The PUBG Skateboard.
This project was a step to the side for us in terms of industry, but like we say (a lot) - brand is brand, brand is the game and merchandising done right is your MVP. On top of that, sometimes we just want to give props to something we’ve done that we love. Maybe it will inspire you. Definitely up there as one of the freshest brand merchandise pieces we have ever made, The PUBG Skateboard is not the whole story. PUBG got us thinking about brand merchandise in new ways that every industry should listen to. Here’s how.
The story starts with Jack. Jack here is one of our Lead Project Managers and when we got the call from PUBG we got right to work. PUBG Mobile were launching the Continental Series which was a global competition PUBG setup to replace the Global Series. This was mostly down to COVID when every offline comp was stopped and replaced with the online-only Continental Series. This needed to be celebrated, and brand merchandise is always one of the very best ways to do this, especially when it’s creative and exclusive.
On to the brief. There was a new map release, and if you know anything about gaming, this is a big deal. So we knew this was one we had to go hard on. More than that - it was a brand new challenge. After lots of brain-storming, we wanted something with an athletic vibe to give a nod to the competitive edge of gaming, but something that could translate across and not be strictly “sport”. To add to that, PUBG wanted a product that could be seen on-screen when watching streamers and sponsored gamers, so merch that could sit on a wall was ideal. We brainstormed some more and this generated a lot of ideas (some good, some not so much!) before we came up with the winner - a real under-used classic - the pennant. Almost giving vintage vibes, we worked up some designs with the PUBG team and landed on a sign-off that carried across the brand and the game in a perfect aesthetic. Simple, effective and authentic. The best merch always is.
This started something. We love to get underneath the brands we work with to really understand who they are and what they stand for and what they want to say, so to say this started a creative fire here is an understatement. We went to work and out together a cohesive collection of ideas in a deck designed not just to offer solutions, but to maybe inspire the next idea too.
We looked at elements of the game to see what we could bring to life - characters, energy drinks, inflatables, helmets, lunchboxes. We wanted to see what parts of the game we could really bring to life in the most authentic way. So we looked a little deeper and what made this map stand out from the rest. Then we clicked on the fact that this new map was the first one to showcase other “drivable”s. And it was vehicles beyond cars and trucks. There was BMX, buggies, surfing and of course, skateboards. And this was the lightbulb moment. Authentic to the game, creative for the brand and something that could hang on the wall visible and interesting to streaming audience.
So we went for it. PUBG were excited and so were we. We built the skateboards deck with a custom presentation box, which made what was just a product to what we call true brand merchandise. It creates an experience and this ties to back to the brand.
Fast forward and the first consignment was made and we shipped out the brand new, exclusive PUBG Skateboard to Amsterdam. But like so many good ideas in the 21st century, this one went viral. In fact it went global. The full project got produced and shipped to 11 different countries, including California, Jakarta, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Philippines, Seoul, Vietnam, Taiwan, Washington and China. The rest is fresh merch history.
