Xbox turned an advertising channel into an entertainment channel. Survival Billboard was a billboard in central London on which eight gamers stood in a test of Lara Croft-like inner grit, endurance and inner strength, to win a trip inspired by the game. The contestants, who made up the billboard headline, faced blizzards, downpours, harsh wind and searing heat – all controlled by the public via a live stream.

Survival Billboard was a single billboard that reached the world, as the action taking place on it was live streamed on Twitch, the Xbox dashboard, banner ads, digital OOH and a dedicated microsite. The public gave up on sleep to watch the billboard, to control the weather that the participants were enduring, as well as to support, discuss and speculate about alliances and romances. The winner lasted 22 grueling hours, yet In that one day, and with the help of several touchpoints, the oldest advertising medium was reinvented as a gripping reality show.

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

£3.8 million in earned media

11000 viewers for 22 hours straight

1000 weather votes per hour

3.5 million views

32000 comments in 22 hours

Survival Billboard was a central, highly gripping focal point, with a number of touchpoints allowing people to connect, participate and interact with it. With live Twitch streams, live banners and the Xbox dashboard, which all broadcast the drama on the billboard to a wide audience, to a microsite that enabled users to digitally control the weather that the billboard contestants were enduring, every channel enhanced the experience, helping to turn an advertising channel into an entertainment channel.

The aim was to target gamers who were otherwise distracted by the imminent launch of bigger games with bigger budgets, such as Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront. Our approach was to create a single, interactive experience that tapped into the gamer mentality of total control, and by doing so increase engagement levels. In essence, the strategic approach was to treat an ad for gamers as a game in itself.

Big video games, like big movies, launch with a huge outdoor presence. It’s become the battleground for new game launches. Yet most outdoor ads are glanced at for just 8 seconds. So how could Xbox get gamers to engage with the launch of the gritty new Tomb Raider reboot during the busiest game launch period in history?