Our mission for the Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS launch was simple: highlight its value with authenticity, keep the brand unmistakable, and appeal to a wider spectrum of gamers, including cozy players, competitive gamers, and early adopters trying handhelds for the first time.
The gaming hardware category is crowded with sameness: neon lights, fast cuts, and hyperbolic language that have lost their impact. Our solution was to embrace and exaggerate these tropes, transforming them into self-aware parody that audiences could laugh with rather than tune out. Led by Brian Baumgartner, whose humor and cultural familiarity anchored the campaign, the hero film playfully shifted between gaming archetypes before evolving into a larger narrative.
In a staged extension, Baumgartner “borrowed” Lenovo Legion Go S units from the set and turned them into part of a rogue giveaway, offering them up in exchange for SteamOS recommendations.
The story then extended beyond the ad through creators across genres and geographies (NA, APAC, and EMEA), each adapting the concept in their own style and turning it into a cultural moment that resonated with fans around the world.
In a marketplace that often defaults to repetition, this campaign demonstrated that respecting the audience’s journey, by meeting them where they are and guiding them gradually into something new, can turn advertising into something they not only notice but want to share.
