Just Dance 4• Ubisoft• Number one selling dance game brand• Sets out to create world’s best party• One of the top ten games in the UK in 2012

• Just Dance 4 is a music video game, developed by Ubisoft Milan as the fourth main instalment of the Just Dance series of dance games.

• High profile launch - announced at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2012 by music artists Flo Rida and actor Aisha Tyler.

• Flo Rida’s song “Good Feeling” appears on the advert – and he appears in it, so he and his record company are promotional partners

• Released on a variety of platforms to attract a wide audience - Wii the Wii U, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360

• Staggered release - Wii U version was released on November 18, 2012 in North America and was released on November 30, 2012 in Europe and Australia to take advantage of positive press and word of mouth via social networks.

• A sequel, Just Dance 2014, was released in October 2013 for all current-generation consoles.

Ubisoft

• Ubisoft – variety of genres to appeal to a variety of audiences e.g. Just Dance is a family-oriented party game, and Assassin's Creed is a completely immersive story-based mature-rated title that primarily appeals to adult males.

• Tony Key – Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Ubisoft – strategy - games for several different audience segments, core titles like ZombiU but also family titles - Just Dance 4, ESPN Sports Connection, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, and games like Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth aimed at a younger audience. We've always had a good mix of core products and non-traditional gamer games. I think that's part of the reason for our broad success.

• Just Dance – intended wide appeal from 3 to 93 years-old; college kids, grandmas, teen girls anyone who wants to work up a sweat in front of a television.

• Tony Key: It takes tremendous effort to reach that non-standard audience. We have to reach outside the game industry to be successful. You have to have visible PR at (TV talk-shows like) Conan O'Brien and Ellen DeGeneres for that outer circle of gamers, people who don't hear about games until they've released.

• Annualisation also keeps it fresh. Just Dance always has the best new music every year. Just Dance is about the latest trends, every entry evolves the franchise … and we put a lot of work into keeping it fresh.

• Keeping it relevant – updating music – the release of PSY's Gangnam Style DLC (YouTube users have watched the official Gangnam Style music video nearly 500 million times) on Just Dance 4 before Thanksgiving in 2013.

• Aim – make it part of the holiday tradition – turn every gathering into a party.

• It brings a balance, and retailers love it - they're swarmed with games like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty, but this is a game that brings the whole family together.

• The casual and less-core gamer is part of the ebb and flow of the industry.

• Marketing of Just Dance 4 is about keeping it fresh-changing genre, hottest music, whatever's popular

Utopian Solutions

• Appeal rests on Richard Dyer’s Utopian Solutions “Utopia” is an imaginary ideal worldRichard Dyer argues that “entertainment offers the image of ‘something better’ to set against the realities of day-to-day existence.” This is the idea of “escapism” - inside the world of a video game your existence can be “better” than in the reality of day-to-day existence

• It was word of mouth – literally and on social networking sites drove Just Dance’s success. People were talking about it and that was more effective at selling copies than the initial marketing push, which had some bad reviews critical of the graphics and scoring system.

• Today, Just Dance’s online player community is massive – thousands of Youtube videos of people filming each other and playing with their friends.

• Wide attraction – not big on the usual skills necessary for more niche market games. Just Dance transcends what gamers think people want or need from interactive entertainment - more accessible, universal kind of fun than the kind that’s packaged up for us in regular games.

Integrated Campaign – making use of promotional partners

• Ubisoft announced that dance fans can get two special music tracks on the Wii or Xbox 360, by inputting codes found on Cheetos snacks. Snack mascot Chester Cheetah will dance along with Cobra Starship's You Make Me Feel, which can be found in regular Cheetos, Flamin' Hot and Crunchy Salsa Con Queso. Anja's Brand New Start can be redeemed from the Puffs or Smoked Cheddar snacks. Once you have the codes, you can grab the tracks anytime before the end of the year

• Game disinhibits everybody from the idea of a dance game … Appeal hinges on psychological illusion - dancers on-screen are mirror images of the player, and because they are real people rather than 3D models, your brain is tricked into thinking that it’s you - that you might actually look like the dancer on screen, rather than like a drunk person without full control of their limbs – an advantage of using real people, rather than animations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbwssKJwTk

The TV commercial

Title track "Good Feeling" from Flo Rida who also appears on advert

Cameos from e-celebrities with multiple million like Harley from Epic Meal Time

D-trix a judge from "So you think you can dance"Lindsay Stomp -the world's only dancing violinistCimorelli sisters - seven acappella sisters

Idealised representations in Just Dance 4

How does the Just Dance 4 trailer use media language and representation to

promote the game?

Features of media language• Camera

– Angle– Shots– Movement

• Mis-en-scene• Editing• Sound

Representations?

• Has own Twitter page for social interaction, posting pictures, challenges and promotions e.g. unlock a free track or encouraging fans to vote for Just Dance 4 at awards – but fans spread the word via their own twitter accounts

• Celebrity endorsement e.g. ‘candid’ footage of Justin Bieber surprising kids dancing

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eQ6MIdQa9o

• Facebook – videos/promotions/social networking• Youtube – official and unofficial videos

Iconography – the Just Dance brand