Ogilvy Pakistan wins PUBG Corporation creative bid

In Pakistan, the blockbuster game competes head on with Call of Duty: Mobile by Activision, Garena Free Fire by Garena International, and Fortnite by Epic Games.

PUBG Corporation has appointed Ogilvy Pakistan as its creative agency for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), the online multiplayer battle royale game developed and published by the South Korean subsidiary of Bluehole.

“PUBG is one of the best selling and most played video games of all time, with a dedicated audience in every corner of the world,” said Naved Qureshi, an executive director at Ogilvy in Pakistan. “At Ogilvy Pakistan, we are extremely proud to add a global video game to our diversified portfolio, as we win the PUBG Mobile account for Pakistan! We look forward to creating exciting and memorable campaigns for Pakistan's gaming audience.”

Ogilvy was named the most effective agency network in the Asia Pacific region according to the 2020 Effie Index from Effie Worldwide. WPP, the parent company of Ogilvy, was named the most effective worldwide marketer for the fourth year in a row. In Pakistan, Ogilvy won a dozen awards at Effie Pakistan, for its work across Nestle, Shan Foods, Bank Alfalah, Telenor Pakistan, and Coca-Cola Pakistan, to name a few. It was also named agency of the year.

According to data from Sensor Tower, PUBG has been in the top 200 most downloaded overall apps in Pakistan, while securing the number one rank on the Google Play Store for the entire first half of 2020, with occasional drops to second place. The same database shows that while PUBG dominates rankings, it is closely followed by competing similar titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile by Activision, Garena Free Fire by Garena International, and Fortnite by Epic Games.

According to the “Making Communication Choices in COVID-19” study by the Ogilvy social lab, the rise of time spent with streaming media and gaming media has meant that advertisers can begin to test new formats in these environments, such as live natively in game-play mode with PUBG.

“Consumers are flocking to gaming platforms as an added source of entertainment,” said the report. “Video game servers have been having sporadic problems as millions of people around the world settle down for an extended period of lockdown, and many are turning to games to fill the time. There have been issues with services like Fortnite, Xbox Live, Nintendo, and Discord.”

A recent survey by Kantar - which captured a snapshot of people’s home activity - found that gaming was in the top five activities after long-form video, short-form video, and linear TV. As a category, gaming commands greater revenue than mainstream entertainment such as news, movies, and shows. The format has been long hailed as an alternative and immersive storytelling experience, with multiple blockbuster titles.