San Francisco, CA - October 13, 2008 - Adult Swim and Ubisoft have teamed up to bring Adult Swim fans access to the emerging African hip hop scene with African Swim, a free downloadable album available at AdultSwim.com beginning October 20 that will feature the best music from new and innovative South African artists. The promotion coincides with Ubisoft's release of Far Cry® 2, the highly-anticipated video game that immerses players in an entirely new kind of gaming experience. Players will discover a true open world gameplay set in one of the most beautiful environments in the world, Africa, brought to life by high-definition next-gen technology. Far Cry 2 is scheduled to release October 21, 2008.
"This music project gives our viewers the chance to be among the first to experience this up-and-coming genre of African music, which until now, has been largely unknown in the United States,” said John O'Hara, executive vice president, Adult Swim and sister network Cartoon Network Ad Sales & Marketing. "It also gives our partners at Ubisoft the perfect platform to introduce their new title, Far Cry 2, and really immerse the target audience in the authentic sights and sounds of Africa that inspired the game.”
"Ubisoft is excited to be the official sponsor of Adult Swim's new creative project, the African Swim EP, which brings an independent music genre to the mainstream,” said Tony Key, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Ubisoft US. "Music and video games have always gone hands-in-hand, and whether it's by playing Far Cry 2 or listening to the African Swim EP, both Ubisoft and Adult Swim are happy to be exposing our audiences to two artistic mediums inspired by the raw beauty and fascinating culture of Africa.”
As part of a multi-platform campaign launching October 20, Adult Swim will integrate Far Cry 2 messaging throughout their promotion of the African Swim album. Through on-air promotion, Ubisoft will be branded in a 30-second spot driving viewers online to a custom microsite at http://www.adultswim.com/promos/africanswim/. The site will serve as the hub for visitors to download the free album, watch mini-documentaries of the musicians featured on the EP, view live-action footage from the making of Far Cry 2 shot on location in Africa, watch gameplay demos from the highly-anticipated first-person shooter and link to the Ubisoft website. Adult Swim will also create co-branded media that will drive additional audiences to the custom site. The album and online content will be available for four weeks, through mid-November.
Adult Swim travelled to Africa to hand pick songs for African Swim and to meet featured artists like Jozi, Gumshev and Maggz face-to-face. Adult Swim has been a consistent advocate of forward-thinking music and supports innovative artists from a wide range of music genres, from hip hop to indie rock to electronica. The late-night network first featured music from a variety of unknown artists on-air, then began promoting the music online and, eventually, through their in-house Williams St. Records label.
All information contained in this news post comes directly from a press release sent out by Ubisoft.
