen aspect of it as well as the physical world,” Medina said. “In VR you’re only in the creative space. With mixed reality you can do both, which allows sales people and brand ambassadors to interact with multiple customers at the same time.”

Medina is currently working her sales teams to identify different stores, on-premise restaurants and lounges to invite clients to experience this mixed reality table. The plan is for this experience to embark on a global tour after this initial launch. The event combines next generation technology with drinking.

“We want to bring this to as many clients as possible around the world,” she said. “While guests are interacting with the mixed reality experience, there’s a full tasting of Rémy Martin XO cognac as well as food pairings that highlight the different tasting notes and opulent aromas that the liquid delivers.”

In addition to the mixed reality technology, the specially designed table, which highlights the landscape of Cognac, France is key to the traveling experience. When customers aren’t wearing one of the HoloLens devices, they can see the regions where the wineries are based.

With Rémy Martin XO cognac retailing for $160, Medina said the clients tend to be affluent entrepreneurs and professionals that live in urban or metro centers throughout the US. They’re also very tech savvy, involved in social media and follow all the latest trends in lifestyle and innovation. Although the brand skews male, there is a very robust female following.

“Unlike whiskey, cognac has a very accessible taste because it’s smooth and rich and complex, which attracts a diverse group of consumers,” Medina said. “We tend to skew to an older, affluent consumer, but our sweet spot is between 30-and-40 years old.”

In the future, Medina sees the next natural step for mixed reality would be to enable guests to use their own smartphones.

“Once we saw the (mixed reality) images come alive and the elements move and spin around, it felt like we were walking into the future,” Medina said. “We’re excited about how far we can take this. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface with this technology. We have a full range of products and we can tell the story of our cellar master and wine growers and how to pair different cognac with food and explore the cocktail culture.”

Cheerio! General Mills Makes Former Coca-Cola Exec Its New CMO

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General Mills has a new global chief marketing officer in Ivan Pollard, who will be filling the top marketing executive void left by Ann Simonds when she left the company last December.

Pollard was previously the senior vice president of strategic marketing for Coca-Cola North America, where he used data to help the soft-drinks maker efficiently spend $2 billion a year on advertising.

The hiring of Pollard will likely shift the General Mills’ focus toward more e-commerce and digital marketing tactics.

“I was drawn to General Mills by their beloved brands and the quality of their marketing talent, but I decided to join because of the good I see them doing in the world and the untapped opportunities I see for business growth. I’m excited to be part of their next chapter,” said Pollard.

Pollard will now be tasked with establishing General Mills’ first global marketing and media planning function for brands like Cheerios, Annie’s, Nature Valley and Pillsbury.

One of the areas of focus for Pollard will likely be overseeing the Yoplait brand, too, which contributed to company’s overall sales falling throughout last year.

But yogurt was not the only product mishap in the past year for General Mills. In May, the company dropped the Tiny Toast brand, an unsuccessful offshoot of the popular Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

Pollard will begin his post on July 10 and report to CEO Jeff Harmening.

“Ivan’s diverse global experience brings us a fresh perspective on our brands and a deep understanding of how to operationalize integrated, modern marketing in the digital age,” said Harmening. “We have tremendous opportunities to unlock global growth by improving the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and our teams are eager to build on the work they have started.”

Campbell Soup hired Matt Pritchard to be vice president of its digital acceleration group, a division created in November to move the company toward digital personalization.

Pritchard previously worked on Kellogg’s European digital strategy and operations. Now he is tasked with handling Campbell’s online search capabilities and in-store messages to customers.

Apple has tapped two of Sony Pictures Television’s top executives, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, to run its video programming.

“We have exciting plans in store for customers and can’t wait for them to bring their expertise to Apple,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services.

Fox Television Group promoted Shannon Ryan to chief marketing officer, and Darren Schillace to executive vice president of marketing.

Ryan was previously in charge of creative services, special operations and experimental marketing across Fox. Schillace used to be senior vice president of marketing at ABC Entertainment.

NBC Universal hired Laura Lee as executive vice president of content, strategy and operations of NBCU Digital Enterprises. The former YouTube executive will now oversee partnerships with Snap, Vox Media and BuzzFeed.

“Laura’s deep experience in the digital space will be a great asset as we continue to create new monetization and premium content opportunities across NBCUniversal and expand our partnerships with new media and technology companies,” said Maggie Suniewick, president of NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises.

Entertainment Studios has hired Dick Roberts as executive vice president of marketing and creative services. Roberts formally served as vice president of marketing and creative services for Sony Pictures.

