Zombie Christmas: The Real- World Trailer
Microsoft Xbox
Issue 43 | June 2017
Agency
McCann London
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officers Rob Doubal, Laurence Thomson EMEA Creative Directors Sanjiv Mistry, Jamie Mietz Copywriter Jim Nilsson Art Director Jacob Björdal
Production Team
Head of Integrated Production Sergio Lopez Senior Event Producer Aaron Raybe Senior Producer Duncan Groves
Other Credits
Executive Vice President Rob Smith Global Business Director Sailesh Jani Account Director Tom Oliver Account Manager Isobel Thomas
Date
December 2016
Background
Xbox had to launch Dead Rising 4, a Christmas-themed zombie game, at Christmas time. But in the UK, Christmas is like the Superbowl. Brands compete to make the biggest TV ad.
Idea
Xbox didn't make a TV ad. They built it, out in the real world. 'Zombie Christmas' was the first-ever real-world trailer, which told a story of blood and zombies, all through the medium of Christmas lights. As a series of animated lights suspended above a central London shopping plaza, this wasn't an ad, it was a destination. Tens of thousands visited it in person, gamers across the globe walked through it in VR, and millions switched it on via live streams on Facebook Live, Periscope and Twitch.
Usually in the UK, celebrities are asked to turn on Christmas lights. But Xbox gave all the power to gamers. Their interactions switched on the lights, and released the gory new content to the world. At Christmas, most brands choose to interrupt. Xbox chose to entertain.
Results
Over 4 million people walked through the trailer.
Response rate was 1900% above Facebook Live's average.
Over 18000 social comments.
Sales target was surpassed by 34%.
Our Thoughts
How wonderfully contrarian. While every other advertiser was giving us bears and hares or penguins or something, here's Xbox delighting gamers by giving them the very opposite of twee – gore and guts and zombies in an interactive experience in Christmas lights. Not just a fantastic experience for those who walked through the whole show in Brunswick Centre but also for those online, who were able to turn on the lights when they joined forces on Facebook – and experience it when the launch was livestreamed on Twitch and Periscope – and in VR as well. A great blurring of the lines between virtual and real.
Well wicked.