Switch, Author at Switch - Digital & Brand

1 Run 1 Race – social media for a good cause

Switch — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 08:20:24 +0000

In a nutshell

Two runners were attempting the near impossible – running the entire 190km coastline of Malta and Gozo in a single, 35 hour marathon, braving the July heat as they did so. They were making this incredible personal sacrifice for a cause: that of promoting equal education opportunities for all.

Where we came in

Claudio and Patrick, the runners, asked us to help them attract attention to the event. The runners needed time and mental space to prepare physically and emotionally for what would be a gruelling performance so they needed a partner that would take the entire communication responsibility off their minds while making sure they achieved their financial target – collecting €15,000 for the Education Support Fund administered by Kopin and JRS.

What we did

We had just over two weeks between receiving the brief and the event itself. With not a second to waste, we set about creating a strategy for a low-cost, high-impact campaign and planned the two weeks with meticulous attention to detail, allowing for flexibility that would help us react quickly to the unexpected. We produced content around the runners and the beneficiaries and crafted the story in a way that would cause maximal engagement amongst our intended audiences.
Using a combination of social media marketing, influencer management, and even working with a PR partner, we made sure the message spread far and wide. What mattered most was that every asset funneled attention to the donation site, giving a very simple and clear path to action.
During the weekend of the run we kept the social media strategy going, employing hijack tactics to make it into the news feeds of as wide an audience as possible. It meant having the Switch team covering the event for a solid 48 hours, taking turns to keep the stream of content flowing.

Immediate results

By the time Patrick and Claudio crossed the finish line, the total sum collected was just over €40K, with €24K having been collected from the campaign alone, with the rest coming directly from event sponsors. Another outcome was the sheer number of people who engaged with the content and were alerted to the cause, getting in touch to ask how they could contribute beyond the act of donating.

The numbers so far:

engaged users: 21,942
total reach: 400,009
viral reach: 202,707
total impressions: 673,354
total video views: 53,668
total spend: €164.66
amount raised: €23,615

Long lasting value

Collecting funds was our immediate goal. Shaping the narrative and building a groundswell of support was the outcome we were hoping for to ensure continued support of those seeking an education. As the campaign reaches its natural end, we are making sure that the audiences we built during the donation drive will remain and turn into ambassadors for the cause, encouraging those around them to give time, funds, or any resources they can afford to ensure education for all is attainable.

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eCabs and COVID – Or how serving the community matters in times of crisis

Switch — Fri, 22 May 2020 14:26:54 +0000

eCabs started as a black cab company, carving out an entire market for app-hailed cabs in Malta and disrupting the notion of transport with their innovative product mix, unflinching reliability, and a backbone of exceptional technology underpinning an operation that scaled in a way few companies in Malta have.
When the going is good, all this sounds great – exemplary even. But what makes a brand exemplary is the way it responds to times of crisis. Here’s what eCabs did and how the team at Switch partnered up to help make it all work.
When tourism and airport runs vanished overnight and residents of Malta were encouraged to stay home, eCabs found itself with a whole lot of cars and drivers that had very little to do. They also looked around at the nation gripped by concern and grounded by necessity. It’s times like these where the brand’s commitment to be unflinchingly supportive kicked into action.

Virus-response – Sanitisation
Firstly, people were concerned about public transport and the increased risk of contagion on a crowded bus. eCabs stepped up their sanitising efforts and implemented aggressive and frequent cleaning routines that were designed to keep passengers and drivers safe. This also meant that packages, not only passengers, could still make it around the country quickly and safely.
We took it upon ourselves to communicate all this in a way that’s consistent with the eCabs tone of voice, retaining a calm, positive, and occasionally humorous approach for on-page content. Our audiences responded very well to a brand that was taking every measure possible to ensure safety of the community.

A brand that cares
We went beyond this. eCabs also care about those who want to stay home during this time so we created content that suggested activities that could be done while confined to one’s home and makes the most of extra family time. This made sense coming from the account – we had been creating content with suggestions for what to do around the island – so helping them with ideas now that they’re stuck indoors made perfect sense with the brand’s story.

We also used all eCabs communication channels to deliver public service messages about general hygiene with specific reference to use of private vehicles and mobile devices – the two areas where eCabs is speaking from a position of experience and expertise.
While this content does not drive sales to eCabs, it does show that eCabs cares about the community within which it operates and feels happy to give back in times of need.

