DMA: Best Media Strategy: Gold
We got video gamers all over the world working together to follow a trail of XBox Live content, surveillance camera feeds, answerphone messages, websites, blogs, Twitter updates, emails and YouTube videos. All of which tied back into the equally complex and menacing Splinter Cell game itself.
There was zero media budget, so we had be canny, and let our knowledge guide the approach. Our starting point was simple. We created a web of intrigue every bit as complex and menacing as the game itself.
When gamers switched on their XBoxes on Boxing Day 2009 (the highest XBox usage rates of the year) they found an unannounced film on XBox Live. It contained exclusive footage of Splinter Cell: Conviction and a URL that appeared for a couple of seconds. The hidden URL led to codeofconviction, a subversivelooking site that asked for four codes. Users could explore the source code to discover a hidden website purporting to be that of a surveillance camera company, which in turn led to destinations both online and in the real world. To hunt for the four codes, gamers from 116 countries worked together to follow a trail of Xbox Live content, surveillance cameras, answerphone messages, websites, blogs, Twitter, emails and YouTube videos.
Every element was challenging and edgy, complex and subversive. And there was always the promise of discovering something of real value, whether a code or a theory on how to unearth one.
106,000 visitors from 116 countries. 3,554 forum posts. Twitter feed overloaded twice. 1 cease & desist order. 3 death threats. £0 media costs. Fastest selling platform game in UK history at launch.
