In pro wrestling, there’s nothing more exciting than a “heel turn,” the industry term for when a babyface, or a wrestler portrayed as heroic, flips to the dark side. The world of WWE last month experienced its most shocking heel turn ever, when John Cena — the Guinness World Record holder for granting 650 wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation — went bad for the first time in more than 20 years.

A heel turn is also at the center of the latest campaign for Clash of Clans, but rather than featuring Cena, the effort stars his WrestleMania opponent and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody “The American Nightmare” Rhodes.

Rhodes stars in a series of 30-second ads about the hit mobile game from Supercell. In “Alter Ego,” he muses about the destruction he has caused and the heroes he has defeated in the game as “Overlord Rhodes” before his revelry is broken when fellow WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley walks in. 

The pair’s story continues in “The Showdown,” as Rhodes does needlepoint and notes that "everyone else is going bad these days" before Ripley tells him to check in on his game, where “Rhea_The_Ripper” has attacked his town. The action moves to a supermarket in “We Want Revenge” as a girl confronts Rhodes, not as a fan, but as someone whose village he destroyed in the game, before Rhodes comes under attack from real-life marauders.

Authentic insights

For David New York, the union of Clash of Clans and WWE, which will host the 41st annual WrestleMania this weekend in Las Vegas, represents some of its biggest work of the year due to the iconic status of both brands. Clash of Clans will follow in the footsteps of brands including Mountain Dew and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, with the brand serving as a sponsor of a WrestleMania match.

“We knew that we had to speak to both audiences authentically,” said Jason Burke, creative director at the agency. “Yes, maintain our Clash audience, but also speak to this new audience of WWE, [where] a lot of these people, and even the wrestlers, are players.”

That insight led the agency to tap Rhodes, a long-time Clash of Clans player who has been ranked among the top 10% of players worldwide under his OverlordRhodes moniker. The wrestler has tweeted about the game and even has special merchandise for his in-game clan, making a juxtaposition of his in-ring and in-game personas a perfect fit for the campaign.

“He's a babyface, he'll never go heel, he'll never be a villain,” Burke said of Rhodes’ wrestling persona. “But when you think about it, if you're that good at Clash of Clans, you are a villain, because the whole game is raiding villages. So what if we revealed that and tapped into that?”

WWE was a good collaborative partner, even if David was nervous to propose turning the company’s babyface champion into the villain of its ad campaign. But the company was appreciative that the agency had real, research-driven insight into its product and fan base. The campaign even had the approval of WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque — better known to WWE fans as Hall of Famer Triple H.

“We got the note, ‘Triple H has approved your scripts,’ which was a childhood dream of mine,” Burke said.

Still, WWE did not share that it had its own heel turn in the works. David staff found out with everyone else when Cena turned heel at the Elimination Chamber event on March 1, a moment covered by ESPN, The Today Show and all over social media that has perhaps put the Clash of Clans campaign in starker relief. A 60-second cut of the creative has notched more than 2.5 million views in just a few weeks, which speaks to the engagement with fans of Supercell games.

“Their audience base is so involved and so invested,” said Erin Evon, creative director at David New York. “We've done things where they will notice the tiny details and the Easter eggs, and that's been really awesome compared to other brands, where you're hoping someone pays attention.”