72andSunny on Reviving Call of Duty’s Character

A new campaign launched through 72andSunny at the end of last week reassures gamers that they don't necessarily need to quit their day jobs to play all the Call of Duty they want. With the return of the agency's specialist character, Peter Stomare, otherwise known as The Replacer, they can simply forget about all their professional and personal responsibilities to immerse themselves in the latest DLC pack for Black Ops III, Awakening.

Returning to screens in the amusing role having first been introduced in 2013 to promote Black Ops II, a new four-minute film sees the amusing hero once again fill in for committed fans in various guises in a funny follow up up.

Below, creative director in LA, Tim Wolfe, tells us why it was right to bring Sotomayer back and expands on the creative process.

Did you look into the success of the campaign to decide to bring him back or was a follow up always in the plans?

We brought The Replacer back because he was a huge success for Black Ops 2 and gamers love him. He's become an icon in the Call of Duty franchise and he's one of the most memorable characters we've created at 72andSunny. We wouldn't have brought him back if people didn't love him.

Teppanyaki. Press conferences. The birds and the bees. Tell us about coming up with all the scenarios and narrowing them down for the new campaign…

For the scenarios themselves, we do whatever we can to put Peter in the most awkward situations possible and let him go. You're never totally sure what will come out, but he's such a great actor and knows the character so well, each take is an adventure.

There's a bunch of different decisions that come into picking the final ones as we always want a balance of quiet and awkward moments with things that are more kinetic and crazy. Some that we think will be quick and some longer so there's a balance in the film.

Did you take any inspiration from existing movies and if so which ones? Or tell us about some references used in the creative process…

The original idea of The Replacer certainly was born from inspiration from a myriad of different cleaners and threatening character archetypes from a ton of different movies. But once we cast Peter and started writing and filming, it started taking on a character of his own.

The film is over four minutes in length with the gaming footage included; why do you think longer form worked for this launch? Is it because the targeted consumer is based mostly online?

We didn't have an overall length in mind from the outset. We just set out to make a fun, funny and engaging piece of content that happened to feel best at four minutes.

Is it compulsory for the gaming footage to be included at the end? This could be considered a hard sell in other categories. Why do you think it works with gaming?

The Replacer has come back to promote Black Ops III DLC pack, Awakening. These content packs are aimed at the most-serious of the COD gamers, who love to see the goods. They revel in it. Take it apart, analyse it and talk about it. For them, there's never too much game footage.