CHALLENGE

Eidos is known for its action packed games and stunning graphics, and its latest title was no different. In conjunction with Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, Battlestations: Pacific on the Xbox and PC brings players back to classic WWII battles of the Pacific Theatre. Staying true to the game's historic value, we pitched a pinup website to salute the naughty-but-nice nose art of WWII, attract the eyes of the mostly-male audience, and help boost morale of the war-ready Battlestation gamers.

STRATEGY

With males as the primary demographic for war-based video games, it was a natural choice to take a tongue-in-cheek approach and tug at the collective libidos of the audience prior to the release of Battlestations: Pacific. We conceived a website that would allow users to create their own WWII nose art, of the style which appeared on the sides of bombers, fighters and other war planes in the era. Chief among our priorities was customizability--giving audiences the tools to create as freely as possible to allow for a vast array of tastes within the users.

CREATIVE EXECUTION

Working with Eidos to select the models, we invited the talents of the lovely international pinup model Tailor James alongside the stunning Irena G into our Green Screen studio.

The website allows the user to select one of the two models in a selection of wartime wardrobes. As the model proceeds to pose in varying positions, the users can slow down, speed up, rewind, and even zoom in and out frame by frame to find the perfect pinup pose for their nose art. The stills can then be edited using a Flash-based paint editing tool with other classic wartime emblems, images, and logos for true customization.

Once users are happy with their image, they can slap it on the side of one of four WWII planes, with a final postcard showing the new nose art, which can be shared on multiple social networks or turned into a desktop background.

PERFORMANCE

The primal appeal of the site led to the campaign being covered on all of the major online gaming sites, such as IGN, Gamespot and Eurogamer, and gave Battletations: Pacific the word-of-mouth launch buzz it needed within the gaming community to drive sales.