Bethesda kicks off Rage ads early

Bethesda’s upcoming FPS Rage has benefited from a string of early ads to build excitement well ahead of release.

The publisher kicked off its Rage marketing action plan around half a year ahead of its October 7th release to set the new 360, PS3 and PC IP apart from other shooters in the Q4 period.

Back in April Bethesda sponsored The Walking Dead TV series on Channel 5. This was followed by a wave of E3 marketing including banner art and mutant dolls taking over the entrance to the Los Angeles Convention Center, with online takeovers running on sites including IGN, GameSpot, MTV and Eurogamer.

Cinema spots screened during blockbuster movies such as The Hangover 2 and Transformers:Dark of the Moon, with more ads due during other films this year such as The Inbetweeners.

Rage has also become the first video game to receive YouTube mobile pre-roll ads on Android devices. Media agency Target Media booked the ads which will appear at the start of selected videos on the 2.0 YouTube Android app.

Rage will be present at Gamescom, Eurogamer Expo and more. QRcodes will appear in gaming magazines and a ‘big spend’ will reach Google, Facebook and YouTube users.

Bethesda’s VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines said: For a shooter competing against other major titles, it is incumbent upon us to get the word out early.”