Cocaine Bear: The Rise Of Pablo Escobear - Web Arcade For The Film Premiere

Objective

Universal Pictures developed a branded web-based arcade game to amplify awareness and cultural buzz surrounding the theatrical release of 'Cocaine Bear,' a comedy film with a distinctive 1980s aesthetic. Launched weeks before the movie's February 24, 2023 premiere, the game aimed to capture audience attention through a playful, goofy digital experience that embodied the film's self-aware, over-the-top tone.

Solution

The 'Cocaine Bear: The Rise of Pablo Escobear' web arcade game featured 8-bit retro graphics inspired by classic NES games, with gameplay mechanics modeled on Pac-Man. Players controlled the bear through a 2D maze environment, collecting cocaine, hunting people and ambulances, and gathering power-ups. A brief onboarding introduced the rules at the start of each attempt. A depleting on-screen status bar timed each run, colliding with an ambulance slowed the bear down, and catching the last remaining person triggered a special finishing animation. Players could replay to beat their best score, which was saved between attempts. The game included unlockable movie clips for progressing players and a heavy metal soundtrack. Playable across browsers and mobile devices, it launched February 14, 2023, announced via a tweet written from the bear's own perspective on the movie's Twitter account, and was promoted via organic posts and social ads across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok to direct traffic to the official movie website.

Results

Specific gameplay metrics for the Cocaine Bear web arcade were not publicly disclosed. Social media users praised the campaign's promotional execution as both 'incredible' and 'genius.'