Everyone needs a helping hand from time to time. When Ubisoft sought additional resources for their global media department, one of our senior media planners was embedded within the Ubisoft Global Media Planning Team for a seven-month mission.
During this time, our consultant contributed to international campaigns across a diverse portfolio of titles, from back catalog games like Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and legacy Assassin’s Creed titles, to major launches such as The Crew Motorfest, one of Ubisoft’s flagship releases of 2023.
The Crew Motorfest: A Unique Challenge
The launch of The Crew Motorfest presented a set of strategic challenges:
The previous title still retained a loyal and active player base.
Competing racing games were also released in the same window.
As a result, the media approach had to support a broader marketing objective: re-engaging the existing The Crew community while simultaneously attracting new racing game enthusiasts. To achieve this, Ubisoft implemented two standout initiatives:
Three days of early access prior to launch
A five-hour free trial across all platforms during the first three days
These distinctive features became the backbone of the campaign. Rather than following a standard launch timeline, the strategy prioritized maximum impact during the early-access period and the opening 72 hours post-launch, compressing efforts to drive both visibility and trial.
Strategic Execution
The media plan was designed to dominate racing game ad inventory during this critical window, with tailored content and targeting strategies for different audience segments.
Core Audience: Fans familiar with The Crew IP were targeted through a mix of short and long-form trailers, and display banners. The goal was to multiply touchpoints, work on frequency in order to saturate this audience and build memorization, so they do not miss the opportunity to test the game.
Prospect Audiences: Given their larger size, ad saturation goal had to be to be different than core audiences. Thus, these users were engaged through a mix of teaser trailers, influencer content, and interactive formats like gamified X (formerly Twitter) posts. The most engaged users were then retargeted with direct calls to action during the free trial window.
While the campaign’s awareness phase was highly concentrated, performance-driven tactics were layered in to support digital stores following the trial period.
Results
Backed by this integrated media strategy, developed and executed by Ubisoft’s internal teams, including Global Media Planning,*The Crew Motorfest* achieved the strongest launch performance in the franchise’s history.