Montana leaves its tag in Sony's award-winning B-Boy

Hive, the wholly owned strategic communications subsidiary of leading independent in-game advertising specialist IGA Worldwide, has developed a product placement campaign for Montana, the spray can of choice for graffiti artists, in Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's hotly tipped breakdancing release B-Boy.

Available on PlayStation2 and PSP, B-Boy has been developed by FreeStyleGames, one of the UK's leading independent studios, and has already picked up major accolades at this year's E3 show including 'Best Music Game' (PSP and PS2) and 'Most Innovative Game' (PSP).

The game has been created in collaboration with DJ Hooch and international hip-hop legend 'Crazy Legs' from the Rock Steady Crew, who also features as in-game host.

With the success of the game riding on its authenticity, Hive worked closely with Montana to ensure that the brand's product and values were incorporated sympathetically into the game environment.

"B-Boy represented a great opportunity for us to reach our target audience via an innovative advertising platform," said Ruedi Glatz, CEO at Montana. "In this instance not only are there obvious synergies between our brand and the game but we felt that the method itself speaks volumes about our values - by using in-game advertising now we're reinforcing our brand as innovative, forward-thinking and challenging mainstream thinking."

In real life the spray paint specialist sponsors a graffiti team of five internationally renowned artists, known as the MONTANA WRITER TEAM. Original artwork by Montana's team has been included in the game environment to further enhance its authenticity. The spray cans appear throughout the game helping to recreate a realistic hip-hop environment.

"This is a great example of a best practice in-game advertising campaign - Montana's spray cans are incorporated seamlessly into the game - and testament to Hive's experience and in-depth understanding of the gaming world," said Chris Lee, commercial director at FreeStyleGames. "Not only do well-executed product placement campaigns such as this one help the advertiser to reach an increasingly fragmented audience, they enhance the gamer's experience through a genuine and authentic representation of real world brands."

"Working with both the games developer and the advertiser, we're the guardians not only of the brands we represent but perhaps more importantly the gamer's experience," said Rachel Normal, MD at Hive. "It is critical that prospective players from the hip-hop community view the game as a sympathetic representation of their world, otherwise people simply won't play. We've really enjoyed getting under the skin of B-boy culture to develop this campaign to ensure that the visuals enhance rather than disrupt the game play."

B-Boy is due to be launched on October 6, 2006 on PlayStation2 and PSP.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About FreeStyleGames

FreeStyleGames is one of a new wave of groundbreaking European development studios. Founded in 2002 by a highly talented and experienced team, the company is reinventing independent development. Every member of the management group has played a senior role in shipping multi-million selling products on current and previous generation systems. They believe passionately about the future of independent software development and are working to become the leaders of tomorrow's interactive entertainment industry. FreeStyleGames is based in Warwickshire and currently employs over 30 staff.

About Hive

Founded in 2003, and now a wholly-owned subsidiary of IGA Worldwide Inc., Hive, a trading name of IGA Hive Ltd, is the leading strategic communications specialist and consultancy for considered in-game brand integration and placement solutions, bespoke game IP development, branded content and through-the-line marketing services.

Formed by established industry figures, Hive combines over 35 years of experience across the spectrum of videogame development, media strategy and brand communications, providing a unique blend of knowledge and strategic talent for both agencies/brands and publishers/developers alike.

Hive has worked successfully with a number of international brands such as Red Bull, Ben Sherman, T-Mobile and Orange as well as games publishers and developers including Electronic Arts, Atari and Codemasters.

Headquartered in London, Hive has offices throughout Europe and the US.