The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2024
Supercell Squad Up casts five global stars as Squad Busters characters in a launch film
For its first global launch in five years, Supercell released a five-minute film with stars becoming its game characters.
Supercell
What it had to solve
In 2024 Supercell launched its first global game in over five years — Squad Busters — and wanted a launch moment as big as the return.
How it works
In 2024 Supercell launched its first global game in over five years — Squad Busters. The moment needed a celebration big enough for the return of a studio whose characters are already famous across its games.
The answer was Squad Up, an action-packed five-minute launch trailer. Chris Hemsworth, Christina Ricci, Ken Jeong, Will Arnett and Auli'i Cravalho each take on the personality of an iconic Supercell game character that appears in Squad Busters, playing the roster in the real world.
Instead of a short teaser of gameplay, the film gives the characters room to act, and the work is preserved in the D&AD awards archive with credits and the full film.
Why it lands
- A five-minute film lets five stars each play a distinct character, so the launch becomes entertainment rather than an advertisement.
- The game brings iconic characters together, so stars embodying them externalize the game's core promise in the real world.
- Household-name casting gives the launch trailer reach beyond existing mobile-game fans into the stars' own audiences.
What it did
The film gave the launch a single shareable centerpiece in which fans saw household-name stars become the game's characters in real life; the work is preserved in the D&AD awards archive.
What you can take
If the launch itself is a roster of beloved characters, cast the real world instead of describing the game: stars embodying the characters make the premise tangible before anyone plays.
Since then
The archive page records the film and credits but no audience numbers, so the case rests on the idea: when a studio's first global title in five years gathers its iconic characters, the launch film can personify that reunion with stars. Squad Up turned the milestone into a five-minute comedy of characters meeting in real life, filed as Supercell work in the D&AD awards archive.
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