Backyard Sports (Atari)

How do you make a video game even cooler for the kids who play it? Give them a way to compete against kids all around the world – without introducing any new technology or equipment for Mom and Dad to buy.

Background & Project Scope
Backyard Sports video games are the best selling series of sports games for kids in the nation. The classic video gaming company, Atari, manufactures the line of video games, including Backyard Baseball, Football, and Basketball. 

While the games are the best selling in their specific category, Atari wanted to increase sales, specifically on the new release of Baseball 2009 (on shelves in April 2008). Atari came to Pop for a slight adjustment of their brand story as communicated via packaging, messaging, and online strategy.

Execution
To begin to understand the complexities of the Backyard Sports story setting, Pop began with an internal and external audit of Backyard Sports branding and the overall video game industry. With the help of focus group results, final creative was determined and then extended through a number of mediums including:

• Packaging (for all gaming platforms)
• Print ads
• In-store displays
• Online promotion, including a virtual Hall of Fame
• Digital advertising

The most notable strategic addition was a virtual Hall of Fame on the Backyard Sports website. Pop created a Hall of Fame that allows players of a Backyard Sports console game to enter codes on the website. These codes keep track of individual statistics and allow the players to compare their stats with Backyard Baseball players around the country in real-time.

Results

• Sales of Backyard Baseball 2009 greatly surpassed original projections.
• Consumer database grew due to the "Play with Big Papi" online promotion.
• The virtual Hall of Fame broke new ground with the integration between console game and corporate website.