Case Study - Grand Theft Auto V

Release date: 17/09/13
Developers: Rockstar North

Print
The print adverts used to advertise GTA V were billboards, posters etc.

This poster is quite different from other promotional posters as it doesn't have one main central imagine, but 7 images on the whole page which are ingame shots. Also, the title is in the Grand Theft Auto known font which lets the audience know its GTA. However, it is in the centre where the central image would normally be, and it is the only text on the whole picture. This is because the images on the poster are replacing the text and giving you the information about the game. However, no call for action is on the poster (social media, websites). There isn't a specific colour scheme for this poster, but the GTA V colour scheme is green and white, as seen on the title. 

(http://www.totalxbox.com/62433/reviews/gta-5-xbox-360-review/?page=2) The first review I looked at was the xbox review. They gave GTA 5 a good review with a result of 10/10. One thing they said about the game was "...you're looking at something that could hold up the next console generation all by itself-".

(http://www.edge-online.com/review/grand-theft-auto-v-review/) The next review I looked at was the edge online review. They again gave a good review with again a result of 10/10. One of the things they said about the game was "As we stand on the brink of a new generation, GTAV sends an intimidating message to the rest of the industry. Beat that. "

(http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/review/gta-5-ps3-review-grand-theft-auto-v-score-from-official-playstation-magazine/3/) The last review I looked at was the PlayStation review. This again gave an amazing review with a score of 10/10. One thing they said was "This is going to make the next-gen look bad for a long time to come." 

Broadcast

                                      

The official TV advert was very different to normal ones. This is because its being advertised more like a movie. There is no-one playing the game, its all ingame video, telling a story of one person in the game. This is effective in the promotion of games so that the audience can get more of a look at what the game will look like while they're playing. Also, the things they can do so that when they place they already know what to do etc. Without the adverts/trailers, the audience wouldn't have an image of the game in their head and wouldn't know as much about it. 

E-Media

GTA V used E-Media quite a lot to advertise this game. From Twitter (Hashtags, Pages, etc.) to their own website. Twitter and Instagram had the hashtag "#GTA5" which then drew attention to the game once the hashtag was trending. Once it trended, even people outside the target audience was interested by GTA V. 

With pages like twitter and Facebook, they were used to put up pictures, videos and links and also to interact with the audience more. To interact they would ask them questions, which made them feel more involved, had competitions and counted down the days for the release of the game.

User generated content, like game-play, help to promote the game because they show the audience what the game is like before it has been released. People may not want to purchase it until they see what the game is like and the advert, like on YouTube, makes it clear on what the point of the game is and what its going to be like for the audience when they play.