WWE 2K17's Suplex City Spot Takes You to the Toughest Parts of Town

barrettSF has launched 'Welcome to Suplex City,' a multimedia marketing campaign to support WWE 2K17, the next release in 2K’s flagship WWE video game franchise. WWE 2K17 is scheduled for worldwide release on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 systems, as well as Xbox One and Xbox 360, on Oct. 11.

'Welcome to Suplex City' is WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar’s catchphrase, as well as the title of a TV spot, UGC promotion, multi-component digital campaign, in-store effort and print ad that will introduce WWE 2K17 to consumers around the world. It’s also “a living, breathing and extremely dangerous place,” per 2K. Suplex City comes to life in ancillary storytelling content, such as interactive maps that reveal residents of the city’s neighbourhoods, as well as game information.

The live-action TV spot opens on the outskirts of a post-apocalyptic city in ruins. As the action moves inside the city limits, several WWE Superstars, including Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Big Show and Sheamus, are seen taking care of the competition by such means as dumpster dumping and jukebox slamming as the viewer narrowly escapes and encounters subsequent crimes.

Eventually, we reach a dark, ominous and Thunderdome-type cage crawling with cheering fans, and … out walks Brock Lesnar. As the camera zooms out, the scene reveals a dozen screens showing WWE 2K17 gameplay footage on stacks of old TVs in a window display of a Suplex City appliance store. The spot tags with: 'Welcome to Suplex City.'

In a shocking juxtaposition, the entire spot is backed by Petula Clark’s 1965 hit, 'Downtown.'

“It’s part post-apocalyptic wasteland, part Burning Man festival and part Banksy’s Dismaland,” is how barrettSF’s ECD Pete Harvey colourfully described the spot. “Suplex City is referenced everywhere in WWE, so it was time to make the fictional place come alive.” This is barrettSF’s third year of collaborating on creative for the WWE 2K franchise.