Advertising Age
June 18, 2009

Video-game giant Activision-Blizzard has tapped TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, to handle marketing for its much-anticipated "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2." Now the agency must make good on a doozy of a creative brief: Make the November release of the game the "biggest entertainment launch of all time" -- bigger than any video game, any movie or other entertainment property.

TBWA was handed the assignment after a quiet pitch and joins an impressive roster of creative shops assembled by the company's chief creative officer, Brad Jakeman, who arrived at the Santa Monica, Calif., marketer last year. Mr. Jakeman said he considered three other shops for lead creative duties for "Modern Warfare 2," Razorfish and Droga5 (which are already on the marketer's roster), and Mother, New York.

Activision-Blizzard, whose other franchises include the immensely popular "Guitar Hero" and "World of Warcraft," wants to beat previous sales records set by video games such as "Grand Theft Auto" and blockbuster movies such as "Dark Knight."

The addition of TBWA to the Activision-Blizzard roster comes after the company last week appointed WPP's Mediaedge:cia to handle global planning and buying for its estimated $200 million marketing account. These moves are probably the last changes to the marketer's lineup for awhile. Ark Advisors' Los Angeles office managed both searches.