Digitas Philippines, the local arm of one of the world’s leading integrated marketing agency networks, is set to activate an online campaign that puts the safety of the gaming community at the forefront. The group aims to make a difference through a collaborative and purposeful effort that may save millions of lives.
The campaign named the “Seizure Warning Pre-Rolls” project, turns the 6-second pre-rolls on YouTube — online ads that run before selected videos start playing — into dedicated spaces with warnings that effectively alert viewers of possible adverse conditions like seizures and photosensitive epilepsy. These conditions can be triggered by components of gaming-related videos and other similar ‘intense’ content.
The components include flashy animations, fast and mind-bending gameplay, and vivid, ultra-colorful visuals, which viewers typically see in these materials. While these factors make gaming content extremely visually stimulating, they can also seriously affect those who have had seizures or epilepsy in the past and those who have not had them before.
With the world now having more than 40 million active gaming channels, gamers and enthusiasts now have over 40 million chances of running into possible seizure risks. These numbers reinforce why it is essential to improve the safety of those who are active in this space.
Game developers and companies have tried to address the situation by providing warnings on their physical game copies and showing them onscreen as players start their games.
However, alarmingly, these warnings sometimes get left out by those sharing their gameplay or footage on their channels. This gap can undermine existing measures, and this is what Digitas wants to address precisely.
Through the Seizure Warning Pre-Rolls project, Digitas ensures that notices will be in place before anyone views game-related videos, thereby bolstering safety.
Moreover, the agency has utilized its core capabilities to fine-tune the pre-rolls. Going above and beyond providing standard warnings, it has developed the pre-rolls to mimic the type of gaming videos the consumers will view.
The initiative will already cover all YouTube videos with gaming content tags in its initial phase. It will feature highly targeted and specific seizure warning messages to protect as many viewers as possible.
The Digitas team emphasized that the whole group remains 100% committed to this endeavor. They shared that “More people are now looking at gaming as a serious hobby, a source of content, and even a profession. We at Digitas proudly embrace the responsibility of protecting them using an approach we know best: effective creative work. For us, we are not just placing warnings that are told and shown in more engaging ways. From a more purposeful perspective, we see our campaign as a means of potentially saving more lives in this space.”
They also mentioned that the group is looking forward to having more partners and allies as the efforts grow and expand beyond the initial phase.
For more information on this meaningful initiative and how to get involved, please connect with the Digitas team via (02) 8548 8401.