Christoph Waltz Tells James Corden the Epic Story of a Single (Real) Clash of Clans Game

Barton F. Graf 9000 just rolled out a new campaign for the Supercell game Clash of Clans that's got an interesting mix of elements—namely, an unexpected celebrity pairing plus a new focus on real, epic moments from actual Clash of Clans games users have played.

The "True Tales of Clash Achievery" campaign launched today with a spot called "The Legend of the Last Lava Pup." It's narrated, amusingly enough, by Christoph Waltz as a kind of bedtime story to James Corden, who appears to be Waltz's son in this scenario.

In the suspenseful tale of a epic game that one user played, a Lava Pup, the lone survivor of the army, saves an entire clan seconds before the clock runs out. The footage switches from Waltz and Corden in a bedroom to battlefield scenes animated by Psyop. Then, at the very end, gameplay footage shows the preceding story as it happened in the game.

Combining three different perspectives—live action plus cinematic animation plus gameplay animation—is a novel storytelling method for video games. And it's a really nice way of using humor, spectacle and real gamer stories to keep viewers engaged. 

The film went live on YouTube today. TV and social elements launch Dec. 25, as does a microsite where players can submit their own moments of achievery and view the stories being featured. Out-of-home ads launch Dec. 28 in New York, London and San Francisco.

Barton F. Graf, which used Liam Neeson in a Super Bowl ad for Clash of Clans back in February, has been mining Clash community pages, forums and even Reddit to find real stories for the campaign, emphasizing the idea that every Clasher has a story.

CREDITS

Title: "The Legend of the Last Lava Pup"

Client: Supercell

Brand: Clash of Clans

Agency: Barton F. Graf 9000

Founder/Chief Creative Officer: Gerry Graf

CEO: Barney Robinson

Chief Strategy Officer: Laura Janness

Executive Creative Director: Scott Vitrone

Art Director: Michael Hagos

Copywriter: Sam Dolphin

Producer: Erica Kahr

Head of Integrated Production: Josh Morse

Account Director: Kate Faux

Account Supervisor: Mike Andreozzi

Director of Business Affairs: Jennifer Pannent

Senior Strategy Director: Sean Staley

Junior Brand Strategist: Kirk Luo

Production Company: Anonymous Content

Director: Tim Godsall

Executive Producer: Eric Stern

Line Producer: James Graves

3D/Animation Production Company: Psyop

Director: Fletcher Moules

Animation Lead: Jean-Dominique Fievet

CG Lead: Stephen DeLalla

Executive Producer: Amanda Miller

Producer: Lucy Clark

Editorial: MackCut

Editor: Gavin Cutler

Asst. Editor: Pamela Petruski

Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld

Music Production : Butter Music & Sound

Music CCO: Andrew Sherman

Music EP: Ian Jeffreys

Music Producer: Ryan Faucett

Mix: Lime Studios/Loren Silber