Over the years, Halo fans have become increasingly fervent in their love for the game and their excitement about each new edition, so it made sense we create a highly innovative fan-centric launch that featured a stunt so thrilling and out-there that it would make fans sit up and take notice.

Our idea was to hero one of our amazing Halo super fans and recognise them in the most extraordinary way possible: by sending their gamer tag, with a record of their Halo achievement, into space (which is the setting of Halo 5: Guardians) accompanied by none other than the lead characters from the game, Master Chief and Spartan Locke.

Other fans would be able to get in on the action on social media and watch the space journey as part of a live video streaming event on Youtube in the hours leading to the game going on sale.

Implementation:

We spent 900 hours working with scientists planning what was one of the highest space flights in history without an engine operate vessel. We printed Sandwhichy’s gamer tag and achievement (10,000 hours) on a flag and sent it, with character figurines, on a series of trips 100,000 feet into the sky, attached to a space balloon.

Placement:

This campaign existed largely online, where our fans are most comfortable. The space journey streamed on Youtube to over 40 Xbox countries and went global through a range of channels including Xbox.com and social media channels.

Scale:

This campaign had the perfect balance, being a relatively modest activation with enormous reach and impact. We focused our attention on celebrating a single fan, but through this connected with millions of other fans.

Our innovative strategy worked, and the launch of Halo 5: Guardians was the most successful in the history of the Halo series.

- More than 200 media clippings referenced the campaign (double the client objective)

- 2.5x average reach (exceeded the client objective of 2x)

- 5.8x average fan participation (exceeded the client objective of 4x)

- Over five million views of the live broadcast on Youtube.

- Record-breaking sales, grossing US$400 million in the first week.