Consumers may sometimes wonder how marketers are collecting and using their personal information, but it’s probably never as bad as what gets revealed in a new documentary series from Ubisoft and Vice.
A two-part series called User Profiled launched last week, looking specifically at how “corporations are tracking and profiling consumers in Canada, and how government agencies are using the newest technological advancements to expand the capabilities of Canadian surveillance,” according to the show descriptor. The second part will delve into Namedrop.com—a fake social networking site that pushed Terms & Conditions to absurd ends, giving NameDrop the legal right to a member’s firstborn child.
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This marks the second content partnership between Vice and video game maker Ubisoft, which is set to release its latest title, WatchDogs 2, on Nov. 15. According to Lucile Bousquet, senior director of marketing and communications at Ubisoft Canada, storytelling through branded content has become essential to reach its traditionally young, male audience.
“The main challenge for us as an advertiser is that, for millennials, traditional advertising is continuing to decrease in popularity. We can see it in the ad blocking,” she said. “Bringing this new content for them is a key for us.”
Bousquet, who will be speaking on best practices in branded content at Marketing Live: The Story Begins on Oct. 20 in Toronto, said the topics of surveillance and privacy User Profiled reflect many of the themes in WatchDogs 2, where players control a hacker who is trying to take down an advanced surveillance system in San Francisco.
Beyond having content that’s aligned with it product, Bousquet said Ubisoft has done surveys of viewers afterwards which has helped quantify the results. For example, 34% the documentary-style content encouraged them to purchase its games.
“They literally learned about the game because of Vice,” she said. “That’s incremental sales and reach we wouldn’t have had [otherwise].”
Delphine Poux, general manager of Vice Quebec, said there is a natural alignment on its side as well – its audience is fascinated by areas like cyber-security, particularly when it’s localized.
“We really liked the approach of making it Canadian-focused and exposed what is happening in Canada,” she said.
Though Vice has been getting attention for its moves into traditional TV, including its recently-launched HBO news program, User Profiled is the kind of online content most likely accessed via smartphone or tablet, Poux said.
“Whatever content we do we’re screen-agnostic,” she said. “Wherever it can be seen, that’s the most important for us.”
The same is true for Ubisoft, Bousquet said. “Whenever we create something, 70-80% of the traffic comes from mobile,” she said.
Besides the documentary, Ubisoft is offering potential fans of Watch Dogs 2 an online hub to participate in weekly missions and other activities that give them a chance to win a Sony PlayStation 4, among other prizes.
