OBJECTIVES
Xbox was briefed to produce a unique concept and brand partner for the Starfield launch, with a standout activation that would drive conversation amongst gaming fans and gain earned media beyond traditional gaming media. Crucially, we were tasked with generating organic coverage (press and social media) with no media budget for amplification beyond the creation of the assets for the campaign.
Handling the press office and working closely with Xbox on all campaign creative, strategy and logistics, TEMPUR®’s primary goals were to build brand awareness, reach and exposure beyond the traditional lifestyle, homes & interiors or e-comm pages, boost digital reach, showcase the brand’s NASA heritage and TEMPUR® Material’s unique pressure absorbing qualities, and drive footfall to its flagship store.
Goal #1: Build awareness, reach and exposure for Starfield launch and for TEMPUR® brand and product beyond traditional media verticals
Goal #2: Build buzz and boost digital reach for both brands via social media amplification of campaign
Goal #3: Positively align Xbox and TEMPUR® brands, showcasing TEMPUR®’s NASA heritage and its relevance to the Starfield launch
Goal #4: Drive footfall to Xbox gaming conventions/retail spaces and flagship TEMPUR® store using the Dream Chair as a draw
The campaign would leverage a deep, authentic, and credible connection between both brands, positioning TEMPUR® as a forward-thinking, innovative and relevant brand by storytelling around its rich space age DNA.
STRATEGY
Insights. The “gaming rig” trend exploded during COVID-19, with gaming-specific chairs becoming “unusually coveted during a pandemic that made both sitting and gaming common occupations”. From March to mid-May 2020, Amazon saw a more than 300 percent increase in sales of gaming chairs. Overall video game spending in the UK according to a report from trade body UKIE. Since the world has emerged from lockdown, gamers are no less infatuated with custom rigs, with sales and online discussion continuing to blow up.
Today, a reported 39.1 million gamers in the UK spend an average of 4 hours 57 minutes gaming per week. “The Dream Chair” recognises – and boldly celebrates – the value gamers place on their set-ups.
Campaign narrative. We set out to tap into gamers’ passionate pursuit of the perfect set up and bring the worlds of Starfield and gaming rigs together. The TEMPUR® side of the partnership provided an authentic and clear red thread between IRL space travel with gaming and Starfield, whilst also ticking the all-important box of comfort; an essential consideration for anyone spending hours at a time immersed in their virtual worlds. The stars had truly aligned.
Target audiences. Gamers/fans of Xbox and wider ABC1 consumers who care about comfort and sleep.
Creativity & implementation. Together, Rooster & Miai conceptualised an immersive gaming experience in the form of the Starfield x TEMPUR® Dream Chair.
Crafting something worthy of the “Dream Chair” title required the delivery of something that gamers - and the “gaming rig” market - had never encountered before.
Nicholas Alexander’s creative construction studio brought our vision to life with a superlative level of know-how, ensuring it was both thumb-stopping online and eye-popping in-person.
The chair featured a hyper-detailed design reflecting the game’s retro-futuristic “NASA Punk'' aesthetic; a dashboard loaded with switches, dials, and decals in a cockpit echoing STARFIELD’s in-game universe; a bespoke giant wraparound screen; twin joysticks; and most importantly, was kitted out with the unique pressure-absorbing material used in TEMPUR® mattresses, providing both supreme comfort and a real-world link to NASA.
The ultimate space traveller – former Dr Who star, David Tennant – was recruited to provide the VO for a launch video to accompany the Dream Chair’s unveiling and drive talkability. Tennant's distinctive voice added a touch of cosmic allure to the film and sparked a wave of memes on social media as consumers celebrated the brilliant, unexpected, and yet fitting choice of the Time Lord for the big reveal.
The Dream Chair then went on tour, enjoying residencies at locations throughout Europe, including the Xperion gaming centre in Cologne, TEMPUR®’s Westfield Stratford flagship store, Paris Games Week festival, and telco retailer EE at London’s Westfield shopping mall, giving fans and the general public the chance to experience it firsthand.
Focused PR:
1. Chair launch announcement – Trade & consumer media: national and regional news desks and tech/science contacts, consumer tech publications and gaming titles
2. Co-creation of 30 customised TEMPUR® x Starfield neck pillows for giveaways at Gamescom and seeding to influencers, press and key gaming creators to ensure superior comfort while playing
3. Crafting and distribution of a lifestyle story on gaming & sleep, with expert insights and tips from TEMPUR® sleep specialist & sleep counsellor, Thomas Høegh Reisenhus
4. MailOnline exclusive to test and experience the Dream Chair during its first UK residency at the TEMPUR® store in Westfield, Stratford
5. Announcement of TEMPUR® store residency to local & regional media and What’s On/event listings to encourage footfall
RESULTS
The Starfield x TEMPUR® Dream Chair set the stage for huge global hype around both brands and delivered a truly next-level immersive gaming experience that gave gamers and non-gamers the chance to experience Starfield’s revolutionary graphics from a throne fit for a space-faring sci-fi protagonist.
The results? Stellar! From the general public to avid gamers, consumers engaged in their millions, with thousands having the chance to experience the Dream Chair in person.
· Goal #1: Awareness, reach and exposure
- 60+ dedicated pieces of earned press coverage reporting on the chair launch and its UK residency across relevant global mainstream news, gaming, tech, lifestyle and interiors trade media, including Hypebeast, Yahoo, Gamespot, AdAge, The Mirror, Mail Online, Wired and many more.
- 733 million media impressions (organic)
- 4.65 million estimated online views (organic)
· Goal #2: Build buzz and boost digital reach
- 420.7K views of Dream Chair launch video on Xbox X account
- 7.6K views of Dream Chair launch video on TEMPUR® YouTube channel
- 78.1M social impressions (organic)
· Goal #3: Positively align Xbox and TEMPUR® brands, showcasing TEMPUR®’s NASA heritage and its relevance to the Starfield launch
- Campaign coverage and sentiment was overwhelmingly positive. Bringing the TEMPUR® and Xbox brands together for this unique collaboration worked to position TEMPUR® as a forward-thinking, innovative and relevant brand, and Xbox and Starfield as fun, irreverent and engaging to wider audiences.
- Two thirds of coverage included all the key messaging around TEMPUR®’s space heritage and on the qualities of TEMPUR® Material. The most extensive messaging came via our MailOnline exclusive, where journalist William Hunter reported, “[…] could I tell that I was being cushioned by 50 years of space-tech? Or that the seat beneath me existed 'between a solid and a liquid'? That might be going a bit far, but I have to say that this was probably the comfiest gaming chair I have ever sat in.”
TEMPUR® UK Managing Director Tobin James says of the article: “There are few to zero press office scenarios where a national title would cover this all-important brand story in so much depth. We are 100% satisfied that the campaign has delivered on the brand storytelling goal.”
· Goal #4: Drive footfall to Xbox gaming conventions, retail spaces and flagship TEMPUR® store
- 523K in-person engagements at events & stores
- 248% Year-on-Year increase in footfall to the TEMPUR® Westfield Stratford store during the month of the Dream Chair’s residency