“Dick’s extensive marketing talents and experience make him the perfect addition to the Entertainment Studios team as we continue to grow our global media company and invest in premium content,” said Entertainment Studios CEO Byron Allen, per Deadline.

Nike is expected to cut 1,400 jobs from its global workforce during what they’re describing as “a new company alignment.” The strategy, called “consumer direct offense,” will push for more one-to-one customer experiences. Nike president Trevor Edwards also plans to consolidate the company’s market geography structure from six regions to four.

Jonathan Goldsmith, best known as the “Most Interesting Man in the World,” is no longer the pitchman for beer brand Dos Equis, but he’s still staying thirsty, my friends, with tequila. Goldsmith is now the face and spokesman for Astral Tequila’s marketing and advertising campaigns.

Mars has tapped Sandeep Dadlani as their new chief digital officer and George Corbin as chief digital demand officer. Dadlani is now responsible for leading Mars’ digital transformation agenda, while Corbin will be incorporating e-commerce and digital businesses into the company.

“Digital is changing the way our consumers and customers experience our products and services. New expectations, competition, distribution channels and opportunities present themselves every day. As we use digital capability to transform our business, we’re delighted that Sandeep Dadlani and George Corbin will bring their depth of expertise in this area,” said Mars CEO and president Grant F. Reid.

AMC and SundanceTV have hired Justin Manfredi as senior vice president of marketing. Manfredi was previously the global senior director of digital marketing for Activision.

Mexican-inspired quick service restaurant Taco John’s is bringing Jimmy Orr as their new director of digital strategy. Orr, formerly of the LA Times, will be responsible for boosting Taco John’s online presence and creating digital campaigns.

Taco John’s also hired Tom Meyer as vice president of marketing for the brand. Meyer was previously the account director for KFC’s largest co-op and director of marketing for Del Taco.

USA Today Network hired award-winning journalist Robin Amer to launch an investigative podcast series for the network.

“The resurgence of podcasting has opened up a new avenue for innovative storytelling,” said Maribel Perez Wadsworth, USA Today’s chief transformation officer. “This addition combines our award-winning investigative journalism with exciting tune-in entertainment.”

Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick has resigned from the company following a series of negative PR reports for the ridesharing company in recent months.

“I love Uber more than anything in the world and at this difficult moment in my personal life I have accepted the investors request to step aside so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight,” said Kalanick.

Media platform Yahoo Esports, a media arm of Yahoo Sports, will no longer be updated, effective June 16. The move comes after Verizon acquired Yahoo and the creation of Oath, a new subsidiary combining the two company’s online assets.

“As Yahoo Sports becomes part of Oath, they are focusing on aligning with the new company strategy and are focused on growing the Yahoo Sports brand,” said Travis Gafford, Yahoo’s head of esports media.

Dustee Jenkins has stepped down as Target’s chief communications officer. She spent seven years at the big box retailer.

Clarivate Analytics announced that Julia Mair is joining the Philadelphia-based company as its new CMO.

(Editor’s Note: This post will be updated daily until Friday, June 23. Have a new hire tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.)

Job Vacancies 

Director, Digital Programs, Martech & Personalization Starbucks Seattle, WA
Director, Strategic Partnership Marketing NBC Universal Universal City, CA
New Balance Boston, MA
Director, Brand Management Warner Music Group Nashville, TN
Director, Marketing Sony Music Entertainment New York, NY
Chief Marketing Officer Gibson Brands, Inc. Nashville, TN
Vice President of Marketing Feed the Children Oklahoma City, OK
NATPE Los Angeles, CA

Make sure to check back for updates on our Jobs Page.

Twitch COO: Blizzard Esports Deal Creates “Interesting And Deeper Integrated Marketing Opportunities”

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Twitch is about to put the “watch” in Overwatch.

The popular livestreaming platform has formed an exclusive worldwide partnership with Blizzard that includes third-party livestreaming rights to select Blizzard esports content through 2018. In addition, Twitch Prime subscribers will receive special game content such as a guaranteed Legendary Loot Box item for Overwatch. Blizzard’s license deal with Twitch will grant exclusive, third-party livestreaming rights to over 20 major esports events across Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II and Overwatch.

Other social media sites have been hard at work building their esports presence and just last year, Blizzard partnered with Facebook Live to stream its game content directly onto user feeds. Blizzard could very easily stream its content across as many social channels as possible, but they chose Twitch for the two-year license deal.

Twitch COO Kevin Lin attributes this decision to his company’s biggest asset—community.

