PortAventura World

Tackling a football AR game

Client

PortAventura World

Industry

Tech

Services

Content Copywriting Tone of voice UX

www.portaventuraworld.com

The Beat Challenge is an exciting joint venture between PortAventura World and LaLiga. By tackling a football AR game, they created a new kind of mobile-based augmented reality (AR) experience designed to be used at PortAventura World park in Tarragona, Spain, as well as beyond it. Players create and customise their avatar, develop soccer skills, and compete against the Legends of LaLiga. 

Craft Words were asked to develop the verbal identity, strategic messaging, in-app copy and launch comms. As well as handling all translation and UX writing, from the website to the mobile app. Partnering with the team at Copa90, our goal was to make the experience simple, clear and engaging. 

Why we were picked for the squad

Our proven experience in tone of voice and copywriting for the sports market made us an obvious choice for this project. We’d previously completed successful projects for both Nike and Dunlop, so the team at Craft were well equipped and eager to take on the challenge. 

Back of the net

We wanted The Beat Challenge to be exciting and inclusive, so our messaging found the sweet spot between a sense of community, passion for the game, and the call of adventure. 

We created a tone of voice that summed up what football culture should be – ambitious but not aggressive, playful but progressive. Most importantly, it captured the adventurous spirit The Beat Challenge wanted to inspire in players. 

Defining a brand’s verbal identity can be painstaking but our messaging nailed it for the client, pretty much first time with virtually no tweaks. The work was so well liked that it was used beyond our own remit, influencing the launch comms and social media campaign.

International fixture

One challenge for our copywriters was that the app had a large Spanish audience, so we brought on board a trusted partner to translate the work into compelling Spanish, French and Catalan..

Of course, good translation isn’t about producing a word-for-word equivalent but about transcreation. Taking the essence of what you’re saying and adapting it, using idioms and phrasing that resonates with a local audience.

One of our taglines relied on wordplay that wouldn’t directly translate. We’d included a reference to ‘game day’, which had two meanings – the day of the match and the slang term for going out to achieve something. Sadly this wordplay would be literally lost in translation.

In Spanish, ‘game day’ means nothing. And ‘juego’ the Spanish word for game, has heavy connotations for the world of sports betting. So we collaborated closely with the translation team to solve this, and as a result, rewrote the tagline for the Spanish market. 

Upping our game

Every project is an opportunity to make a positive difference for our clients. And equally, a chance to learn and grow.

Our collaboration with Copa90 helped visitors to PortAventura World experience the park in a completely new way. And provided football fans everywhere with some innovative AR fun. 

Meanwhile, the translation challenges provided a useful lesson. We’ve learnt to take a more holistic view and to collaborate more closely with transcreation experts right from kick off. 

A winning result

Our UX put players at the heart of the game while our audience-grabbing verbal identity scored strong engagement. The result was a happy client and  a ‘back of the net’ feeling for everyone at Craft. The Beat Challenge pioneers a new approach to immerse people even deeper into the physical locations they can explore. It’s an updatable platform that will continue to evolve and grow.

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