Clash Royale is cursed in the game’s creepy Halloween horror ad
David and director Kelsey Taylor’s short film imagines players dying in real life the same way they die in the game
Editor's Pick
Supercell mobile game Clash Royale is rolling out Halloween updates and in-game events this month, and is celebrating with a creepy short film centered around a classic horror trope: the curse.
In this case, it’s the game itself that’s cursed. Which doesn’t seem like that great of a selling point, but let’s go with it. The video above, from agency David New York and Eleanor director Kelsey Taylor, shows a group of young people playing the game—where the stakes are just a little higher than usual.
Also read: Clash Royale tests players’ strength by putting the game inside a 50-pound phone case
Taylor does a nice job of ratcheting up the tension, and the deaths are cleverly handled, too, on what clearly wasn’t a huge budget.
“A cursed item is a classic horror film trope. So, we thought, what if the cursed item was our iconic game, Clash Royale?” said André Toledo, chief creative officer at David New York. “Our partners at Supercell saw the entertainment potential in this and encouraged us to commit to the horror genre and deliver the chills and thrills to their millions of fans this Halloween season. We are very excited to ask gamers to lose ... if they dare.”
More Creativity coverage from Ad Age:
- See this week’s top 5 campaigns.
- Inside Deutsch LA’s rebrand as Deutsch.
- How consumers feel about AI in ads.
- Inside the design of CosMc’s, the McDonald’s spinoff.
- RIP, Jim Riswold.
- Meet the most client-y client ever.
- The best ads of 2024 (so far).
- 15 hidden gems among the Cannes Lions winners.
Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.
Credits
- Date
- Oct 07, 2024
- Client :
- Supercell
- Agency :
- David-New York
- Head of Live Games Marketing :
- Iwo Zakowski
- Brand Marketing Manager :
- Erol Tekkanat
- Marketing Producer :
- Freddy Herneoja
- Global CCO & Partner :
- Pancho Cassis
- Global COO :
- Sylvia Panico
- MD :
- Carolina Vieira
- CCO :
- Daniel Lobaton
- CCO :
- André Toledo
- Creative Director :
- Pedro Sattin
- Creative Director :
- Sébastien Rouvière
- Senior Art Director :
- Carmen Fenech
- Global Chief Strategy Officer :
- Paula Vampre
- Group Strategy Director :
- James Mitchell
- Associate Strategy Director :
- Vanessa Amaral
- Strategist :
- Brooklyn Carey
- Group Account Director :
- Brett Niebling
- Account Supervisor :
- Luisa Prado
- Head of Production :
- Brenda Morrison Fell
- Executive Producer :
- Debi Rubbiani
- Associate Producer :
- Sophie Freid
- Director Business Affairs :
- Barbara Karalis
- Business Affairs Manager :
- Catalina Peña
- Global PR Director :
- Sandra Azedo
- Production Company :
- Eleanor
- Director :
- Kelsey Taylor
- President/Executive Producer :
- Sophie Gold
- Head of Production :
- Rochelle Savory
- Producer :
- Rita le Roux
- Line Producer :
- Luis Valderrama
- Fixer :
- Michael Araya
- Production Manager :
- Tavo Jimenez
- Production Coordinator :
- Cherie Melaniuk
- Production Coordinator :
- Roger Hidalgo
- DP :
- Adam Lee
- 1st AD :
- Valeria Perucci
- 1st AC :
- Juan Quesada
- 2nd AC :
- Jose Moreira
- DIT :
- Saul Garcia
- Gaffer :
- Pablo Guevara
- Best Boy Electric :
- Carlos Solano
- Key Grip :
- David Friedlander
- Best Grip :
- Jordan Sequeira
- Art Director :
- Eric Viquez
- Set Decorator :
- Jason Fallas
- Practical SFX :
- Alvaro Elizondo
- Production Assistant :
- Ana Lucia Arias
- Stylist :
- Annabella Prins
- Stylist Assistant :
- Ale Freer
- Hair & Make Up :
- Andrea Seas
- Sound Mixer :
- Mauricio Vindas
- Locations :
- Mauricio Cortes
- Medic :
- Oscar Salas
- Script Supervisor :
- Carlos Benavides
- Edit :
- Eleanor
- Editor :
- Dawson Taylor
- Editor :
- Luke Thorpe
- Post Producer :
- Rochelle Savory
- Post Producer :
- Jennifer Gee
- VFX :
- Noise Studios
- CD/VFX Supervisor :
- Michael Gregory
- Head of CG :
- Corinne DeOrsay
- Lighter :
- Ca Chau
- CG Modeler :
- Will Moody
- Senior Nuke Compositor :
- Chung-Pu (Duff) Hsiao
- Senior Nuke Compositor :
- Jim Spratling
- Senior Nuke Compositor :
- Oliver Caiden
- Executive Producer :
- Karen Anderson
- VFX Producer :
- Stefani Na
- Color :
- Trafik
- Colorist :
- Dimitri Zola
- Color Assist :
- Jacob Suffern
- Producer :
- Hugh Copeland
- Music & Sound :
- Yessian
- CCO :
- Brian Yessian
- Head of Production :
- Michael Yessian
- Executive Creative Producer :
- Matt Nelson
- Director Sound Design :
- Jeff Dittenber
- Sound Designer/Engineer :
- Mike Baluha
- Composer :
- Andy Grush
Need a credit fix? Contact the Creativity Editors