Vero’s board game Campaign Go, the product of two months of hard work by 10 members from Vero’s Vietnam office, along with input from many others, has received an enthusiastic response among marketers and young talents who are passionate to join the communications industry.
The game uses 70 cards across to represent a year in the life of communications professionals who are seeking to run the most successful campaigns. To win, the players must strategically employ resources from the client side, agency side, communication activities, influencers, and more.
Let’s sit down with the team who created the game to uncover how and why it came to be.
Campaign Go was originally a New Year’s gift sent to Vero’s partners and clients in Vietnam. Why did you choose to make it a board game?
Phuc Ngo – Strategic Director: We felt that a New Year’s gift related to our industry would leave a stronger impression on partners, clients, and colleagues and be worth keeping for a longer time. Board games require a strategic mindset, which is something they have in common with communication practices. Combining resources, understanding competition, and a fair bit of luck play a part in all of our working lives. So the idea of creating a board game was quickly approved by the whole team.
Each card has a clever name in Vietnamese. For example, the Illustrator was described as “Phap su goi hinh” (The Mage of Art) in Vietnamese. Do you have any criteria while creating the copy?
Nhung Nguyen – Creative Copywriter: While the game can be played and understood by anyone, it reflects the reality of our lives as communicators in Vietnam, so the Vietnamese language provides much of its flavor. We had two standards in creating the names for all the cards: to be familiar, fun, and highly relatable for all marketers, and to be open-ended enough to accommodate evocative visual ideas.
We also added an English copy for the entire game. The terms used had to retain their meanings in translation and be culturally specific so they seem both relatable and professional to our local target audience. For example, we have a card representing a social influencer who is a mother and bases her online persona around her skill at caring for her family. In Vietnam, the common term for this is “hot mom.” However, using this term would lead to misunderstandings among English speakers, so we modified it a bit.
Did you have difficulty translating the ideas from copy to visual language?
Aiden Nguyen – Creative Designer: Yes, we did. In creating 70 artworks for the cards and other print elements included in the board game, we dealt with some issues. It’s quite challenging to deliver the messages visually in a witty style. There is a card named “Trum Showbiz” (Influencer and Media Relation Specialist) which was represented by the image of a boss with a bucket covering his head. “Trum” is a slang word for “Boss”, and the sound when pronouncing the English word “Show” is close to the way we pronounce “Bucket” in Vietnamese. Besides, the three designers on the team have very different drawing styles, so we had to work together to find a consistent art style for the game.
The illustration and typography used in the game could not be too childish, but it should reflect the dynamic and creative style of marketers. The main colors used in our design are the six colors of Vero’s brand identity. We see these colors as enthusiastic, inspiring, trustworthy, and cheerful, so we hope that marketers will also get the same energy when playing Campaign Go.
What can the players expect from Campaign Go?
Ngoc Nguyen – Culture & Internal Communication: It’s going to be fun exploring the messages in our artwork and copy. Some of the events found in the Market Environment cards might bring a good laugh due to their craziness, while others reflect the struggles that marketers are all too familiar with.
Aiden Nguyen: You can use this board game to bond with your friends or use its art as wall decorations. The messages of each card can also help you speak out your feelings. For example, the Account card is titled “Lam dau tram ho” (Having to please everyone). We hope you will find yourself somewhere in these cards.
What does this board game mean to Vero and your professional development?
Ivy Chau – Media Engagement Lead: The game demonstrates almost all of Vero’s strengths and its concept and execution involved all of our teams, including Planning (game structure and rules), Creative (content and design), Media & Influencer Relations (promoting the game), and Culture & Branding (managing the production and connecting with other Vero’s offices to adapt the game).
Ngoc Nguyen: Campaign Go has helped the whole team to show off what they can do by implementing ideas that they rarely have a chance to express in commercial projects. The timeline was a great challenge, as we only had two months to start from scratch and finish everything while maintaining our standards of quality and timeliness on our campaigns for clients. As such, this project is a testament to Vero’s teamwork – one of the core values of our agency.
Starting as a New Year’s gift for clients and partners in the Vietnam market, Campaign Go soon received attention and support from many media publishers, marketers, and even students who are passionate about PR. In response to the surprising demand, Vero decided to release the game’s files as a printable free download for all communications professionals and digital marketers to enjoy and practice their creative campaign skills. Furthermore, localized versions of Campaign Go are currently in development at other Vero offices.
