A few Christmasses ago, two million people in the US and Europe watched this 5 minute commercial for a combat game from an ex-Belorussian studio. Another 5 million saw it as part of the wider campaign. It featured Vinnie Jones, Santa Claus and a WWII Chieftain tank. And it was all the things big global ads are not: funny, weird and... critically succesful.

The team

Representatives from all three franchises, as well as senior management from the global publishing side
Additional team members joined remotely at key moments during the sprint
An award-winning Latvian director who’d shot impossibly high end looking music videos on tiny budgets
Comedy writers from the US and UK.
A senior European art/design team, who brought premium brand world experience
The producers from 100%/Halal who brought the experience and craft (and reality checks) to the concepts
A treatment designer, visual researcher to develop the initial look
A storyboard artist
A small content team of editor, camera, producer
A strategist from the US gaming industry
Two of the biggest local World of Tanks playes on twitch
A Vinnie Jones lookalike
An audience researcher who provided audience panels from Germany, UK and the US

Diary of a sprint

1

DAY

2

DAY

3

DAY

4

DAY

5

MAPPING

DAY

A day of learning about the game, the players, the competitors and the general cultural moment. We came away with two insights: People expect World of Tanks to be heavy and slow, then discovered it’s really fun. And people expect fun - joy - from the holidays. But festive tension is much more likely.

EXECUTION

Vinnie has to go to gangsta Santa’s mansion to confess he’s got to leave ‘the organisation’ because he’s got a new job working with a tank game.

TREATMENT + SCRIPT

Vinnie goes to gangster Santa’s mansion to tell his boss he’s got a new job and can’t be in charge of the naughty list any more. They cause mayhem together in a massive tank, and VJ’s leaves with Santa’s blessing.