Join The B.P.R.D.
- Brand
- Hellboy
- Year
- 2019
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Lionsgate
- With
- Resn
Objective
Lionsgate needed to build fan anticipation for its darker, R-rated reboot of Hellboy ahead of its theatrical release, and to do it around Hellboy Day — the date when the comic's fandom already rallies on its own. Rather than run a straightforward trailer push, the studio wanted people to feel recruited into the film's world before they ever bought a ticket.
Solution
You land on what looks like the website for Codswallop Fish and Chips, an ordinary British chippy — until the storefront peels away to reveal its true identity as the London headquarters of the B.P.R.D., the paranormal agency from the film. From there you're given two options: submit an internship application with your name and email, or step into the archive. The archive plays out as a full-screen slideshow of classified case files on the movie's characters, each page stamped and partly blacked out by censors, that you swipe through one dossier at a time. The archive only unlocks on a phone — open the site on a desktop and you're left with the application form, so the only way to finish the experience is to pull out your mobile.
- 1
The player opens bprd.global on a phone and finds what looks like the site for an ordinary British chip shop, Codswallop Fish and Chips, with no hint of anything supernatural.
- 2
Without any input, the storefront gives way to the B.P.R.D. site, revealing the fish-and-chips shop as a front for a secret paranormal bureau.
- 3
From the bureau page, the player chooses one of two paths: apply for an internship or go straight into the archives.
- 4
On the internship path, the player fills in name and email fields and submits an application to join the B.P.R.D., role-playing a recruit of the film's organization.
- 5
On the archives path, the player browses classified case files on the film's characters, including the Blood Queen, Agent Daimio, and Alice.
- 6
Files are presented as a swipeable slideshow of full-screen case cards, each swipe triggering a transition and image effect, with the whole experience narrated by sound.
- 7
Some files carry redacted passages, leaving the player to guess at the blacked-out details until the film's release.
- 8
The experience is mobile-exclusive: a desktop visitor sees only the internship application form and must switch to a phone to reach the archive.
