Xbox had to make a trailer to launch Dead Rising 4 (a Christmas-themed zombie game) at Christmas time, and they wanted a million gamers to view it.

However, in the UK, Christmas is like the Super Bowl. Every brand competes to make the biggest TV spot and online film. And all the big game trailers are released around that time too.

Given all that clutter, how could Xbox make a trailer that would be guaranteed to be watched by gamers?

To launch a Christmas-themed game during a busy Christmas time, Xbox didn’t put their trailer on TV, like all their competitors.

Instead, they built a trailer from a series of Christmas lights, and installed it at a central London shopping plaza, where people were doing their Christmas shopping.

People didn’t skip this trailer. They walked through it to see a new story and new details about the game – co-written with the game developers – be told exclusively through the medium of lights.

The trailer was listed in TimeOut, and thousands visited it in person, along with millions via mobile .

By creating a game trailer that only existed outdoors, in the form of Christmas lights, Xbox created something that went beyond advertising. It was a festive destination.

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.