A brand that cares even more

We worked with eCabs to create outreach that would directly assist those in need during trying times. The first initiative was a rapid response to the transport issues of those who use a wheelchair. eCabs launched a free Wheelchair Accessible Van service to all those who needed to attend medical appointments.
As a Victory Kitchen was being set up to deliver food to those in need, eCabs also stepped in, offering free deliveries using their ultra-sanitized cabs and with contactless delivery protocols in place to keep their part of the supply chain as sterile as possible.
In the meantime, we spotted an opportunity to put eCabs in touch with the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) to assist with a volunteer programme that involved the manufacture of fabric face-masks that would be distributed to refugees and asylum seekers. eCabs stepped in to collect the raw materials and distribute them to 160 volunteers across the country. Once the masks were manufactured, eCabs carried out the return journey, collecting masks and distributing them.

Facebook Performance
With a drastic reduction in passengers, Facebook performance budgets were predictably slashed. Our goal was to maximise ROI of all Facebook communication, reaching the maximum possible audience with minimum spend so we selected and optimised the best performing brand and tactical content.
Initially, digital performance suffered as a result of the drastic decrease in allocated budget but, as we learned and optimised, the downward trend halted, showing that our optimisation had achieved its intended effect and that we were now on a sustainable track.
We also shifted a bigger percentage of the budget spend to brand building efforts. Even when the brand can’t convert into direct sales, this was a time to keep the eCabs audience informed and, where possible, reassured.

Search
From a search perspective, search volumes took a nose-dive, there simply was no demand. In such circumstances, we scaled back significantly on spending where the intent was broad and fairly low, but left the high-intent campaigns running.
This permitted us to target just the right individuals, achieving an unusually attractive cost per conversion.

But there’s more

We need more than moving ourselves around. We need medicines and groceries. We need parcels and business papers delivered. So, we worked with eCabs to create a new product offering – eCabs Delivers.
In 48 hours we worked on the identity, the product offering, the communication strategy, and created all media we would need to launch a campaign. The campaign would inform the public that their favourite cab company, the one that took community safety very seriously, was putting its cars and drivers and technology backbone to work for delivery of everything that could fit into the boot of a large, passenger vehicle.

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Let's build stories together

Switch — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 08:30:49 +0000

We’re currently looking for champions in the following roles:

The post Let's build stories together appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Top 6 fashion campaigns over the years

Switch — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 13:48:03 +0000

Fashion brands direct all their energy towards creating original and creative advertising for people to engage with. Here is our favourite selection of fashion campaigns and their impact on the fashion community.

Burberry Kisses – 2013

Dedicating 60% of its budget to digital, Burberry recognises the importance of good advertising in the digital area. Partnering with Google, the brand launched Burberry Kisses, in order to allow customers to better engage with the brand on a more personal level. Burberry Kisses showcased Burberry’s ability to be modern, approachable, and luxurious – all at the same time. The campaign generated interest from over 250 countries with an average engagement time of 3.5 minutes.

Ted Baker’s Cabinet of Curiosity – 2015

In 2015, Ted Baker launched a campaign that effortlessly combined a high-end showcase of their brand with a fun, accessible game that attracted engagement from every type of customer (including those that aren’t their usual audience). Their concept took the structure of a Hidden Objects Game, challenging people to spot Ted Baker products among museum artefacts. Players were encouraged to leave a comment, tag a friend and Instagram their finds using a hashtag in order to enter the chance of winning a prize. This creation proved to be the perfect way to increase traffic and engagements on social networks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzxUYuVNpOI

Better for it – 2015

“What do women think of while they’re doing sport?” Nike sought to answer this question through their campaign in an attempt to attract women to their brand. After all, a brand which understands the way you think must understand what you want, right? Through its product placement strategies, Nike managed to sell their products effectively while empowering female women to pick up a sport. The ad oozes empowerment.

Hermes’ House of Scarves – 2014

Hermes appealed to visuals in an attempt to encourage people to purchase their items online. The brand not only developed an impressive microsite with a selection of its best-selling scarves but also designed and created a luxury world representing the history and artistry of the brand. Thanks to this super creation, visitors now want to play with the page and discover each individual scarf. Consequently, the brand managed to improve its brand identity and drove traffic to its digital properties.

Inside Chanel – 2017

Similarly to Hermes, Chanel created a microsite representing the history of its brand, particularly the infrastructure of the renowned Chanel House in Paris. The story is segmented into 12 parts, using audiovisual content in order to portray a holistic view of the Chanel world. This campaign served to pay homage to the brand’s roots, illustrating an aura of humility and appreciation while educating viewers about the brand and inspiring them to be a part of it.

