Speed Racer

Recommended Games

More than piggy back marketing

With a huge film release in the offing there is a fair bit of marketing already in place and Speed Racer the game takes full advantage. Lamb explains: “As it is a film release we are teaming up with the WB theatrical department to ensure that the game gets visibility across as much of their marketing activities as possible.”

But the game marketing won’t just piggy-back on the film’s huge marketing spend. There will be more promotion for the game than you can shake a stick at, so here are some of the highlights…

PRINT: A full range of extended features will take place across kids press throughout April and May including covers and promotions with Jetix, The Dandy, Toxic, Kraze Club, National Geographic Kids, First News, Pokemon World and Dr Who Magazine.

EVENTS: Speed Racer will also get a presence at a full range of outdoor events including game sampling on an experiential stand at Silverstone’s Supercar Showdown (April 19-20th) reaching 40,000 family consumers.

TV, CINEMA and ONLINE: Featuring in mainstream offline and online channels, Speed Racer will be promoted through a week long feature in The Sun before launch, a large TV promotion with Cartoon Network and as part of one million kids activity books distributed in Pizza Hut this May.

800,000 Odeon cinema magazines will also lend support in May and Speed Racer will partner with Mattel Hot Wheels for extensive cross promotion in children’s press.

There will also be a focused cinema sampling campaign with key Vue cinema sites and a four week online campaign targeting 2.5 million impressions featuring a roadblock across Neopets and MPUs and banners with Miniclips.

Release Date	May 9 2008
Format	DS, Wii, PS2
Publisher	Warner Bros
Developer	Sidhe Interactive
Price	Various
Distribution	Centresoft
Contact	0121 625 7109

Once upon a time no one had heard of the Wachowski brothers. Then a film called The Matrix arrived and blew the world away.

When Warner Brothers announced the Wachowskis would be creating a live-action film based on the well-loved 1960s Japanese automobile classic cartoon Speed Racer, the anticipation detector nearly blew a fuse. Even for those of us too young to remember the original series, the Wachowski name is enough to make us rub our hands together with glee.

Like the impending film, the Speed Racer game promises to be family friendly and action packed, featuring ‘Car-fu’ tricks that give players the edge in fast paced races. The races are indeed super quick, with cars capable of exceeding 400 mph and wildly challenging tracks that incorporate anything from massive jumps to corkscrews and loop-the-loops, all in the quest to win the Crucible, a cross country car racing rally.

The DS stylus and Wii remote both give players instinctive and natural control over tricky races and accompanying stunts and Speed Racer is to be the first third party title to fully take advantage of Nintendo’s own brand new Wii Wheel.

Warner Brothers marketing exec Phil Lamb sums it up nicely: “This highly accessible racing game is based on an exciting new film brand with amazing special effects.”

While critics are notoriously a little tough on film tie-ins, that never seems to bother the buying public and with Warner Brother looking after the film as well as the game, Speed Racer looks like it has the edge over other tie-ins and the drive to succeed.

In fact Speed Racer couldn’t be more tied into the film, with the Wachowski brothers themselves fans of gaming and the film’s producer, Joel Silver, calling the game a key component of the Speed Racer experience.

Lamb told us how the relationship between the movie and the game is a benefit: “I think it definitely gives us an edge. As this is a strong family brand the theatrical division is using the High Street and grocery retail arena to promote it beyond just ‘games sections’ and drive purchases on all levels.”

Warner Brothers intends to take full advantage of its almost unique situation, as Lamb explains: “We can take advantage of cross-divisional synergies and combine trade activities with our consumer products division to ensure that the brand gets plenty of high-end visibility. The other great benefit is that this opportunity is not just restricted to the film release period – we can take advantage of the DVD launch later in the product cycle.”

So how well will Speed Racer do at retail? Lamb has high expectations: “Our aim is to get this title into the top five of the Wii and DS charts. There is a good release window for a game that is squarely aimed at the young boys audience and we believe that the film will strike a cord with parents as a safe family brand.

“If the film is a success at the box office we expect the game will follow suit – and with a £3m marketing campaign behind it we believe it has a good chance to perform in this relatively quiet window.”