NEWS: APL launches game featuring cult Peperami character

Ammirati Puris Lintas has unveiled a pounds 1 million campaign to launch

Animal, a computer adventure game starring the cult animal character

from the agency’s award-winning Peperami snack food campaign.

The game will launch into high street stores on 15 November and will be

backed by a national television and press advertising push.

The press work also rolls out next month in key consumer and PC titles.

It shows the tall, manic-looking animal character with a knife in one

hand and the other outstretched towards a submissive ‘couch potato’ type

in braces. The strapline says: ‘Here, let me take your jacket.’

In the corner is a picture of the game’s outer cover showing the

animal’s staring eyes and the single word ‘animal’ picked out in

graffiti-like type. Underneath is the line: ‘PC CD-Rom. It’s a byte of

an animal.’

TV ads break in January to coincide with the post-Christmas games rush.

The 20-second TV ad combines separate footage of the Peperami character

with clips from the game itself. The ad was written by John Peacock, art

directed by Frank Cookson, and directed by Ken Lidster at Loose Moose.

The game is being positioned as the first combination role-play and

Doom-style ‘beat ’em up’ - or in this case, ‘eat ’em up’ - game. It will

initially be available on PC CD-Roms and will target 18- to 22-year-old

males and children aged 11- to 18-years-old who are computer games

freaks.

Media planning is being handled by APL, while Initiative Media is

responsible for buying.

The press ads were also written by Peacock and art directed by Cookson.

Adrian Edmondson, the star of the TV comedy, Bottom, will be the voice

of the ‘animal’ in the game.

This article was first published on Campaign