Photoshop is so much more than photo manipulation. It's the most powerful tool in the world for designing original art of any kind. We needed to engage and inspire the Photoshop community to dream bigger and do more with Photoshop.
Through research we learned that our Photoshop community loves to play Dungeons & Dragons. So, we partnered with Wizards of The Coast, creators of D&D, and wrote a new story about a terrifying monster in the Ruins of Undermountain. Then we challenged the creative community to bring the Terror of Undermountain to life in Photoshop.
Strategy & Execution
Through research we learned that our Photoshop community loves to play Dungeons & Dragons. Combining the games recent resurgence with our fans love of the fantastical imagery shared on the product’s social channel, we saw an opportunity to intersect the gaming community and our Photoshop audiences.
We partnered with Wizards Of The Coast, creators of D&D, and wrote a new story about a terrifying monster in the Ruins Of Undermountain. Then we challenged the creative community to bring the Terror Of Undermountain to life in Photoshop.
The customer-centric campaign kicked off during TwichCon, the premier event for gamers, and was timed with the release of the new D&D storyline, Waterdeep: Dungeons of the Mad Mage. Fans from all around the world were driven to a curated microsite, which contained everything needed to create an epic beast – a brand new D&D story, a free trial of Photoshop, and a custom monster making kit.
We amplified our message through Influencer and Adobe evangelist tutorials, reminder posts and other themed content aimed at boosting engagement and driving submissions supported the campaign during its three-week duration.
A joint judging panel between Adobe and Wizards of the Coast was established to select the ultimate winner and chose the most menacing monster illustration from the finalists. The top contenders and winner were shared across Photoshop’s and Dungeons & Dragons’ social channels.
Results
Our campaign successfully saw 200,000 engagements and inspired our Photoshop communities, both strengthening their love of D&D and their mastery of product. Our competition accounted for 5,000 monster kit downloads and 2,000 monsters created. Adobe also saw 20,000 new signups, as well as 3,000 new Photoshop downloads.