LAUNCHING RESIDENT EVIL VII

Launching the brand new Resident Evil game from Capcom; Resident Evil™ 7: Biohazard. I led the team tasked with creating a moment to introduce a new audience to the Resident Evil franchise, by creating excitement about a brand new game and characters in a way that would get people talking.

Our response, we launched Resident Evil™ 7: The Experience – a 45-minute immersive event. The Experience was set in a house inspired by the Baker family ranch, which jumped on the rise in popularity of escape rooms – but with added puzzles, scares, immersive theatre and personalisation – set up in haunted venue in the heart of London's East End.

The event ran for 3 days and was free, but on a first come first serve basis with only 228 tickets available. This created queues and excitement; especially once the first people had gone through, who raved about the experience.

One person that went through was game producer Masachika Kawata describing it as

“… staying true to the new game, making this the most horrifying experience London has ever seen" … "I wish we could take it back to Japan so everyone can try it out” ... “Having had this real horror experience, it will be something I take forward into my next game.”

Driving Coverage: To drive media coverage and excitement our response to the brief was to approach the launch from a number of different angles.

Teaser Content: Events lists and teaser / trailer film release ahead of time, creating buzz in the community, but also among fans of the franchise.

Media Engagement: Inviting media and specifically gaming media to go through and record their experience to share with their audiences and fans

Sharable moments: A photo moment was inserted in the experience as the scare point where we capture incredible photos of participates that they could then share across social media

Exclusivity & Clout: Making the event exclusive, though we would have loved to have put everyone through, by restricting numbers we created a buzz and feeling of exclusivity among those that were lucky enough to get a ticket.

Popular Culture: Tapping into popular culture of the rise in escape rooms, immersive theatre and horror allowed us to appeal to people outside of the gaming world.

Surprise & Delight: To finish the launch off we hosted a dinner on set in the dining room with the character from the immersive experience serving dinner for media, influencers and special guests.

Award Winning (Nearly): The experience was highly commended at the PR Week Awards, for Best Event.