Comcastic!
- Brand
- Comcast
- Year
- 2005
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Quiz & Trivia
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- The Barbarian Group
Objective
Comcast was repositioning itself from a utilitarian cable provider into a likeable consumer brand while pushing two new products, ON DEMAND digital TV and high-speed internet. Rather than pitch either directly, the campaign set out to make people laugh first and associate that feeling with the Comcast name.
Solution
Visitors land on comcastic.com and pick one of several 3D puppets to play with. They type a message, record it in their own voice, and choreograph a quick dance for the puppet before firing off the finished clip as "puppet mail" to a friend — voicemail could also be recorded in over the phone. Switching to the site's other wing, players take on a five-event mouse pentathlon, including games like Dexterity Maze and Endurance Loader, racing the clock to climb the Comcast World Speed-Mouse Record leaderboard and daring friends to beat their score. A later addition lets visitors take a pop-culture quiz hosted by Mr. T.
Results
3 million visitors to the site as of May 2006.
- 1
The player lands on comcastic.com and chooses between two branches of play: an interactive session with talking puppet characters, or a set of mouse-based dexterity challenges.
- 2
In the ON DEMAND branch, the player picks one of several 3D talking puppet characters, who explain the premise that the player controls what the puppet does and says.
- 3
The player customizes the puppet by assigning it dance moves for a pre-built clip and recording a voice line for it, either through a microphone or by phoning in the line via a toll-free number; the puppet then plays back the finished clip, dancing and speaking in the player's voice.
- 4
The player sends the finished puppet clip, or "puppet mail," to a friend by email.
- 5
In the broadband branch, the player is offered a "pentathlon" of five timed challenges testing mouse speed and accuracy.
- 6
Individual challenges include Dexterity Maze, where the player steers the cursor through a maze without straying off course, and Endurance Loader, which tests sustained mouse speed and stamina.
- 7
After finishing the challenges, the player receives a score toward the "Comcast World Speed-Mouse Record" and can challenge friends to beat it.
- 8
A later update adds a pop-culture trivia quiz hosted by Mr. T, called "culture fool."
