Crash and Burn

Background

When Snabba Cash premiered in 2010, it was a huge success for The agency’s clients, distributor Nordisk Film and production company Tre Vanner. Time for the follow up: Snabba Cash II. To keep people in the right mind-set up to the premiere, the agency was asked to engage Snabba Cash’s Facebook fans. The budget was small. No paid media. Also, the audience were die-hard gangster fans.

Idea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKChx8vSkwY&feature=plcp

The fans enjoyed the realistic feeling of the first movie and they were active on Facebook. So, it was decided to create a story-based competition set in the criminal underworld. The activity was called Cash & Burn. A convincing experience was crucial. The agency accomplished that by forsaking any traditional game interface in favor of setting the action in the real world. This was raw. Unpredictable. Scary. The story centered around a missing journalist, Rex Jenzen. Participants were to help him solve a mystery involving a robbery. An intricate world was created across the internet, with shady characters, crooked businesses, tricky clues and challenges that had to be solved. The interaction was extremely realistic. Some even contacted the police in fear. It started with a shaky MMs sent from Rex. From here, participants received phone calls, messages and mms’ that guided them to various online locations where they hacked and deciphered their way through a story that left them wondering if they could trust anyone.

Results

The momentum of the film had been transferred successfully into the social media space and beyond, and the integrity of the brand had been vastly strengthened. The number of Facebook fans increased by 20%. Activity on the Facebook page gre by over 400%. Snabba Cash II claimed the box office top spot with 97,000 visitors in its opening weekend – 38% more than the set goal of 70,000 visitors.