Challenge:
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?
Solution:
Turn an advertising channel into an entertainment channel. Survival Billboard was a single billboard that reached the world, as the action 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, and with the help of several touchpoints, the oldest advertising medium was reinvented as a gripping reality show.
Results:
8 minutes average dwell time (vs. 8 seconds for a regular billboard)
£3.8 million in earned media
11000 viewers for 22 hours straight
1000 weather votes per hour
3.5 million views
32000 comments in 22 hours