H&M’s Close the Loop – 2015

If you’re looking to attract a diverse group of people, a standard ad won’t do. H&M understood this and created one of the most controversial advertisements of all time, targeting the outsiders of society. H&M represented diverse culture and style throughout its spot, in hopes of convincing people to recycle garments and creating a sustainable fashion. The advertisement created good buzz at the end of the day and attracted people from all over the world.

Looking to leave a mark through your own fashion brand? Hit us up to see what we can do for you.

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Catching up with The Webby Awards – Best Media Strategy of 2016

Switch — Fri, 19 May 2017 15:07:54 +0000

We finally found the time to watch Monday’s Webby Awards and are ecstatic to share our favorite category of the bunch; Best Media Strategy.

Like My Addiction

With over 50,000 likes in a couple of months, Louise Delage became the new social influencer to look towards, posting fun and exciting photos of her travels, parties, and endless dinners. However, if you look closely, Louise is no ordinary girl.
Have you noticed something odd in her photos? She’s almost always holding an alcoholic drink in her hand. Louise is a textbook alcoholic.
After a couple of months, Parisian advertising agency, ‘BETC’, came clean and announced that Louise’s Instagram account was, in fact, a fake. The account was created by the agency in an attempt to raise awareness about alcoholism, especially among the younger audience.

Untasty

663 million people, all around the world, are living without clean water; yet so many, who are fortunate enough to be able to drink potable water, do not understand the gravity of this unfair situation.
The organisation ‘Charity: Water’ partnered up with ‘Buzzfeed’ to create a series of their famous Tasty recipe videos, but with a spin. In each of the videos, polluted water replaces clean water to create a horrible, dirty, final dish. ‘Charity: Water’ wanted to find a way to show, not tell, people how damaging dirty water can be for one’s health.

Game Changer

When real-life NBA player, Stephen Curry, started to play better than his virtual self, ‘NBA 2k16’ released an update in the game to make video-game Curry the best player to ever walk the server.
‘Under Armour’ and ‘2k Sports’ teamed up to create an experience for fans to enjoy. The 99 rating given to Curry is the highest rating a player could achieve, making him a better shooter and overall player than anybody else.

TruTV

TruTv, a television channel that carries tournament games, got tired of the endless jokes sent out by viewers about not being able to find their channel to watch a game. TruTv struck back and took control of the situation, making use of over 800 creative pieces of content. The shoot featured twitter cards, videos, and many more familiar objects. The company successfully turned confusion into engagement by using the hashtag #truTVisAThing.

SoupTube

It’s not easy to get people to think about soup, especially in the hot summer weather. When soup sales in Australia were falling short, Campbell’s Soup looked to Google’s new tool, Vogon, to run an engaging and entertaining campaign on YouTube. The company aimed at increasing online video engagement as well as increasing soup sales during the warm periods.
Campbell’s soup did this by telling people that whatever the weather, and the situation, Campbell has got the right soup for you to enjoy. Can’t find anything for dinner? Campbell’s got the perfect blend for you! Your favourite character lasted only one season? Campbell’s also got the right soup for you. The campaign didn’t include just one or two creative pieces of content, it included thousands; tailored specifically for personal searches and trending topics.

Which strategy was your favourite? Let us know below!

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April's Campaign of the Month : Worlds Apart – Heineken

Switch — Fri, 12 May 2017 12:24:56 +0000

April 2017 saw numerous April Fool campaigns, accomplished milestones, and controversial ads. Among all the noise, Heineken managed to make rounds of the internet with the release of their Worlds Apart advertisement – putting the Pepsi commercial featuring Kendall Jenner to shame. (not that it didn’t do a good enough job of that itself, but anyway.)

What is ‘Worlds Apart’?

If you haven’t watched the renown ad yet, we recommend you hop on board and go check it out. If you’re too lazy for that – keep reading:
Worlds Apart, an advertisement forming part of the #OpenYourWorld campaign, centers around the encounter of 3 pairs of people. A feminist, environmentalist and transgender-rights activist are matched up with individuals of opposing views. The pairs are unaware of each other’s ideologies all throughout the social experiment. The three pairs are tasked with building a bar of their own, following an instructions manual. Across the experiment, the pairs engage in personal conversations – discussing themes such as homelessness and military service.
Once the bar was set up, the pairs were faced with the truths of their construction partners. What followed was the option to part over their differences or discuss the situation over – that’s right; a Heineken. Needless to say, the success of the ad is attributed to the three pairs accepting to stay, to talk over their contrasting views. Who could refuse a free beer, right?

