Overview: Disney Interactive Studios had tasked Access Communications with helming the mainstream media launch of Disney Epic Mickey, a video game set in a historically rich Disney universe populated by classic characters that had faded into obscurity. This was the company’s biggest title of the year since it marked the debut of Disney’s flagship mascot Mickey Mouse on the Wii console, so coverage expectations were high. So high, in fact, that coverage was mandated in outlets that have a broad audience, but don’t regularly cover games. Among the proposed targets was NPR’s All Things Considered given its expansive adult consumer listenership.

The Challenge: NPR rarely covers video games, since games are far outside the wheelhouse of the hosts and its audience which has a median listenership age of 45. In addition, products in general are a hard sell since NPR shies away from anything that resembles an unpaid advertisement.

The Plan: The game had two older generation elements going for it, which included an orchestral score crafted by an Emmy-winning composer named Jim Dooley and a veteran game designer named Warren Spector who based the game on archival aspects of Walt Disney’s characters and theme parks. Rather than pitch the game, we pitched the trend of luminary composers turning from movies to video games as the latest frontier for marketing their craft. After we had landed an interview with the composer, we offered to demo the video game to the show’s host for context. While game demos can be conducted by a multitude of different dev team members, we suggested having Warren Spector fly out from Texas to NPR’s DC home office to demo the game onsite, since we knew he would provide a much more engaging presentation given his lead role on the game and by being onsite they would be able to record him. The strategy worked out and resulted in not one, but two on-air segments.

Success Metrics:

• Two different interview segments were aired on All Things Considered on separate, but back-to-back days, accompanied by teasers on NPR’s website.
• The first segment focused on the composer’s work specifically in relation to the game and the second segment dealt solely with the developer’s work on the game.
• No other spokespeople or competitive products were mentioned.
• The show averages 12+ million listeners per week.