Insight: In the UK at Christmas, ads also have to compete with festive entertainment like Christmas markets and Christmas lights

Idea: Rather than put their trailer on TV, Xbox reimagined what a trailer could be, making it part of the festive season. ‘Zombie Christmas’ was a trailer made entirely of Christmas lights. It was the first time a trailer (usually video) was instead built as a physical installation that could be walked through to see the story unfold. This content wasn’t on TV or YouTube. It only existed outdoors, in lights. Yet with VR and 360° video, the whole world could walk through it to experience the story.

The real-world trailer consisted of a series of animated Christmas light panels suspended, over the course of 11 days, above a busy shopping plaza in central London.

At first, all the lights were off.

But a celebrity wasn’t asked to switch them on, as is the norm in the UK. Instead, that honour was given to the gaming world.

The on-switch was a robotic zombie hand hovering above a big red button, shown to gamers via livestreams on Facebook Live, Twitch and Beam. Over 500000 gamers engaged with it, lowering the hand and switching on the trailer, revealing a new story about zombies, powerful weapons and the return of the franchise’s hero.

TimeOut London listed it as a festive destination, and thousands visited in person. Yet the whole world could walk through this neighbourhood’s unusual Christmas lights thanks to VR and mobile 360 degree video.

1900% above average Facebook response rate.

Over 500000 gamers responded to the call-to-action, working together to switch on the trailer.

Over 4 million walked through it. (target: 1 million)

Game sales exceeded target by 34%.

Over 18000 social comments.