Xbox: Survival Of The Grittiest

Credits & Description:

Agency: Mccann London
Alternative title: Survival Billboard
Brand: Microsoft
Country: United Kingdom
Advertising Agency: Mccann London
Entrant Company: Mccann London
Media Agency: Mccann London
Pr Agency: Edelman, London
Production Company: Edelman, London
Editor: Andy Tusabe (Mccann London)
Freelance: Danny Elliot (Mccann London)
Business Director: Sailesh Jani (Mccann London)
Integrated Creative Director: Chad Warner (Mccann London)
Co-President & Cco: Laurence Thomson (Mccann London)
Head Of Audio & Design: Tim Sutton (Mccann London)
Art Director: Jacob Björdal (Mccann London)
Copywriter: Jim Nilsson (Mccann London)
Artworker: Muhammad Qasim (Mccann London)
Planner: Thomas Keane (Mccann London)
Account Manager: Charlotte Walters (Mccann London)
Emea Creative Director: Jamie Mietz (Mccann London)
Emea Creative Director: Sanjiv Mistry (Mccann London)
Head Of Integrated Production: Sergio Lopez (Mccann London)
Senior Tv Producer: Chris Cartwright (Mccann London)
Studio Manager: Ellis Faint (Mccann London)
Print Producer: Liam White (Mccann London)
Account Manager: Charlotte Habin (Mccann London)
Head Of Art: Michael Thomason (Mccann London)
Co-President & Cco: Rob Doubal (Mccann London)
Audio Engineer: Chris Gilbert (Mccann London)
Senior Project Manager: Clare Mann (Mccann London)
Editor: Paul Jenkinson (Mccann London)
Account Director: Aj Coyne (Mccann London)
Associate Legal Counsel: Anja Mcguiness (Mccann London)
Designer: Colin Lee (Mccann London)
Agency Producer: Lois Newcombe (Mccann London)
Executive Producer: Tom Mcloughlin (Mccann London)
Campaign Description:
Xbox turned an advertising channel into an entertainment channel, and in so doing, put gamers in control of the ad. 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, who made up the billboard headline, faced blizzards, downpours, harsh wind and intense heat – all controlled digitally by the public via a live stream.
Execution:
Survival Billboard was a single billboard that reached the world, as the action taking place on it was live streamed on Twitch (the number 1 game streaming site), 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.
Outcome:
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 straight3.5 million views 32000 comments in 22 hours
Strategy:
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. We noticed that the outdoor ads for our competitors were all old-fashioned passive posters (despite gaming being an interactive medium). So our approach was to create a single, interactive experience that tapped into the gamer mentality of total control in order to increase engagement levels. In essence, the strategic approach was to treat an ad for gamers as a game in itself.
Synopsis:
Big video games, like big movies, launch with a huge outdoor presence. It’s become the battleground for new game launches. Yet most outdoor ads are glanced at for just 8 seconds. So how could Xbox get gamers to engage with the launch of the gritty new Tomb Raider reboot during the busiest game launch period in history?