The Birth of Gaming Tourism
Award: Yellow Pencil
Yellow Pencil / Entertainment / Experiential / 2021
Award: Yellow Pencil
Yellow Pencil / Integrated / Collaborative Campaigns
Award: Yellow Pencil
Yellow Pencil / Entertainment / Integrated
Award: Graphite Pencil
Graphite Pencil / Writing for Design / Graphic
Award: Wood Pencil
Wood Pencil / Direct / Integrated
Award: Wood Pencil
Wood Pencil / Gaming / Experiential
Award: Shortlist
Shortlist / Digital / Physical & Digital
Xbox believes gaming is for all. Yet games marketing focuses on action. To target a new audience, McCann London created a new reason to buy games. Not to play. To visit. The centrepiece was The Rough Guide to Xbox – the first travel guide for virtual worlds. Xbox transformed into a travel brand, with a stand at the UK’s biggest travel expo, tourist board-style ads, in-game guided tours, and even game bundles re-framed as package holidays. That was all before Covid. But when the pandemic hit, it cemented this new way to travel.
What did the judges have to say?
"It's just a brilliant idea. A great use of the immersive nature of video games turned on its head to create a newsworthy story that was incredibly executed."
Pete Baker, Film and Experiential Director & Senior Partner, The Glue Society
"The work emphasizes and promotes a positive message and reflects gaming and its communities, showing that game worlds are not just built for competition or violence, they provite charming, immersive and eye-open alter-universes. – Kailin Zhu"
Kailin Zhu, Senior Designer, UsTwo
"It's different, it's relevant and it gives a whole new dimension to open world games. Brilliant."
Pancho Cassis, Partner & Global Chief Creative Officer, David The Agency Madrid
"It's gonna be an industry classic. It turned around a whole category in a classy way, showing gaming from a different lens$no one saw this idea coming. But what I love the most about this one is that it will be timeless. There always will be more places, universes, and landscapes to explore."
Hugo Mario García, Creative Director, MediaMonks
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