Minnesota real estate company collaborates with Activision on ‘Call of Duty’ billboard ads

Drive through the Twin Cities and it’s hard to miss the omnipresent billboards of Kris Lindahl, the founder and CEO of Kris Lindahl Real Estate, advertising his company with his signature stretched-out arms pose.

But recently you might have noticed something is different.

Instead of Lindahl, a thick-bearded man known as the “Replacer” has been inserted into some of the billboards as part of a global marketing campaign from California-based video game publisher Activision for its new game, “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.” The company reached out to Lindahl after one of its game-testers who works at Activision’s office in Eden Prairie suggested Lindahl would be a perfect candidate for a local advertisement collaboration.

“When this opportunity to ‘replace’ Kris came up, we were like, ‘Let’s do it, have some fun with this and embrace the local celebrity,’” said Tyler Bahl, chief marketing officer at Activision.

There are somewhere between six and 10 of the “Call of Duty” billboards scattered throughout the metro, Bahl said, though more are being added each day. Instead of Lindahl’s “Guaranteed cash offer” text behind his head, the billboards say “Guaranteed Black Ops.”

The idea of the “Replacer” — who has been used to market “Call of Duty” games in the past — is that he takes over the real-world responsibilities of celebrities so they can spend more time playing the video game. The character is played by actor Peter Stormare, who dressed up in a suit to recreate the Lindahl advertisement. Along with Lindahl, Stormare also was a stand-in for Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards in a video advertisement.

“Anthony’s off being great at another game. ... I’m the Ant Man now,” the actor says in a fictional courtside interview in the ad.

Activision has also partnered with many other famous personalities on the ad campaign.

Since Lindahl’s ads were first introduced in 2017, they have garnered both local fandom and annoyance from some Minnesotans who feel like they can’t escape the billboards.

The advertisement collaboration between Lindahl and Activision is unique because the internationally recognized game publisher had to make sure Lindahl agreed to licensing his signature pose. In 2022, Lindahl successfully trademarked a photo of himself with his arms out as well as a couple of slogans for the company. Other images of the pose are still pending to be trademarked.

The photo of Lindahl, which has been placed on hundreds of billboards and other surface advertisements, has become so widely known it is now a template for countless memes and Halloween costumes. While some poke fun at Lindahl’s appearance and intense stare, he said, it’s only helped spread his company’s name.

“I don’t mind people taking shots at me and stuff,” Lindahl said. “I think that’s all part of putting yourself out there.”

He added he hopes the “Call of Duty” campaign can be the start of more branding collaborations between local and national businesses and bring more national recognition of his company.

“I think people realize this is just the beginning, and it’s going to get bigger and bigger,” Lindahl said.