Realism wins hands down
Published: Apr 17, 2007
Name: Mark Taylor
Position: Creative Group Head - Digital
Company: M&C Saatchi Singapore
"My favourite piece of online communication at the moment can be found at Segalabs.com.
"This is not a website, there is no ‘About us' section, no product description, just a series of short documentaries that demonstrate the realism of the explosive destruction in Sega's game title Full Auto, ‘the world's most destructive video game'.
"They achieve this beautifully in six short documentaries which demonstrate how the eccentric but likeable engineers at Sega Labs use ‘particle physics computational models' to recreate realistic explosions for the game.
"While discussing concepts like ‘bending the space-time continuum' and ‘relational thermodynamics', the engineers analyse every aspect of exploding stuff in a series of six tests. My favourite part is where they actually blew up a 500 gallon steel propane tank (and then reversed it!). This might not appeal to everyone, but it definitely communicates the benefit -- the game's realism -- in an original and entertaining way. It also stands out in a category that seems to be dominated by Flash microsites that try and imitate the games themselves. Ironically, the official site (sega.com/fullauto) is a good example of this.
"I really appreciate the way they have approached the challenge of promoting this game. By putting entertainment before the hard sell, Sega is demonstrating their understanding of the target audience -- sophisticated, technology-savvy, and immune to the constant bombardment of messages. They will explore, work everything out for themselves and enjoy the experience. The Sega logo in the bottom left corner is hardly necessary!
"It's also a great way to kill time in between meetings, short of playing the game itself. The art direction is superb and the site utilises video seamlessly with the entertaining ‘Sega Labs dude' who introduces each short documentary in his office. I give 5/5 for the fun of it."
Position: Creative Group Head - Digital
Company: M&C Saatchi Singapore
"My favourite piece of online communication at the moment can be found at Segalabs.com.
"This is not a website, there is no ‘About us' section, no product description, just a series of short documentaries that demonstrate the realism of the explosive destruction in Sega's game title Full Auto, ‘the world's most destructive video game'.
"They achieve this beautifully in six short documentaries which demonstrate how the eccentric but likeable engineers at Sega Labs use ‘particle physics computational models' to recreate realistic explosions for the game.
"While discussing concepts like ‘bending the space-time continuum' and ‘relational thermodynamics', the engineers analyse every aspect of exploding stuff in a series of six tests. My favourite part is where they actually blew up a 500 gallon steel propane tank (and then reversed it!). This might not appeal to everyone, but it definitely communicates the benefit -- the game's realism -- in an original and entertaining way. It also stands out in a category that seems to be dominated by Flash microsites that try and imitate the games themselves. Ironically, the official site (sega.com/fullauto) is a good example of this.
"I really appreciate the way they have approached the challenge of promoting this game. By putting entertainment before the hard sell, Sega is demonstrating their understanding of the target audience -- sophisticated, technology-savvy, and immune to the constant bombardment of messages. They will explore, work everything out for themselves and enjoy the experience. The Sega logo in the bottom left corner is hardly necessary!
"It's also a great way to kill time in between meetings, short of playing the game itself. The art direction is superb and the site utilises video seamlessly with the entertaining ‘Sega Labs dude' who introduces each short documentary in his office. I give 5/5 for the fun of it."
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