Dentsu Aegis Amplifi and McCann London teamed up with Microsoft Xbox to get gamers to take notice of new game 'Rise of the Tomb Raider'.

1.
Microsoft
Xbox
Background
and
Objectives
Lara
Croft
is
one
of
the
most
iconic
video
game
characters
in
history.
Ever
since
her
first
appearance
on
the
PlayStation
in
1996
she
has
captured
the
attention
of
gamers
and
non-­‐gamers
alike.
Fast
forward
20
years
and
games
have
changed
a
lot.
The
graphics
are
better,
the
gameplay
faster
but
what
has
changed
the
most
is
their
depth
of
story
–
something
that
rang
true
of
the
latest
Tomb
Raider
game
being
launched
by
Microsoft.
It
was
important
to
make
that
clear
to
gamers:
Lara
Croft
was
tougher,
stronger,
leaner
and
grittier
than
she
was
before
and
the
challenges
she
would
face
would
be
harder
and
more
profound.
The
game
would
launch
in
the
most
competitive
release
environment
of
the
year,
going
up
against
Fallout
4
and
Star
Wars
Battlefront.
McCann
London
and
Dentsu
Aegis
Network
teamed
up
to
get
gamers
to
take
notice
&
understand
what
the
new
game
stood
for
and
just
how
tough
Lara
Croft
is
today.
We
needed
to
position
‘Rise
of
the
Tomb
Raider’
as
one
of
the
top
selling
titles
of
2015,
showcasing
the
new
gritty
feel
of
the
title
that
sees
Lara
transform
from
hapless
victim
of
circumstance
to
survivor
.
To
do
this
we
needed
to
increase
awareness
of
an
already
well-­‐known
brand
but
a
relatively
unknown
title,
whilst
building
purchase
intent
amongst
both
the
core
franchise
fans,
as
well
as
broader
audiences.
Through
print
newsbrands,
we
would
prompt
action
towards
a
recruitment
phrase,
in
an
innovative
way.
Insight
Through
the
use
of
Dentsu
Aegis
Network’s
proprietary
audience
tool
CCS,
we
confirmed
our
initial
thoughts
that
72%
of
our
audience
expect
advertising
to
be
challenging.
We
then
joined
forces
with
McCann
London
to
turn
an
advertising
channel
into
an
entertainment
channel
–
the
outcome
being
‘The
Survival
Billboard’.
However,
we
would
also
need
to
drive
awareness
of
the
Survival
Billboard.
So
we
would
play
on
the
fact
only
7%
of
Britons
read
terms
and
conditions
when
signing
up
for
a
product
or
service.
Furthermore,
36%
of
our
audience
read
newspapers
on
their
commute;
so
we
saw
an
opportunity
to
capture
our
audience’s
attention
during
periods
where
they
have
time
to
read.
The
Plan
Rise
of
the
Tomb
Raider
sees
Lara
transform
from
hapless
victim
of
circumstance
to
survivor.
We
wanted
to
celebrate
this
iconic
moment
and
bring
it
to
life
through
a
real
world
challenge:
The
Survival
Billboard.
Eight
contestants
were
elevated
above
central
London
to
create
the
world’s
first
human
billboard.
To
prove
they
had
Lara’s
inner
strength,
competitors
battled
the
harshest
of
weather
conditions,
with
the
last
one
standing
(after
24
hours)
taking
the
prize.
The
campaign
began
with
a
recruitment
phase.
This
consisted
of
the
promotion
of
lengthy
‘Terms
&
Horrible,
Horrible
Conditions’
–
a
humorous,
disruptive
attempt
to
discourage
would-­‐be
contenders
who
don’t
have
what
it
takes
to
apply
for
the
ultimate
challenge
on
survivalbillboard.com.

2. The
T&Cs
were
promoted
through
print
and
OOH,
quite
the
reverse
of
a
typical
advert,
as
you
can
see
from
the
image
below
the
DPS
format
consisted
only
of
the
T&Cs.
However,
this
focused
mostly
on
outlandish
nature
of
what
the
Survival
Billboard
would
be,
including
funny
tongue-­‐in-­‐cheek
comments.
These
ran
in
the
Evening
Standard
and
Metro,
and
were
placed
in
the
recruitment
section
of
each
publication.
The
advert
asked
the
readers
to
go
to
survivalbillboard.com,
from
there
they
were
required
to
compete
in
various
survival
themed
challenges,
with
the
best
performer
being
selected
to
join
the
contestants
on
the
billboard.
In
addition,
the
unique
creative
was
used
in
high
impact
digital
display
on
core
gaming
sites
and
radio
spots
(including
the
full
T&Cs
read
in
full
during
a
2min
spot).
On
12th
November
2015,
seven
members
of
the
public
(selected
from
thousands
of
entrants)
along
with
one
influencer
(Jade
Jolie)
ascended
the
billboard,
where
they
were
challenged
to
remain
for
24
hours.
The
contestants
stood
against
the
elements
–
including
raging
wind,
torrential
rain,
wild
snowstorms
and
intense
heat
-­‐
mirroring
the
tough
conditions
faced
by
Lara
in
the
new
game.
To
ensure
scale,
the
competition
was
livestreamed
on
the
survival
billboard
website
as
well
as
Twitch
(the
UK’s
2nd
biggest
gaming
site).
In
a
sadistic
but
highly
interactive
twist,
viewers
could
vote
for
whatever
weather
condition
they
wished
to
unleash
each
hour
through
the
microsite.
To
deliver
reach
against
a
broader
audience,
the
stream
was
also
pulled
into
large
digital
OOH
sites
(Manchester
Piccadilly,
Birmingham
Eye)
and
HPTOs
on
IGN
(the
UKs
biggest
gaming
site).
We
used
print
ads
in
a
variety
of
different
newsbrands
that
showcased
“today’s
forecast”
to
ensure
readers
were
away
of
their
ability
to
control
the
weather
for
our
contestants.
This
helped
us
secure
live
reads
on
Radio
X
(via
Chris
Moyes),
and
a
Twitter
trend
(#SurvivalBillboard)
on
the
day.

3.
After
21
hours
there
was
one
contestant
remaining
(Adam).
Once
the
survivor
was
crowned,
a
wrap
up
video
was
produced
showing
the
highlights
of
the
24hrs,
this
was
then
promoted
across
key
owned
channels
with
paid
support.
Results
The
campaign
gained
great
traction
amongst
non-­‐gamers
and
gamers
alike,
helping
to
contribute
to
sales
of
57k
units
in
the
first
week.
Additional
key
stats
include:
- Average
billboard
dwell
time
was
8
minutes,
6000%
higher
than
the
average
of
8
seconds
- 45,999,269
total
impressions
- 6,144
mentions
#survivalbillboard
- 77,047
views
on
survivalbillboard.com
- 2K
sign
ups
to
compete
on
the
Survival
Billboard
- 5,216
concurrent
viewers
on
Twitch
- Biggest
Xbox
Twitch
campaign
ever
with
over
450K
views
- 400M+
impressions
with
50+
media
articles
including
MailOnline,
Mirror
online,
Shortlist
and
Evening
Standard
- £3.8
million
earned
media

4. - 1,620,399
views
on
Facebook
&
YouTube
- 2,154,233
total
views
(across
survivalbillboard.com,
Facebook,
YouTube
&
Twitch)
Client
View
“Survival
Billboard
was
a
great
demonstration
of
an
integrated,
multi-­‐media
campaign.”
Jon
Edney
|
Sr
Category
Manager,
Xbox
Studios