“The thing that has defined Twitch as a platform is the size of the community and the connections they have made with each other using our native emote-driven language in chat,” Lin told AListDaily. “This is because we focus on building entire communities around games, not just events. We also spend a lot of time listening to our community and they have been pretty vocal about their dismay when esports events are not on our platform. On top of the community, Twitch Prime is an element that is 100 percent unique to our platform and it is loaded with perks, including guaranteeing a Legendary item for Overwatch.”

An eyeball-bursting 262 billion minutes of video were watched on Twitch last year across 2.2 million unique streamers, with Overwatch coming in as the most viewed new game of 2016.

While known for its video games, the livestreaming site isn’t afraid to branch out into other genres, offering livestreams of TV shows and other content to highly engaged audiences.

Twitch earns 37 percent of gaming video content (GVC) revenue despite only having 16 percent of the viewers, according to SuperData, making it an attractive platform for Blizzard, esports leagues and marketers alike.

“Brands will be able to engage for longer periods of time around each league’s audience,” Lin explained, “and with Blizzard and Twitch working together more closely, there will be more interesting and deeper integrated marketing opportunities.”

According to research from IHS Markit, esports is expected to become a $1 billion advertising industry by 2021, with video driving a majority of revenues along with influencer marketing and sponsorship.

Esports was a major focus at E3 2017 with brands like Twitch, ESL and Nintendo hosting live competitions for the expo’s tens of thousands of guests. Microsoft was also on-hand to show off its Mixer livestreaming platform, hoping to get a piece of that delicious livestreaming pie.

 

Dedicated Fan Community Made ‘Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy’ A Reality

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It’s been several years since Crash Bandicoot had his own console game, which many feel is a major oversight, considering how the twirling character was largely regarded as one of the original PlayStation’s unofficial mascots for some time. But you can’t keep Crash down, and he’s making a comeback with the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which is being published by Activision and is releasing for PlayStation 4 and Pro on June 30. As the title suggests, the compilation includes remastered editions of the first three games from the Crash Bandicoot franchise, giving both new and old fans a chance to dive into the games that started them all.

“These were iconic, groundbreaking and beloved games that came out on the PlayStation One over 20 years ago,” Kara Massie, producer on N. Sane Trilogy, explained to AListDaily during the game’s E3 showing. “Last year was Crash’s 20th birthday and he was the early mascot of the PlayStation. All these games have been lovingly remastered from the ground up for PS4 and PS4 Pro.”

Massie was joined by Nicholas Ruepp, executive producer at Vicarious Visions, the studio that’s remastering the trio of games: Crash Bandicoot, Cortex Strikes Back and Warped. When asked how impactful the PlayStation 4 Pro’s capabilities were to the remastered games, Ruepp said that the 4K console system was instrumental. “That’s why a lot of the embellishments and additional features that we put in weren’t in the original games—the hardware was the limiting factor,” Ruepp explained. “The visual fidelity is stunning, and that wouldn’t be possible without the PS4 Pro.”

Fans get to see Crash look better than ever before, and pre-ordering the game gets them three different PlayStation theme packs. However, fans were in for some bigger news from this year’s E3. Crash’s sister Coco, who made her first appearance in the second game, would be a playable character throughout the remastered trilogy, meaning that players can choose her as the main character instead of Crash. Starting her levels with a sly wink, Coco brings a renewed sense of style to the classic games.

Both Massie and Ruepp sat down with AListDaily at E3 to discuss the inclusion of Coco and why, after 20 years, fans still can’t get enough of Crash Bandicoot.

[Left] Nicholas Ruepp, executive producer at Vicarious Visions. [Right] Kara Massie, producer for Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

How have fans reacted to the news that Coco will be a playable character throughout the trilogy?

Ruepp: The fan response has been overwhelming. The team was emphatic from the very beginning that they wanted to do the trilogy justice and deliver it as a love letter to fans.

Massie: Now that some of the gameplay footage is being released by some of the fans here at E3, they’re seeing all of Coco’s movements and animations, which are being spread all over the internet just as we expected and wanted. We’ve been very pleased with the fan response.

How does Coco’s personality compare with Crash’s?

Massie: She is very different from Crash, and you can see it in the way she moves and acts. Crash is a little more haphazard and whatever comes, he’ll take it. His arms flail when he runs, he hits boxes with his arms, and he belly flops and throws his face at things. He’s not very thoughtful. Coco is more thoughtful and she’s the brains behind the operation—demonstrated by how she hacks into Cortex’s computer in the second game—and you can see it in how she moves and acts. She has a cheeky wink before she starts some of her levels and she’s definitely sassy.

