Persil, yes, that Persil, launches a deceptively accurate fake video game to advertise playing outside

Persil – the German brand of laundry detergent – has entered the gaming industry. Or at least, it has joined forces with creative agency Lola MullenLowe to create a video game trailer that looks so deceivingly close to the next big release in gaming that we had to watch it twice. In fact, in the spirit of its tagline, Dirt Is Good, Persil is aiming to rekindle enthusiasm for the timeless playground game Tag – also known as Tig or It depending on where you sit on the North-South divide – with a surreal new campaign consisting of a fake game trailer, also titled Tag, which embodies contemporary gaming aesthetics with uncanny accuracy.

Produced by Happy Finish, the trailer for Tag essentially translates the real-life highlights of the game into high-octane video graphics, with Lola MullenLowe simulating believable gaming aesthetics in a number of ways. “There are a lot of codes and “clichés” within the gaming world that helped us develop the magic trick,” Tomás Ostiglia, executive creative director at Lola MullenLowe tells us. “One of the main drivers was the graphics. We knew that a big part of the gaming industry uses Unreal Engine, the graphics processor created by Epic Games, to develop their games. So we used the same tools to craft the perfect trailer with the best graphics available at the moment, because that’s what creates the hype.”

For inspiration, of course, Lola MullenLowe watched “tons” of gaming trailers; “From the more ‘down to earth’ games like Uncharted, Last of Us or Tomb Raider, to the most surreal ones like Halo, Doom or God of War,” says Tomás. The agency looked at how these games build a sense of excitement, or a sense of “the epic”, creating a story that would appeal to younger viewers. Meanwhile, the agency turned to the most recent ​​realistic releases in the gaming industry to create believable visuals. “Happy Finish and Epic Games helped us develop all our assets, giving us a really high benchmark in terms of the quality that we wanted to deliver,” Tomás adds. “The characters were crafted using Unreal Engine’s Metahuman Creator and gave us goosebumps the first time we saw them.”

For finishing touches, Lola MullenLowe created gaming ratings, empty game boxes and even a fake studio for the campaign launch – which premiered on the pages of six gaming influencers as part of an elaborate hoax from Persil. For Lola MullenLowe, the hoax had to walk the “thin line between being too preachy and making the gamers part of a clever prank”, a necessary component in enticing younger audiences in the gaming community to rediscover “an almost forgotten classic game”. “That’s the core of the idea – making four kids playing tag look cool and exciting while honouring what really happens in real life,” concludes Tomás.