Game Over Arcade
- Brand
- Teraxxa
- Year
- 2021
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Other
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Installation
- Agency
- Groove Jones
Objective
BASF was launching Teraxxa, a new seed treatment for cereal crops, and had only a narrow seasonal window to teach farmers what wireworms are and how the product stops them. Rather than run a standard education push, BASF and agency VMLY&R let farmers do to wireworms on screen what they wanted to do in the field — wipe them out — turning the product pitch into an arcade game.
Solution
Players drop into an 8-bit arcade world styled after Galaga and Centipede, defending a field as wireworms crawl up from the bottom of the screen. Hitting FIRE plants a seed just ahead of an oncoming worm; timed right, it sprouts into a Teraxxa-treated root that kills the worms nearby. Seed supply is limited, waves come faster and more aggressive with each level, and the sky darkens overhead until the last seed runs out and the crop is overrun. At that point players type their initials into a high-score table and can share their score or challenge friends through the game's Facebook and Twitter tie-ins, playing the same game, look and sound on desktop or mobile.
Results
Teraxxa sold out one month after launch, BASF gained 7% market share, and the campaign helped grow the entire U.S. cereal seed-treatment market by $8 million.
- 1
Players reach the game either by visiting a branded website on desktop or mobile, or by walking up to a full-size arcade cabinet installed at a local feed store or seed dealership, complete with vinyl wrap, joystick, arcade buttons, coin slot, and a lit marquee; a companion manual doubles as literature for the real pesticide.
- 2
The game opens on a farmer standing in his field under a blue sky, rendered in a deliberately 8-bit style reminiscent of classic arcade shooters like Galaga and Centipede.
- 3
Wireworms crawl up from the bottom of the screen toward the crops, and the player presses FIRE to plant a seed above an advancing worm; timed correctly, the seed sprouts and releases a pesticide-treated root that kills nearby wireworms.
- 4
The player rations a limited supply of seeds against a swarming, ever-thickening wave of wireworms; the game has no fixed end to its levels, worms grow faster and more aggressive the longer the player survives, and a darkening sky signals the escalating assault.
- 5
The run ends once the player's seed supply runs out and the wireworms overrun the crops.
- 6
After a loss, the player enters their initials and sees their score placed on a leaderboard, in a nod to classic arcade high-score screens.
- 7
Players can share their score on social media to challenge friends to beat it.