What inspired having Coco be a playable character throughout the game?

Massie: I think it was just natural, and as Nick said, the desire for it came from the team. They thought it would be fun and she’s a lovable character. Also, she’s quite different from Crash. The fact that she was playable in a few levels in the third game kind of made it a no-brainer for us to see what it would take to make her playable across all the games.

How have you been engaging with fans to celebrate Crash and let them know about announcements such as Coco’s inclusion?

Massie: That’s very important to us and the community is really strong. I don’t think these remasters would exist if it weren’t for the fans. It was the voices of the fans calling out to bring Crash back that was the impetus behind this whole project. We knew we had to do right by these fans, and we’ve been bringing them along the journey with us by releasing footage while development is in progress. Another thing we’ve been doing is releasing logs and interviews—anything that we can do to let them know what we’re up to, what our feelings are about the project, and showing that we really care and that we’re hearing them.

Then there are fun things, like how we had a contest a few months ago. We asked fans to design an idle move for Crash—an animation that plays when Crash is standing still in the game—that would make it into the game. I think we got over a thousand entries within two weeks. Some people were filming themselves dancing, along with professional animations and kids’ drawings. There were so many ideas, and it was amazing to see the love for this brand.

How would you describe the essence of the Crash Bandicoot brand?

Massie: It’s joyful, and that’s one of the key things for me. You can’t help smiling. Just watching people play here at E3, people are always smiling. Even if you’re struggling with some difficult section, there’s so much joy and humor that it’s a good feeling. The game is challenging, but it’s always joyful.

Why do you think Crash Bandicoot has remained such an enduring brand for the past 20 years?

Ruepp: The gameplay is intrinsically fun and that’s the essence of what’s made Crash stick for so long and brought so many fans over the past 20 years into the games.

Massie: The gameplay is compelling, and we’re still seeing it today. Even if you succeed, there’s a little something for everyone—completionists, speed runners and so on—there are always ways to improve. It’s also difficult to put down as well as a fun game to watch. You tend to be on the edge of your seat while watching your friends and family play, passing around the controller. Interestingly, it’s a social game and the character (Crash) is a little irreverent and Coco has a bit of cheekiness too. I think people relate to them—they’re relatable cartoon characters and people love that.

Mars Explores Retro Gaming For M&M’S Caramel

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To celebrate the launch of M&M’S Caramel, Mars, Inc. did a one-day M&M’S takeover of Times Square in New York City. During the May activation, fans with mobile phones could download the Blippar app on Android and iOS phones and unlock the M&M’S ARcade through Times Square billboards. The app includes a suite of retro-inspired augmented reality games featuring M&M’S characters and candies and is available for anyone to play.

Michelle Deignan, senior brand manager for the M&M’S brand, told AListDaily that the introduction of M&M’S Caramel Chocolate Candies marked one of the company’s biggest product innovations ever, so they needed to launch it in an innovative way. It took years to develop the technology and machines required to get the soft caramel ingredient into the M&M’S brand’s signature hard candy shell.

“We explored augmented reality technology to create the first-ever M&M’S ARcade gaming experience,” Deignan said. “Much like the traditional caramel flavor, the M&M’S ARcade taps into a nostalgic feeling and brings back memories of a classic old-school arcade in a fun, unexpected way.”

In partnership with Blippar, the brand created three vintage arcade games—Caramel Cannon, Caramel Crawl and Square Smash—that were inspired by M&M’S Caramel and are featured on the home screen of the M&M’S ARcade experience.

The objective of the Caramel Cannon game is to use the arrows to move the cannon left and right to avoid the falling caramel square and tap the center button to shoot them. Once a caramel square has been shot by the cannon, it will splash on impact.

When playing Caramel Crawl, the player presses the arrows to move around the space until they hit a wall. The user needs to collect Caramel characters and the more they collect, the longer the snake extends. When the Caramel character is collected, he bursts into a quick cartoon animation.

For Square Smash, the player needs to smash as many caramels as fast as they fall from the sky before they hit the ground. They use their fingers to hit the caramels while avoiding any M&M’S characters, which will result in a loss of 10 points.

“We’ll continue to educate fans about the gaming opportunity through social media content and promotional events,” Deignan said.

Deignan explained how the M&M’S brand has always been focused on entertaining fans through moments of fun. With the rise in popularity of gaming, especially on mobile devices, she thought that a nostalgic gaming experience focused on M&M’S Caramel would give the brand an opportunity to reach both new and existing fans while raising awareness for the new product at launch.

