Bandai breaks with tradition for Catcha Beast launch

Toy brand Bandai is launching its “most ambitious marketing campaign ever” in the UK to support the launch of its new Catcha Beast game.

The hand-held computer game, which has already sold 1.5 million units in Asia, was launched in the UK last week, and an ad campaign breaks on August 15.

It features a 100-second TV spot, created by Origami Films, that will run on ITV, Five and children’s channels including the Cartoon Network.

The TV campaign will be backed by print ads in children’s consumer titles and in-store materials, created by agency BCA. The media planning and buying for the campaign is by Media Matters. A website for the game, featuring tips and biographies of the characters, has also been created.

The ads detail the “play value” of the game – although Catcha Beast is computer based children must move around with their handsets as they hunt the “beasts”.

Once the animals are hooked players must twist and rotate to keep the beast on the handset as they reel it in, as though they were landing a fish. When captured the beasts must be trained to progress through the levels.

Bandai describe the length of the TV ad as a “break with tradition”, and says that overall the campaign is its “most ambitious ever”.

Earlier this year, Bandai extended its virtual pets brand, Tamagotchi, with the launch of Tamagotchi Familitchi, a game allowing users to look after multiple pets at the same time (MW.co.uk, Feb 14).