Rising music artist BENEE (aka Stella Bennett) has collaborated with Electronic Arts and Maxis, the studio behind the popular video game franchise The Sims.
The campaign was created by Creative Agency, BRING, who worked closely with the Maxis development team to design her original Sim avatar, bringing BENEE to life as a character in The Sims. The music video, brought to life by BRING’s production partner Augusto will launch the first single Kool from her debut album Hey u x out now.
The video has had over 535K views since release on Friday.
The music video sees the singer-songwriter, who previously ignited streaming platforms with more than 2 billion streams of her 2019 hit single Supalonely, ‘play with life’ in The Sims with her Sim-ified BENEE character. In addition, BENEE recorded Kool in Simlish for players of The Sims 4 to enjoy her music in-game. The Sims has become a pop culture phenomenon and has sold more than 200 million copies.
“The Sims has an incredible community made up of Gen Z and millennial women, aligning to BENEE’s fan base, and we knew it would be a perfect combination” said James Griffiths, Executive Creative Director at BRING. “BENEE is a huge fan of the game and this exciting idea kick-started a collaborative project that brought gaming and music passion points together. The music video for Kool is a culmination of months of work and truly let BENEE add her own mark to The Sims culture.”
The Kool music video was created with both music and gaming fans in mind, and combines BENEE’s music with the quirkiness of the iconic life-simulation game. Produced by renowned music video director Allan Bibby (Pharrell Williams, Rhianna, Coldplay) and Michelle Walshe, the video showcases BENEE inhabiting two worlds: one set in The Sims featuring BENEE embracing the role of a Sim and all of the comical nuances that go along with it; and another as herself in the real world controlling her Sims avatar.
“I wrote Kool about people out there that seem effortlessly cool. I’m nahtt like that! I’m a fan of The Sims and it’s been supa exciting working on this collaboration. I hope fans of the game and my listeners love the video.” said BENEE
“The Sims is deeply integrated into pop culture, and it’s amazing to see a rising star like BENEE embrace the game’s spirit for her music video,” said Craig Auld, Director of Marketing Asia Pacific, EA. “It was great to work with BRING and Universal Music Australia to bring this project to life. The music video embodies the game’s creative and whimsical nature, and we can’t wait to see how fans react to the video, as well as hearing Kool in Simlish.”
The collaboration between The Sims and BENEE marks the launch of BRING’s new initiative, Brand Relevant & Authentic Video Entertainment (B.R.A.V.E.). “With B.R.A.V.E., we are able to unlock opportunities with one of the world’s most watched content pieces on the internet, music videos.” said Adam Ireland, General Manager, BRING.
Ireland adds: “These creative artist assets drive millions of organic views and in a world of 3-second content reigning supreme, still lead on meaningful engagement. B.R.A.V.E. offers the next frontier of product integration, providing brands the ability to collaborate deeply on a music video with artists we know are popping, or are about to blow up. We deploy our global insights around music fans to design highly engaging content and build eco-systems that support the conversion of artist fans to brand fans.”
The campaign centres around the original Kool music video, with content rolling out through social and digital channels over the next month.
