Boom Beach Started Its New Campaign on TV and Will End It in the Game This Friday

If you like absurd cartoon supervillains, here's a campaign for you.

Mobile game maker Supercell and New York agency Barton F. Graf 9000 are hyping strategy game Boom Beach with a series of ads featuring Dr. T, a smack-talking mad scientist who could be a character straight out of a Pixar movie. And in a nice twist, all the offline ads point to a development that's happening this Friday in the game itself. 

In Boom Beach, players battle against each other and computer-controlled opponents to collect resources. Gaming website IGN describes it as a modern version of smash fantasy title Clash of Clans, which is also published by Helsinki-based Supercell and advertised by New York-based Barton F. Graf. 

Dr. T is already a fixture in the game, but throughout the campaign he's been teasing an upcoming super weapon he plans to use on players. Come Friday, they will be forced to reckon with the new threat—suspected to be a giant crab, thanks to the detective work of one impatient fan.

Check out the intro ad here:

In another commercial, we get a look at Dr. T's existing arsenal, which includes a turtle wielding a crowbar.

In another, it becomes even clearer that Dr. T isn't the brightest of villains when he throws sand at the camera lens, an ineffectual twist on the old grit-in-the-eyes sneak attack.

A bevvy of other ads—including Dr. T's song—appear on the Boom Beach YouTube account.

The campaign launched on Christmas Day and included air time on ESPN during the NBA's Wizards-Cavaliers game. In one print execution, Dr. T does admit a weakness … for blackberry licorice. But the most absurd, and therefore arguably best, piece—featured at the top of this post—is of Dr. T lying on his side in a classic Playboy pose, with just the word "Hi." 

Whatever the outcome of the attack, hopefully Christoph Waltz will narrate the battle in a post-mortem ad, as he did for its sister game Clash of Clans. After all, not many people can actually make retellings of gameplay entertaining.

CREDITS

Client: Supercell

Brand: Boom Beach

Agency: Barton F. Graf

Chief Creative Officer: Gerry Graf

CEO: Barney Robinson

Chief Strategy Officer: Laura Janness

Executive Creative Director: Ian Reichenthal

Creative Directors: Matty Smith and Joey Ianno

Copywriter / Art Director: Owen Weeks, Chris Sheldon, Chase Kimball

Head of Integrated Production: Josh Morse

Producer: Cameron Farrell

Account Director: Kate Faux

Account Supervisor: Kimmy Cunningham

Strategy Director: Sean Staley

Brand Strategist: Kirk Luo

Print Producer: Wayne Treptow

Project Manager & Print Producer: Daniela Contreras

Lead Designer: Matt Egan

Junior Designer: April McMullan

Head of Business Affairs: Jennifer Pennant

Animation Production: HouseSpecial

CD / Director: Kirk Kelley

President / EP: Lourri Hammack

Producer: Karly Richter

Art Director: Alan Cook

Editor: Cam Williams

Flame Artist: Rex Carter

Technical Director: Patrick Van Pelt

Animation Lead: Greg Kyle

VFX Lead: Karl Richter

Lighting Lead: Matt Reslier

Compositing Lead: John Corbett

Audio: Heard City

Audio Engineer: Evan Mangiamele

Sound Design: Trinitite

Sound Designer: Brian Emrich

Music: Butter Music + Sound

Composer: Andrew Sherman

Producer: Ryan Faucett

EP: Ian Jeffreys

Print Production: Box Graphics

Box Co-Founder and Head of Production: Suk Choi