“The success of Pokemon GO has certainly increased mainstream awareness for augmented reality experiences, but the technology is still in its infancy,” Deignan explained. “We established a partnership with Blippar, since it gave us access to a built-in user base that has adopted the innovative technology and we think the M&M’S ARcade activation gave us an opportunity to engage fans in a fun, new way.”

While the Times Square activation gave thousands of fans the opportunity to use their phone to turn static Times Square billboards into vintage arcade game experiences, the Blippar games will connect with a much broader audience. M&M’S fans can access the games through the Blippar app by holding their phone or device up to a package of M&M’S Caramel. The national campaign will also be supported with TV commercials, print, digital and large-scale outdoor advertising executions.

The brand has been actively using tech in its promotions. Earlier this year, M&M’S kicked off a Bite-Size Beats  program, the first ever user-generated TV ad for the brand, which mixed the M&M’S Spokescandies with Incredibox beatbox technology to give fans the opportunity to get creative and share their own beat. The brand also partnered with art-fashion-media icon VISIONAIRE to release a virtual reality interactive film in collaboration with contemporary artist KAWS. The film is available to view in virtual reality and on YouTube. Last year, in celebration of the brand’s 75th anniversary, M&M’S also used virtual reality technology to give fans an inside look at the “residences” of the six spokescandies.

Hostess, Hershey And Sonic Appoint New Executives To Key Roles

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Baked goods company Hostess Brands promoted Andrew Jacobs to executive vice president and chief commercial officer. Jacobs previously served as senior vice president and chief customer office at Hostess.

“I’m confident in Andy’s ability to support growth for both our retail partners and Hostess while continuing to drive our iconic snack cake brands forward,” said Bill Toler, CEO of Hostess Brands.

Candy company Hershey Entertainment promoted John Lawn to CEO. Lawn was previously the company’s COO.

“Our entire board is pleased to name as CEO someone with John’s qualifications, experience and most importantly, dedication to Hershey Entertainment and Research (HE&R) and its mission to support the Milton Hershey School,” said Eric Henry, chief investment officer of Hershey Trust Company.

Ten-year Sonic veteran Lori Abou Habib is now the chief marketing officer for the fast food chain. With her new position, Habib will lead brand strategy, national marketing, media, digital strategy and marketing technology.

“I am delighted to elevate Lori to chief marketing officer; she is a talented, strong leader who enjoys the respect of our franchisees and won the position through a highly competitive national search,” said Sonic CEO Cliff Hudson. “We were very pleased with the caliber of candidates discovered during the search and are pleased for Darin and Kim to join the team. The decades of experience these three leaders share will propel the business and the brand forward for many years to come.”

Viacom announced four internal reappointments in the company’s distribution and business development group. These include Samantha Cooper and Deena Demasi as executive vice presidents, Andrew Borak as senior vice president of distribution marketing and Sheri Weidner as senior vice president of distribution partnerships.

“These moves ensure we have the right management team and structure in place to evolve Viacom’s approach to our content distribution partnerships. With leaders like Sam and Deena now fully empowered to execute our strategic initiatives, I am confident we can cement Viacom as the go-to provider for our partners who seek more innovative and flexible opportunities to serve their customers and expand their business,” said Tom Gorke, executive vice president/head of distribution and business development for Viacom.

The company also announced that Bryson Gordon, former head of data strategy, will serve as executive vice president of a new group dedicated to advanced advertising for Viacom.

ESPN expanded the role of Connor Schell by naming him executive vice president of content, placing him in charge of all of the sports network’s content creation across television, digital and print platforms. Schell had previously produced the Emmy-winning documentary series 30 For 30 for ESPN, as well as the award-winning O.J.: Made In America.

“Connor has demonstrated keen insight into what resonates with fans, and his instincts allow him to excel at managing the creative process,” said ESPN president John Skipper. “I have tremendous confidence that he and his new team of talented executives will help us create dynamic content that will break through in a changing environment.”

As Verizon completed the acquisition of Yahoo, Tim Armstrong was announced as COO of Oath, a new subsidiary combining Yahoo’s online assets with Verizon’s AOL business. Armstrong was previously the COO of AOL.

“We’re building the future of brands using powerful technology, trusted content and differentiated data,” Armstrong said about Oath. “We have dominating consumer brands in news, sports, finance, tech, and entertainment and lifestyle coupled with our market-leading advertising technology platforms. Now that the deal is closed, we are excited to set our focus on being the best company for consumer media, and the best partner to our advertising, content and publisher partners.”

