T.A.G. San Fransisco

This is for Halo 3, which is played on an Xbox 360, one of the primary clients that T.A.G. does work for.

T.A.G. does a lot of work for Xbox 360, and their work is known for being cutting edge and creative, but what I did not know was just how hardcore "gamer" the work was. The public obsession and hype T.A.G. created for the release of Halo 3 is why people think video games ruin people's lives; T.A.G. created the same pandemonium for Halo 3 that Deutsch and The Martin Agency created for the release of Madden...and then some. The "Believe" campaign garnered 170 million dollars in sales on the first day of the game's release, which meant it outsold Spiderman 3 and Harry Potter, which also meant the release of Halo 3 was the biggest release in entertainment history. They did it by creating an entire culture for the game, much like the fan culture of Madden. This culture was based on the belief in heroes and honoring heroes, rather than on simply playing a game about humans fighting aliens.

T.A.G. created a fictional museum called the Museum of Humanity, which depicted a small scale, yet extremely detailed model they deemed a "real life diorama of the John 117 Monument" that was intended to commemorate an epic, fictional battle between humans and aliens. This is what is shown in the Halo 3 TV spots, as well as in an actual museum people can tour. T.A.G. also made a website that took users through a "fly-through" of the entire diorama and let them listen to stories from, once again, fictional characters that were a part of the epic battle. This idea of creating a fantasy world, or entire make-believe culture seems to be growing in advertising. It allows clients to create an entire experience for consumers to interact with their brand in exactly the manner the client wants them to, but I also think this helps promote an initiative of "advertising as an idea," in which advertising agencies are creating a whole idea rather than just one message. It shows that advertising can elevate the meaning of a product or brand so that it represents or promotes an ideal or relevant perspective in life; case in point, this campaign is encouraging people to believe in heroes not buy a game.

As a part of this campaign, T.A.G. did some really interesting non-traditional creative work that helped permeate their message about Halo 3 into all kinds of unexpected areas of consumer life. T.A.G. made stamps with a fictional "Master Chief" hero on them, commemorative plaques documenting the battle which were placed on buildings, street murals, and an actual "war photography" exhibit. From all of these efforts, bloggers and people on forums really started communicating about this game, and eventually turned up in flocks to buy it.