Challenge:

Big games, like big movies, launch with billboards. Yet most are glanced at for just 8 seconds. How could Xbox get gamers to engage with the launch of the gritty new Tomb Raider?

Solution:

Turn an advertising channel into an entertainment channel. Survival Billboard was a billboard on which eight gamers stood in a test of Lara Croft-like inner strength, to win a trip inspired by the game. They faced blizzards, downpours, wind and heat – all controlled by the public via a livestream. The public gave up on sleep to watch the billboard, supporting and speculating about the people on it. In one day, the oldest advertising medium was reinvented as a gripping reality show.

Results:

8 minutes average dwell time (vs. 8 seconds for a regular billboard)

£3.8 million in earned media

11000 viewers for 22 hours straight

3.5 million views and 32000 comments in 22 hours