---
title: "Slaypals"
url: https://stacklist.com/card/6ea39d9e-7b25-45da-a00f-4a562b4e87c5
source_url: "https://themany.com/projects/slaypals"
stack: https://stacklist.com/c/business/stack/60a0e606-6875-440d-a25f-a998e1afd491
summary: "SlayPals Campaign for Diablo IV reimagined mercenaries as nostalgic 80s and 90s-inspired dolls to drive engagement and merchandise sales for the Vessel of Hatred expansion. The campaign achieved 800k+ social impressions and 11% YouTube engagement rates, becoming a top post-launch asset with exclusive merchandise available on the Blizzard Gear Store."
tags: "diablo-iv, marketing-campaign, merchandise, social-media, brand-strategy, gaming-culture, product-launch"
key_entities: "Diablo IV (technology), Vessel of Hatred (technology), SlayPals (concept), Blizzard (organization), Blizzard Gear Store (organization), Mercenaries (concept), SlayPals Campaign (event)"
classification: "analysis"
content_hash: "sha256:aaebc979c45d0bdf6e57c2298429841c05bec214baedb235922ac74c52d5c00a"
acp_version: "0.2"
token_counts_approximate: 404
visibility: public
agent_accessible: true
status: "final"
---

# Slaypals

Creating a high-profile moment that puts Diablo at the forefront of gaming culture. Services Social & Content Strategy Brand & Creative Strategy Outputs Online Video Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred is hard. The enemies are brutal. The dungeons are terrifying. The challenges are frustrating. But the new addition of mercenaries makes things a little easier because with them, you never have to fight alone. Mercenaries are your best friend in battle, so every player can feel more confident taking on hell. We reimagined mercenaries as “SlayPals” — diabolically demented dolls reminiscent of everyone’s favorite childhood companion toys from the 80s and 90s, complete with their own jingle and commercial parody. Along with the hero spot, we created various social posts and a sing-along video to further extend the campaign. Additionally, exclusive “SlayPals” merchandise with custom campaign illustrations was available on the Blizzard Gear Store. The t-shirts represented the first time Diablo has created a Capsule Collection of merchandise for a campaign, rather than the game title. The Results The SlayPals campaign is among the top post-launch assets for Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, driving 800k+ impressions across all social platforms and, on YouTube specifically, saw engagement rates around 11% which are well above channel averages for Diablo. In addition, social profiles were flooded with player engagement with comments asking about where they can purchase their own SlayPals. Impressions Across All Social Platforms k+ YouTube Engagement Rate % Ad Age Editor Pick Earned Media Impressions MM+