Xbox: Survival Billboard, 1 [video]

Credits & Description:

Brand: Microsoft
Product/Service: Games
Entrant Company: Mccann London
Agency Network: Mccann London, London
Production Company: Momentum Worldwide, London
Other: Hothouse, London
Other: Attention Seekers, London
Other: Mrm, London
Other: Edelman, London
Other: Emt/Dentsu Aegis, London
Other: Craft Worldwide, London
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Doubal
Chief Creative Officer: Laurence Thomson
Creative Director: Sanjiv Mistry
Creative Director: Jamie Mietz
Art Director: Jacob Bjordal
Copywriter: Jim Nilsson
Copywriter: Sanjiv Mistry
Copywriter: Anja Mcguiness
Art Director: Jamie Mietz
Designer: Colin Lee
Designer: Danny Elliot
Planner: Thomas Keane
Head of Integrated Production: Sergio Lopez
Integrated Creative Director: Chad Warner
Head of Art: Michael Thomason
Senior Project Manager: Clare Mann
Producer: Lois Newcombe
Producer: Chris Cartwright
Executive Producer: Tom Mcloughlin
Business Director: Sailesh Jani
Account Director: Aj Coyne
Account Manager: Charlotte Habin
Account Executive: Charlotte Walters
Studio Manager: Ellis Faint
Print Producer: Liam White
Editor: Andy Tusabe
Editor: Paul Jenkinson
Audio Engineer: Tim Sutton
Audio Engineer: Chris Gilbert
Artworker: Muhammad Qasim
Brief Explanation
The Campaign
Xbox turned an advertising channel into an entertainment channel. Survival Billboard was a billboard in central London on which eight gamers stood in a test of Lara Croft-like grit, endurance and inner strength, to win a trip inspired by the game. The contestants faced blizzards, downpours, harsh wind and intense heat – all controlled by the public via a live stream.
Creative Execution
Survival Billboard was a single billboard that reached the world, as the drama taking place on it was live streamed on Twitch, the Xbox dashboard, banner ads, digital OOH and a dedicated microsite. The public gave up on sleep to watch the billboard, to control the weather that the participants were enduring, as well as to support, discuss and speculate about alliances and romances. The winner lasted 22 grueling hours, yet In that one day, the oldest advertising medium was reinvented as a gripping, interactive reality show.
8 minutes average dwell time (vs. 8 seconds for a regular billboard)
1000 weather votes per hour
£3.8 million in earned media
11000 viewers for 22 hours straight
3.5 million views
32000 comments in 22 hours
Survival Billboard reinvented the oldest advertising channel as an entertainment channel. By using an existing medium in an entirely unexpected way (turning it into a gripping, interactive reality show), it challenged the norm of what billboards can do, in terms of engagement, entertainment value and expected results.
To its audience, Survival Billboard was more than a piece of advertising. It was a highly watchable spectacle that kept them up all night both glued to the drama as well as influencing it.
The aim was to target gamers who were otherwise distracted by the imminent launch of bigger games with bigger budgets, such as Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront. Our approach was to create a single, interactive entertainment experience that tapped into the gamer mentality of total control, and by doing so upped the engagement levels. In essence, the strategic approach was to treat an ad for gamers as an entertaining game in itself.