Meta blends reality and fantasy to build hype for the launch of Asgard’s Wrath 2
Monsters from the new VR role-playing video game invade NBA games, The Game Awards and other real-world events through BBDO New York’s reality-bending creative.
Asgard’s Wrath 2, a new role-playing game (RPG) developed by Sanzaru Games for Meta Quest virtual reality headsets, is being promoted through a multichannel campaign that brings the beasts of Norse mythology into the real world.
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Asgard’s Wrath 2, which officially launched Friday, follows antagonist Loki, a trickster god who unleashes chaos across realms through cosmic portals. Gaming website IGN recently lionized the new game as “a landmark game-changer that only comes around once in a blue moon” and gave it a rare 10/10 rating.
The promotion — a creative collaboration between Meta Quest and ad agency BBDO New York — aims to unleash the franchise’s fantastical elements in the physical world through ads that disrupted real-life cultural events, from interrupting two NBA games to unveiling a 300-square-foot portal outside of The Game Awards, and beyond.
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The chaos kicked off earlier this month, when social media users first encountered “found footage” of Loki’s minions.
More bedlam ensued at the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns basketball game on Tuesday, when NBA announcer Richard Jefferson interrupted the live program on ESPN to alert audiences that a “mysterious portal” had opened just outside the Footprint Center in Downtown Phoenix. A chaotic scene of Asgard’s Wrath 2 monsters then unfolded outside.
In late November, Meta unveiled a cinematic trailer, which saw Loki’s realm merging with our own through a portal in a girl’s living room. In the ad, a girl puts on her Meta VR headset, which catapults viewers into ancient Egypt.
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Finally, Loki’s wrath appeared at The Game Awards on December 7 in Los Angeles’ Peacock Theatre. During the ceremony, Matt Mercer (the voice of Loki) joined host Geoff Keighley on stage for the premiere of the gameplay trailer. The game’s trickster god suddenly appeared to gatecrash the segment with a warning of his impending chaos.
As attendees left the theatre, they also witnessed a 300-square-foot purple portal, teeming with Loki and his beasts, which light up the night sky.
In under a week, the stunt went viral on TikTok, garnering over 8 million views, and becoming the subject of multiple Reddit threads, with one user saying the team “hacked the matrix,” and another user identifying the effort as the “future of advertising.”
“Our Enter Chaos films showcase the immersiveness of VR to the audience by demonstrating how Meta Quest enables you to harness the power of a Cosmic Guardian to battle against Gods and Monsters, instantly transporting you to vast expansive worlds,” commented Ricky Bowry and Joe Fox, senior vice-presidents and creative directors at BBDO New York. “As our reality becomes more fluid, and our virtual worlds expand into our real world, we wanted to create a campaign moment that lived in both - disrupting the digital realms as well as the physical.”
This work is running nationally in the United States across TV, social and audio channels.
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