The [a]list Brand Leadership Group

How do you get a western audience excited about a game that has only seen true success in Japan? Our solution was to create a larger-than-life character, that we could attach to the brand, and place him in situations that the western audience could relate to. Using viral videos, print and online, we established our master hunter "Ironbeard" as someone you don't want to mess with. Despite his thick Scottish brogue, he was a typical American hero and he wanted the world to understand what it meant to be a "real hunter." Our plan was a monster hit. Response to Ironbeard was amazing. We placed these viral videos on a branded YouTube channel, then seamlessly connected that channel to our specially-designed Monster Hunter Tri website, creating a truly cohesive experience. We encouraged the audience to share the videos and they did exactly that. The YouTube channel exceeded 2 million video views, hundreds of thousands of shares, several hundred thousand dollars in earned media value and a top-10 traffic ranking among all branded YouTube channels.