Integrating a Trailer Into the Marketing Campaign
How and why should you make a game trailer fit into existing marketing materials?
I always look at: a pitch decks, the website, store page, press releases, social media posts, and interviews with the team. I do this because I want the trailer I make to match and it makes sense to work off someone else's marketing efforts.
The things I'm looking for are:
Key talking points & game pillars
Words used to describe the game
The voice of the game's marketing
If nothing else, it gives me a place to start forming ideas for the trailer. For example, I often focus on key points which aren't in any of the current trailers. Before I worked on Noita, pretty all the trailers said: "a game where every pixel is physically simulated." Their store page also said: "Fight, explore, melt, burn, freeze and evaporate your way through a procedurally generated world." This description is easier to understand so I started there.
A trailer should supplement and reinforce everything on the store page.
Sometimes I use the game's website or public posts as a cheat sheet for key points shared by the client. For example, I worked on the script for this Empire of Sin update/DLC trailer which discusses a LOT of new features. I had a deck to reference, but I also refined my script by using some of their exact language from public blog posts.
Not a lot of games have a voice which is distinctive, but it helps a LOT to pay attention. The best example for me is Among Us which led me to making this Roadmap trailer. Victoria Tran, Innersloth's Community Director was my first reference. I riffed off the energy of the official Among Us accounts and her off the cuff suggestions in private Discord messages.
For example, on TikTok she'd often respond to troll conversations by saying: "Thank you for the engagement." Or use the official Twitter to vent her frustration at hackers attacking the game at the end of a work day. Her tone is a mix of humor, heart, and honesty.
Your mission is to turn the energy of these tweets into a trailer.
The voice of a game's marketing can sound humorous, whimsical, adventure, mature, mysterious, or more. An editor can imbue these vibes into the game's trailer. For example, the trailers for JETT: The Far Shore are all very mysterious and otherworldly even when explaining the game. This stemmed from both the game's design and how its creators talked about it.
I made the trailers for Spelunky 2 to be playful, honest, and personal. I based this direction off my experience playing the game and reading/watching interviews with Derek Yu.
This text from the JETT: The Far Shore website has a lot of ideas and images. It's the trailer's job to make them come to life.
When working on unannounced games, referencing available marketing materials helps keep things consistent. Trailers are a unique tool which show things words and screenshots cannot. So you want to make sure the trailer fills in the holes that only it can. Well written words are worth their weight in gold, but can't communicate the same way as a trailer. Good music and a well edited sequence of shots can give people a feel for the game
This is why I often push back on the trailer listing lots of bullet points like game modes, weapons, or costumes. A good trailer will get people to places with those details like a store page.
As the trailer maker its your job to decide what goes into the trailer, and what it's best to leave out. The trailer is one of many conversations the game has with potential players. Each component has a different style of talking with its strengths and weaknesses. So pay attention to what the others are saying, and use the trailer to contribute in its own way.
