A 7 foot 8 inch Nightmare

The Ask :

Build brand affinity by bringing something unique, valuable, and relevant to the convention experience that only Arby’s could do.

The Idea :

Anime Expo in Los Angeles is the largest celebration of Japanese pop culture in North America featuring guest panels, concerts, and gaming. We brought Arby's popular nerdy packaging builds to the convention previously by hiding builds for attendees to find and keep. This year we planned to literally go bigger by bringing a life sized build to the convention floor.

Soul Calibur VI, the long anticipated new chapter in the Soul Calibur fighting games series, was scheduled to be released shortly after Anime Expo so we knew there was already existing cultural buzz around the game that could be tapped into. We reached out to Soul Calibur’s legendary game developer Bandai Namco and Volpin Props, a world class prop house based in Atlanta, and all partnered up to bring something unexpected to the convention.

Fan-favorite Nightmare from Soul Calibur VI was built out of hundreds and hundreds of Arby’s sandwich boxes, totaling over 1,700 square feet of cardboard. The project took more than 1,000 hours of construction and stood 7 feet 8 inches tall when assembled.

We asked attendees to help us finish the build by adding messages or drawings to small sections of cardboard to slowly build the cape during the event. For fans who couldn't attend, we turned to twitter and added memos and drawings by request, replying in real time with photos of their additions being added to the sculpture. This collaboration proved to be so popular, we finished building the cape before the first day of the convention, and let fans start customizing the boxes at the base of the state in order to keep up with demand.

The Arby's booth was also the only place at Anime Expo where fans could play the new game, bringing a unique fan experience for fans of the game who were hoping to try it out before the release day.

The activation at Anime Expo proved to be so popular, we quickly made plans to bring the statue to the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), an insanely popular fighting game event held in Las Vegas offering tournaments for various video games including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Nightmare’s own–Soul Calibur 6. This time Arby's set up shop on the show floor in the Bandai Namco booth.

We created a one of a kind Arby's carboard skinned fight stick to add to the prize pool of the tournament. We also created a unique Arby's sauce themed shirt, and gave over 700 of them to fans during the event. Volpin Props created a second helmet for nightmare for Bandai Namco to use during their stream. It would later be signed by the producer of Soul Caliber VI and auctioned off for charity later on at Awesome Games Done Quick.

The Results :

Arby’s fans already knew Arby’s supported gaming, but seeing the scale of this activativation took their brand affinity to a whole new level. Conversation extended well beyond the event, earning press and organic share across social.