The latest version of Saints Row IV saw the revitalization of Johnny Gat, a staple character to the Saints Row franchise. His last name was just to close to the abbreviation of Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV); therefore, to combat the launch of GTAV, we utilized the hashtag GATV in an effort to troll any of GTAV's activity on September 17th, 2013 (launch day).The #GATV campaign deserves to win in the categories selected (Best Use of Social Media for a Video Game, Best Use of Hashtag on Twitter and Best Use of Humor) as it was the first video game to utilize a Promoted Trend on Twitter by trolling its largest competitor (GTAV) through the use of humor and self-promotion. The SRIV campaign was not only picked up by news outlets including Mashable and identified as the best troll ever, but to our advantage, some fans of GTAV did not even realize the play on the hashtag SRIV utilized and engaged with the trend. This only further promoted the Saints Row IV brand. The uncanny resemblance of Johnny's Gat's last name to the abbreviation GTA allowed the SRIV brand to make a dent in the conversations surrounding GTAV's launch day while bringing reputability to the SRIV brand. Campaign Stats: • +181% increase in Saints Row conversation on the day of the Promoted Trend, and approximately 600 Tweets using the #GATV hashtag • Total Positive conversation volume increased by +151% o Humorous response to the trolling was also a notably sized topic of conversation • 13MM Potential Earned Media Impressions on 9/17, more than triple the average of Potential Earned Media Impressions during the week prior to the Trend
http://mashable.com/2013/09/17/grand-theft-auto-v-trolled/ saintsrow.gov