So why the hype?

First of all, the ad is human so we love it. (You might know that we’re obsessed with Human to Human marketing from our Digital is Human course.)
The coming together of two opposing parties truly inspires a sense of hope in the viewers. In the age of the IKEA-craze, the activity of constructing furniture from scratch is a scenario that’s all too relatable. And maybe, just maybe; that was Heineken’s winning formula – its use of familiarity. Of course, a scripted video could have never achieved the same results that the spontaneity of Worlds Apart did. All along, we were all rooting for the pairs to come together and form a bond – one which is immune to the menacing threat that is disaccord.

We’re not the only ones on board the Heineken train though – thousands of tweets have gone out since the ad’s release – Here are a few:

So, over to you – had you seen the ad before reading this post? Share your reaction in the comments, we’d love to hear it ????

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Celebrities in fashion campaigns: These guys are doing it right.

Switch — Wed, 10 May 2017 17:09:15 +0000

Celebrities sell. If you’ve got budget to spend on celebrity endorsements for your brand, you’ve got a good thing going. But before you make it rain, you need to pick your celebrity carefully. Does their work, their look and their public image reflect your brand values? Are their adoring fans also members of your target audience? Will their endorsement build your brand, or could the collaboration cause damage in the long run?
These brands hit the nail on the head when choosing which celebrity to work with, but their successful collaboration was no accident. Take a look:

Boy George for Dior

Above anything else, Dior is about music, cinema and, most of all, fashion. Boy George embodies all of these aspects, making him the perfect representative for such an iconic fashion label. The androgynous icon symbolises freedom, style and rebellion which are all important values of the brand.

A post shared by Outfit in a Box (@outfitinaboxuk) on Jan 23, 2017 at 8:28am PST

Zendaya for Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana is known for its vibrant clothing and sophistication. Famous actress, singer and dancer Zendaya is photographed in Capri wearing bright coloured dresses featuring vivid floral patterns that perfectly express her bubbly and colourful personality as well as the brand’s fresh look.

A post shared by Dolce & Gabbana (@dolcegabbana) on Jan 21, 2017 at 9:34am PST

Sasha Lane for Louis Vuitton

Breakout actress Sasha Lane, from the award-winning drama American Honey, defines the iconic brand excellently. She perfectly expresses the brand’s ethos through her chic yet simplistic aura.

A post shared by Louis Vuitton Official (@louisvuitton) on May 22, 2016 at 11:38am PDT

Charlotte Rampling for Loewe

Charlotte Rampling expresses her confidence and experiential style to portray a raw and powerful feeling, creating not only aesthetically pleasing images but also meaningful ones. Using theatrics, drama and colour, Loewe House have used the 70-year-old muse to show that beauty and fashion have no age.

A post shared by Fashion Post (@fashionpost.pl) on Dec 15, 2016 at 11:36pm PST

Elle Fanning for Miu Miu

For their SS17 campaign, Miu Miu take us on a much-needed holiday to the beach. Using retro vibes and postcard scenery, the brand needed a joyous and gentle energy to complete the scene – and who better than Elle Fanning. Her feminine yet quirky look seamlessly matches the ’60s-beach-babe vibe of the collection.

A post shared by Alasdair McLellan (@alasdairmclellan) on Jan 9, 2017 at 8:31am PST

Millie Bobby Brown for Calvin Klein

Raf Simon’s Calvin Klein is much bigger than just fashion. The brand values celebrating women and has chosen various female celebrities to display the designer’s new vision for the brand. One of the most influential actresses of the moment, attracting fashion designers from all over the world to work with her, is ‘Stranger Things’ actress Millie Bobby Brown. The 13-year-old stands for who she is and exerts a strong force of self-empowerment that perfectly portrays the brand’s vision.

A post shared by Calvin Klein (@calvinklein) on Jan 22, 2017 at 9:02am PST

Jude Law for Prada

Known not only for his on-screen talent but also for his impeccable style, Jude Law stars in a story about a man wandering through a desert attempting to find the “perfect spot” in Prada’s SS17 campaign. The simplistic nature of the video instalment symbolises Prada’s recent shift in conveying a naturalistic aesthetic.

