The term "opening weekend" is no longer just reserved for big-budget Hollywood features now that single-day video game sales regularly shame the drawing power of ageing superhero franchises such as Spiderman. In 2004, Microsoft reportedly earned a cool $125 million in the first 24 hours after its Xbox 360 game Halo 2 hit North American store shelves. And at Boards' press time, the company was predicting single-day sales of its long-awaited sequel, Halo 3, could reach $200 million.

To ensure the hype reaches beyond the series' devoted following (dubbed the 'Halo Nation') to the uninitiated masses, the creatives at McCann-Erickson, San Francisco and its strategic arm, TAG, have unveiled an integrated campaign that canonizes Halo 3 protagonist Master Chief as a heroic icon worthy of a statue in Singapore, a mural in Toronto and a 1,200 square-foot diorama featuring more than 400 handcrafted figurines.

"The expectations for Halo 3 were that it's possibly the biggest entertainment franchise launch in history," says John Patroulis, a creative director at TAG. "Once we built [this diorama], the idea was to use it in more than just a commercial."

The agency decided the campaign's premise would be to honor Master Chief the same way a country or society would memorialize a war hero, in order to reach potential buyers who think Halo 3 is just another mindlessly violent game. Each iteration of the central idea is based on all the ways heroes are lauded: statues, music, mini-museums, murals, and, for the Internet age, web documentaries.

The biggest undertaking was the diorama. TAG partnered with MJZ director Rupert Sanders, who recruited model creators New Deal Studios in Los Angeles and famed Hollywood creature designer Stan Winston, who modeled the plastic characters on scans of real human faces.

The diorama is the focus of the TV spot, "Believe", and an interactive website created by digital agency AKQA. It's since been broken into five pieces, which will tour various Halo 3 PR events. Patroulis also says the agency is in talks with galleries and museums across the US to give the campaign a lasting life beyond the launch.

McCann-Erickson, San Francisco & TAG http://www.mccannsf.com