These legendary football players may be separated by decades, but this didn’t stop entertainment design company E3 and app designers Zoombugs from bringing them together for an official Apple app developed on behalf of Thomas Cook Sport and approved and supported by Manchester United Football club.
Given a brief to produce a campaign featuring a fun game-based app that built on the Brand partnership being developed by Thomas Cook and Manchester United Football Club, Thomas Cook marketing engaged Brighton based Entertainment Design Agency - E3 to manage the project.
With live action shots of the current United squad filmed on location at Old Trafford and a special behind the scenes ‘making of’ video the project presented a number of challenges both technical and logistical not least in terms of accessing some of the most in demand players in the world.
E3’s CEO, who personally managed the project, commented:
“We have been involved in a number of high-profile advertising & brand endorsement campaigns both for Thomas Cook and other clients over the years, but it doesn’t get any more exciting than working on a project involving two of the world’s best known brands – Thomas Cook and Manchester United Football club.
It is also provided us, as a business, with an opportunity to acquire new learning in the form of App Development which is where our great friends from Zoombugs came in.”
The brief for Zoombugs was challenging – develop an innovative, fun game which would be part of Thomas Cook’s ongoing sponsorship with Manchester United – simple!
David Hill continues: “We believe they really rose to the challenge and have delivered a great App with real ‘wows’ that players will love using.”
The game features an innovative touch screen control system that allows the user to control a variety of Man Utd stars, past and present. The player is invited to choose their favourite star from among Ryan Giggs, Robin Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa to perform football skills and tricks to unlock the legends of yesteryear Bryan Robson and Andrew Cole. The player can play ‘at home’, ‘in the stadium’ or ‘away’ on the calming beach (watch out for that pesky seagull!).
Along the way there are loads of special combos to pull off and great special tricks if the player has the skill to fill up the power bar. With two modes of play available, ‘Time Challenge’ where the player tries to get their highest score within 60 seconds and ‘Keep It Up’ where one mistake will cost you all your hard earned points, there is plenty to keep the player coming back for more. There are also leader boards where you can challenge your friends to see just who has the skills to be the best.
If that’s not enough the player can also enter a regular prize draw competition where they can win great prizes from Thomas Cook and Manchester United.
Geraint Bungay, Director of Design and Development at Zoombugs, says “It was really important to get the right balance of promotion and fun within the app. I believe we have offered the player a fantastic game with a good level of addictiveness. The biggest challenge was getting the characters right in the game, both it terms of controls and likeness. We had a fantastic working relationship with E3, Thomas Cook and Man Utd who worked very closely with us on all parts of the game design. It will be great to see the fans reaction to the title”
Released on the 19th November the title is available in the UK only and exclusively on the Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad devices.