Former Twitch executive Andy Swanson is headed to gaming chat app Discord to work as their new head of publisher relations.

“Discord has a rapidly growing community of gamers who are voracious users and fans of the product,” said Swanson. “My goal is to educate and connect the game creator ecosystem, encompassing publishers and developers of all shapes and sizes, to Discord and their authentic and passionate player community to make even more connections through gaming.”

Warner Bros. Pictures promoted JP Richards to executive vice president of worldwide marketing and chief data strategist.

“JP is a born collaborator, dynamic marketing strategist and recognized leader, not only in the digital arena, where he has led groundbreaking campaigns over the past two years, but across all of marketing,” said Blair Rich, president of worldwide marketing for Warner Bros. Pictures. “This promotion will allow us to tap into—and benefit from—his broad marketing expertise. We’ll look to him to help us understand, adapt and create strategies to the changing ways people are interacting with content, media and marketing activations at every touch point of our global campaigns.”

AMC and SundanceTV announced the promotion of Mac McKean as executive vice president of innovation, from the position of senior vice president of digital media. In his new role, McKean and his team are responsible for the development of future-focused multi-platform products, experiences and content for AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios. McKean also will direct the networks’ expanding consumer relationship management efforts.

“AMC has enjoyed tremendous success in the digital, gaming and interactive space thanks in no small part to Mac’s and his team’s talent, hard work and creativity,” said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios. “In addition to our growing digital businesses, Mac and his team are spearheading the development of innovative products and services that will allow us to best position AMC Networks to be the content creators and providers of the future.”

Universal Music Group appointed Tuhin Roy to the newly created position of vice president of new digital business to identify and work closely with start-ups in the early-stage digital media sector to develop strategic new digital business partnerships.

“Tuhin brings an entrepreneurial orientation and an incredible wealth of experience to this role,” said Michael Nash, executive vice president of digital strategy. “I’m confident his deep knowledge of the start-up environment and investment community dynamics will magnify UMG’s efforts to cultivate the digital ecosystem, promote innovation and establish new revenue streams.”

The New York Times Company announced that Meredith Kopit Levien has been promoted to the position of executive vice president and chief operating officer to oversee the teams responsible for product, design, audience and brand, consumer revenue, advertising and NYT Beta.

According to a press release, under Kopit Levien’s watch, “The Times has nearly eclipsed two million digital-only news subscriptions, launched both T Brand Studio, a Cannes Mobile Grand Prix award-winning marketing agency, and Paid Posts, a standard setter in native advertising.”

Derrick Hatami, a former Hyundai executive, is headed to Volkswagen of America as its new head of US sales and marketing.

Andrew Saunders is headed to food-oriented digital media company Tastemade to serve as head of global brand strategy. Saunders previously worked as NBCUniversal’s vice president of content innovation and creative.

Congratulations to Taco Bell’s chief marketing officer Marisa Thalberg for winning the “She Runs It 2017 Woman of the Year” award, and CNN Worldwide, who won PromaxBDA’s “Global Excellence Marketing Team of the Year.”

(Editor’s Note: This post will be updated daily until Friday, June 16. Have a new hire tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.)

Job Vacancies 

Director, Digital Programs, Martech & Personalization Starbucks Seattle
Director, Strategic Partnership Marketing NBC Universal Universal City, CA
New Balance Boston, MA
Director, Brand Management Warner Music Group Nashville, TN
Director, Marketing Sony Music Entertainment New York, NY
Chief Marketing Officer Gibson Brands, Inc. Nashville, TN
Vice President of Marketing Feed the Children Oklahoma City, OK
NATPE Los Angeles, CA

Make sure to check back for updates on our Jobs Page.

All The Game Trailers From E3 2017

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Amid press conferences, experiential marketing and hands-on-demos, E3 is a major showcase for the latest video game trailers. To help you navigate this parade of gaming goodness, here is a round-up of this year’s E3 trailers from consoles to services and new games to sequels.

Electronic Arts

Ubisoft

Bandai Namco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feTYxB83g4w

Microsoft

https://youtu.be/Dokpy_KIuyA

https://youtu.be/k_9fG8hPCi0

https://youtu.be/m0Tnp-3W3z4

https://youtu.be/Nq_Q77bJ3H0

Nintendo

 

Bethesda

https://youtu.be/jspdtha3t1k

https://youtu.be/_7980ZPK8Dg

Sony

PC