Combating is sweet, in accordance with KesselsKramer’s new Monopoly marketing campaign
Amsterdam-based agency KesselsKramer has worked with Monopoly’s parent company Hasbro’s Benelux department to create a new campaign that celebrates the more conflict-heavy aspects of the real estate board game.
With the game so well-known around the world, the aim was to come up with something new, but which speaks to the reality of the game. “Soon after getting into it, we realised almost everything related to Monopoly had already been thought of, or has been done before somewhere in the world,” says KesselsKramer Amsterdam creative director Rens de Jonge. “Being original for a game that’s so well known, means finding originality at the very basis of the idea. So we turned the general view of Monopoly around.”
According to research by Hasbro, eight out of ten people fight during a game of Monopoly. KesselsKramer took that learning and gave it a positive spin across posters that will be displayed on the streets featured in the Dutch and Belgian versions of the game for the next three weeks, including Kalverstraat, Coolsingel, Lippenslaan an Groenplaats — “the equivalents of America’s Monopoly streets Boardwalk, Pacific Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue and Park Place,” according to de Jonge.
The campaign looks to show that fighting in the right circumstances, such as a family game of Monopoly, can be a positive thing – an idea backed up by parenting advisor and psychologist Dr. Krista Okma. “Fighting teaches children to express their emotions, to set boundaries, to stand up for themselves and to put themselves in other people’s shoes, for example,” she says. “It can also be a good occasion to talk to children afterwards about important questions: How important is winning for them? Is it necessary to always be better than others?”
The campaign also runs across social, where images link viewers to an article explaining the research behind the campaign, the “pedagogical advantages of fighting in the safe surroundings of your family”, and how Monopoly can help by causing those fights.
The campaign imagery was shot by photographer Erik Smits, chosen for his “pure and honest” photography, according to KesselsKramer. The images each show a different child dealing with the intense emotions Monopoly can elicit.
“If the core of the campaign lies with the fact that Monopoly causes fights, it is important to base that campaign on genuine emotions,” says de Jonge. “Therefore we cast kids that are well known for their emotional outbursts during board games in general, and Monopoly in particular. And they weren’t hard to find. Almost every parent with kids between the ages of eight and 12, could relate.”
kesselskramer.com