With events including hurdles, skeet shooting, pole vault and javelin; Summer Athletics is a popular fixture of the Wii, Xbox and PC. We extended the franchise to an online trailer version, playable for free – the perfect vehicle for our Duracell message.The twist was that players would 'recharge' their exhausted athletes between events, so that they would be full of energy for their next challenge.By embedding Duracell’s brand and message deep within the game, we made a strong connection with players, and maximised impact further by adding a Duracell logo on the game box and leaflets within.

We also complemented our campaign with a partnership with ShortList, the men’s lifestyle magazine. We promoted the online game through advertorials, featuring celebrities explaining how they rely on power performance in their lives. This linked with traffic drivers the game delivered via targeted display ads online and technology magazines.

Our game was played 1.6 million times, with big effects for the Duracell Rechargeables brand. Top-of-mind awareness rose 13%, spontaneous awareness by 11%, far above benchmarks.And as for that race, the race for gold in this new market – we put Duracell on course to take the medal. Within three months it had doubled its share, whilst Energizer, the main competitor, recorded its worst market share drop on record.