“Fractured”
Client: Gears of War / The Coalition
Role: Creative Director
Going into the launch of Gears 5, we had two big challenges ahead of us. First, Gears 5 was a dramatic departure from its franchise predecessors when it came to story and character equity–abandoning focus on the burly soldiers from the previous four titles in favor of a more complex female lead. Next, Gears 5 was landing during one of the most crowded launch windows of the year–competing for attention with other household name AAA shooters.
So we needed to do something to cut through the noise, gain a groundswell of momentum and be impossible for gaming fans to ignore–and we needed to foster an emotional connection with our complex, conflicted new anti-hero by revealing cryptic pieces of her backstory to give fans just enough information to speculate.
Here’s how we did it:
2020 Shorty Awards Winner, Best in Games | 2020 PROMAX Game Awards Silver Winner, as part of the Best Overall Advertising Campaign