Believe

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"A hero need not speak. When he is gone, the world will speak for him."

— Magazine Ad

Believe is a Microsoft marketing campaign for Halo 3 produced by New Deal Studios. It features the word "Believe" as a tagline, and appears to be honoring the legacy of SPARTAN-117, citing him as a hero of the United Nations Space Command whose brave actions inspired other servicemen during the Human-Covenant War.

It includes handouts, live-action TV commercials, magazine page advertisements, and Xbox live marketplace ads.

Media[edit]

Websites[edit]

(Note the Websites are defunct now. Anything that can be found is either on its relevant page or on this page)

Diorama - An interactive flash movie, a part of the Believe campaign for Halo 3. It is a fly through of the John-117 Monument, and was be viewed at the Halo 3 website.
On Xbox.com, there was a collection of photographs from war photographer Jake Courage titled "Shooting a Hero".^[1]

Trailers[edit]

Testimonials - These were a set of 4 videos showcasing veterans of the Human-Covenant war reminiscing over the Second Battle of New Mombasa.
- Museum - A live-action TV commercial featuring Retired Major Pawel Czernek, a UNSC veteran that fought in the Battle of New Mombasa alongside SPARTAN-117, reminiscing of his memories of the inspiring hero.
- Hunted - A live-action TV commercial.
- Enemy Weapon - A live-action TV commercial.
- Gravesite - A live-action TV commercial that explores the battleground and talks of Spartan 117's "death".

Diorama - There were two videos made focusing on the Diorama itself.
- Believe: The John 117 Monument - A live-action online video, describing the in-universe construction of the memorial diorama.
- Diorama - A video showcasing several parts of the diorama.

Shooting a Hero - A trailer detailing the photos of John-117 that Jake Courage took.^[2]
- Making of Shooting a Hero - Making of the photos for the art gallery and Xbox.com site.^[3]

Events[edit]

Believe - A pamphlet distributed at the Project Revolution musical festival, featuring in-universe musical presentation of the UNSC Symphony Orchestra.
Believe Plaques - Plaques were displayed in several locations. The dates on some of these plaques are canonically incorrect, describing Human-Covenant War events involving John-117 happening in mid-2553 and later, despite the fact that the war had ended and John was Missing In Action by that time.
Art Galleries - Several photographs were shown in art galleries in the UK that were photos by Jake Courage.

Trivia[edit]

Production notes[edit]

The creators of the campaign were not informed of the story of Halo 3,^{[citation needed]} leading to multiple inconsistencies with the narrative depicted in Believe and the game's story. However, according to Jeff Easterling on September 9, 2018 it was canon "for now".^[4]
Stan Winston Studio was responsible for the diorama featured in the Halo 3 Believe ads.^{[citation needed]}
The melody that was used in the Believe commercials was created by Polish pianist Frédéric Chopin and is called "Preludes #15, Raindrop".

References[edit]

In the Halo 3: ODST campaign levels Mombasa Streets and Tayari Plaza, there are several graffiti where the player can read BELIEVE, a reference to the Halo 3 marketing campaign.
- There is one particular area in Mombasa Streets though that has 117 in bullet holes next one of the BELIEVE graffiti.
A new trailer released for Devolver Digtial and Croteam's Serious Sam HD entitled "Seriously Believe" is an obvious tribute or parody to the Believe campaign, utilizing a selection of frozen in-game views in place of the models, a similar track, and a black screen at the end with the words "Seriously Believe" appearing, very similar to the original "Believe" trailer, before showing the game's logo.
A trailer for the Spartan Showdown event in Epic Games and Mediatonic's Fall Guys is a tribute or parody to the Believe campaign. The uses a rendition of the same song used the Believe Diorama while the camera moves about a "diorama" of many of the game's jellybean-shaped characters posed in various positions; all the while, a pink character walks around the scene. The camera moves to the top of the diorama where a character dressed as John-117 is posed alongside a Jiralhanae Chieftain, who is reaching for a crown. The camera zooms in on a ball that the John-117 character is holding, and then cuts to his visor, mirroring the end of the Believe Diorama trailer, revealing its eyes. It then cuts to a black screen displaying a strange language that translates to "Woo!" and transitions to "BELIEVE". The trailer ends with the pink character trying to grab the crown, knocking it down along with the John-117 and Chieftain characters, transitioning to the event's title card.