A post shared by Jude Law (@lawjude) on Jan 26, 2017 at 9:02am PST

Chloë Sevigny for J.W. Anderson

Since J.W. Anderson’s SS17 collection was inspired by a masculine aesthetic, it only made sense to have Chloë Sevigny be a part of such a campaign. The niche label tends to choose models who are iconic yet discrete. Even though Sevigny has taken part in various campaigns, her experimental tomboy style fits into the J.W. Anderson brand perfectly. It is important that the love between the designer and muse can be sensed by the consumers.

A post shared by JW ANDERSON (@jw_anderson) on Dec 13, 2016 at 10:33am PST

Bella and Gigi Hadid for Moschino

Bella and Gigi Hadid are increasingly becoming the go-to campaign stars for many high-end fashion labels. The sisters are constantly surrounded by a swarm of paparazzi photographing their every move. Interestingly, Moschino made use of this real-life situation that the models are all too familiar with as their campaign story.

A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Jan 5, 2017 at 1:56pm PST

Fergie for Philipp Plein

Pop star Fergie is seen posing in a surreal and extravagant setting dressed in sparkling gold outfits for Philipp Plein’s SS17 campaign titled “Alice in Ghettoland”. For Plein, “wild is the way”, and this message is perfectly portrayed through Fergie’s glamorous style and free spirit.

A post shared by Philipp Plein (@philippplein78) on Sep 22, 2016 at 1:22am PDT

These campaigns are working their magic on us, what about you? Let us know in the comments ????

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Why has Switch been inactive and what's up with the office?

Switch — Mon, 08 May 2017 12:08:37 +0000

Hey there. Remember us? Yes, we know – it’s been ages. We’re pretty embarrassed about being inactive, to be honest. The truth is that we’ve spent the past months focusing on dedicating all of our time to our clients. This means that we’ve done the inexcusable and neglected one of our clients – Switch itself. After some soul-searching and sifting through months’ worth of exciting content ideas, we’re back.
2016 was a great year for the agency, and 2017 is proving to be even better. We’ve been crazy busy working on some exciting projects for our clients, growing our team and seeking new and exciting opportunities.
Here’s what’s been up at the office:

We merged.

You might remember this news popping up on your feed a few months ago, but here’s the CliffsNotes version in case you missed it: Switch used to be divided into Switch Brand & Design and Switch Digital. They both lived under one roof but had two different websites, social media platforms, and identities. Things naturally led to the two agencies merging into the one you see before you today – if you want to know the juicy details, here’s the post that explains what, why and how.

We grew.

When a team of 12 becomes a team of 25 in under 3 years, you need to make room for them. So we knocked down a few walls, moved desks around and literally doubled our space by renting out the office space beneath ours. This means that we can all enjoy our lunch together in one space, thanks to the new kitchen area that seats the whole family. It also means that our desks can all fit comfortably within the airy, open plan studio – a change that helped improve our flexibility, communication and collaboration among teams.

Our sister company, Miko, has set up shop on the lower floor while leaving plenty of room for our very own photography studio. Most importantly, we’ve still got loads of space to play around with. A few exciting changes are in the works, so we’ll keep you posted.

We picked out the best.

While the design, brand and creative teams have always been focused in their areas, the digital team has changed drastically over the past 3 years. Richard started out alone in 2013 and brought Teri on board soon after. Both would roll up their sleeves and do whatever was needed, but as the work rolled in and the team started to grow, we were soon hiring specialists to cover all areas of digital marketing. Today, we have a team of 10 fully immersed digital specialists.

We worked our asses off.

We’ll be sharing juicy details in our portfolio, but here’s a countdown:

10 nationwide campaigns for Vodafone Malta
9 brand identities created
8 new websites launched
7 months of record-breaking results for Kinnie
6 events organised
5 Miko spatial design projects completed
4 pitches won
3 interns at the office every quarter
2 costume days at the office
1 buzzing, motivated, happy family

What’s next?

We keep going. We keep working. We keep up the pace to get our projects out for you guys to see because we sure as hell can’t wait for the reaction. We keep changing. We keep evolving as the landscape ahead of us shifts. We can’t stop the tide, but we can decide where we want to be when it comes in.

And we write. Because this won’t be a sole blog post – rather, it’s the first of the new series of Office Bloggers we’ll be publishing every week, giving each member of the Switch family their turn to tell a story. In the meantime, you can get to know us on a more personal level on our relatively new Instagram page – instagram.com/switchmalta.

See you there!

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What happened to Switch Digital?

