Fred & Farid New York has been producing a large share of HP’s recent marketing work, and the Paris-based shop just launched a spot promoting the brand’s OMEN X gaming desktop PC with a look at the phenomenon of the “rage quit.”
It’s a variation on the classic Sore Loser: some dude who just can’t deal. And yes, it is almost always a guy.
One frustrated gamer is in the midst of one such outburst when an OMEN spokesperson (apparently named Mr. X) slows down the action, mid-table flip. Walking through the slow-motion destruction scene in realtime, he says, “Gaming doesn’t have to be like this,” and then proceeds to replace the raging manchild’s computer with an OMEN X. “Don’t rage quit, get the OMEN X and dominate the game,” he concludes.
The global digital campaign, the latest in HP’s “Keep Reinventing” global rebranding effort which began last year, launched in the U.S. late last month and will roll out in Europe on December 12, followed by the Asia-Pacific region. It’s a clear attempt to communicate with hardcore gamers using their own language, tapping into the phenomenon of “rage quitting” over hardware that can’t keep up with the action.
Mr. X’s dialogue sounds a lot like a campaign brief, but the slow-mo, freeze frame effect is somehow still always cool almost 20 years after The Matrix.
Credits:
Agency: Fred & Farid New York
Client: HP
Title of ad: Rage Quit
Product or Service: OMEN X
Brand Chief Marketing Officer: Antonio Lucio
Brand Global Head of Marketing – Personal Systems: Alex Craddock
Brand Global Marketing Director, Personal Systems: Matt Cowling
Brand Global Marketing Senior Manager, Personal Systems: Josh Kocurek
Brand Global Marketing Campaign Lead, Personal Systems: Kirsten Kaczka-Rivera
Agency Managing Director: Francois Grouiller
Agency Supervisor: Marc Gellman
Creative Director: Laurent Leccia
Copywriter: David Kennedy
Art Director: Jean-Baptiste Ledivelec, Xuan Pham
Agency Producer, Digital Agency Producer: Damon Webster
Production Company: Iconoclast
Production Company City: Los Angeles
Producer: Charlotte Woodhead
Director: WEAREFROMLA
Music: Storefront Music
Composers: James Beer, John “Scrapper” Sneider, Adam Elk
Producer: Alex Fulton
Post-Production: Exile Edit/ Katie Turinski
Editor Post Producer: Evyn Bruce
Post-Production: Exile Edit/ Katie Turinski Editor
Post Production VFX: The Mill
Post Producer: Evyn Bruce
Post Producer VFX: Rachael Trillo EP ; Bugs Russell Producer
VFX Artists: Jimmy Bullard, The Mill-Lead Artist
Digital Production Company: JMX2
Digital Producer: John Morton
Place of shooting: Toronto