Switch — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:26:50 +0000

In internet time, Switch Digital was founded a few decades ago. In reality, it has only been three years. Back then, we were frustrated at the lack of a proper digital agency, one that specialised in the field rather than dabbled in it. Switch Digital was born with this focus in mind and, to be perfectly honest, we had no idea how quickly it would grow. We grew for all the right reasons. Talented and skilled and enthusiastic minds joined the team, every one adding their experience and innovation to the recipe. Happy clients recommended us to awesome people who, in turn, became awesome clients. So the team and the client base grew in a virtuous cycle until the ‘digital’ bit of Switch had effectively doubled the company in size and revenue.

Then the borders became fuzzy

The specialist digital team worked more closely with the creative pool and vice versa until there was no internal distinction any more. All we were left with was the headache of managing two social streams and two sites when we only needed one drinking session for the entire team. Which page do we post the more embarrassing shots to? So we looked at ourselves as we would look at a client and told ourselves what we would tell a client. Sort your shit out and communicate like the single brand that you are. So here we are. We’re Switch. We’re adept at telling stories to an audience, wherever that audience may be.
What this means for our clients and partners is that the incredible pool of talent and specialised digital marketing that was available under the Switch Digital brand is still around and growing as fast as we can possibly manage it. The creative team that has crafted so many stories for so many years within the Switch umbrella is also here, and also growing steadily to add skills, perspectives and personalities. You just have an easier way of getting in touch with us. Isn’t that what you’d have wanted us to recommend to you?

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Happy birthday Mario

Switch — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 09:05:57 +0000

Believe it or not, Super Mario turned 30 this year! Yes, you are getting old too.
Throughout the years, Mario has become one of the greatest and most recognisable video game characters of all time, earning himself an army of fans. Among them there is illustrator Butcher Billy, who decided to celebrate Mario’s birthday by creating ‘Super Mario Bros: 30 Years of Pop Culture Project’ – a collection of illustrations that feature Mario in “30 events that shaped the last 30 years in pop culture.”

You may wonder: who was the mind behind this great video game? Surprise, surprise, it was no other than Nintendo’s Japanese video game designer himself, Shigeru Miyamoto.
Shigeru was asked to create something new by designing a game for the cabinets – and so he did. Although he was not a programmer, he thought through the storyline before starting any work on the gameplay – probably the first time that this ever happened in the history of video games. Mario eventually served as Nintendo’s mascot and, naturally, the protagonist in the series.
Being the short and chubby Italian plumber that he is, Mario’s adventures mainly include saving Princess Peach from villain Bowser. Shigeru was originally going to create Mario as a carpenter and his archenemy King Bower an ox, but funnily enough he was turned into a turtle when the animators couldn’t understand what Shigeru had drawn out.
The origin of his name is pretty funny too: during a brainstorming session with the staff, who were trying hard to come up with a name for our beloved protagonist, the meeting was interrupted by Mario Segale, the landlord of the Nintendo’s office in America, who demanded an overdue rent. That, dear friends, is how the name Mario was picked!
Introducing a style so imaginative and entertaining, it’s safe to say that it really hasn’t drifted away from its initial style over the past three decades.
You may notice that Mario’s design is incredibly similar to Monopoly’s basic design – it just doesn’t change, and people keep on playing and playing.Wonder why? It’s all due to the little surprises you find along the way and simply the overall experience, and who could forget its quirky music?

How was Mario created?

Each and every square of land, Goomba and the question mark blocks had to be drawn by hand and coloured on graph paper. When the designers were satisfied with their work, it was sent off to a developer to be coded. Since making changes or fixing simple errors was way too messy, opaque tracing paper was overlaid on top of the level currently being drawn. Naturally, today Nintendo uses computer programs to help edit and design their games, making it way easier to correct any errors.
The way Mario moves throughout the game is of incredible importance to any Nintendo designer – which, in fact, hold their own programming team, just to maintain the physics of Mario’s jumping and running.The reason why Mario slips a little when he jumps is to add a perceived weight to Mario. Without this he would just feel like a flat figure, drawn on a 2D screen. When transitioning Mario to 3D, he needed to have more weight, enough to squash him into the ground a little when landing, and get his momentum going again straight after.
“Adding weight helps the player believe it’s a real character, this helps them from emotional attachment,” Shigeru Miyamoto explains.
Are you a Mario, Peach or Toad fan and love design? Are you in the need of some character inspiration? Yes? Then you’ll definitely drool over this manual, which Nintendo and Pantone have created to give an insight into their character design!

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