Title	THE MOST SERIOUS GAME EVER
Brand	SNCF
Product/Service	TRANSPORT
Category	A08. ORIGINAL GAME OR USE OF GAMING
Entrant Company	TBWA\PARIS, FRANCE
Contributing Company	TBWA\PARIS, FRANCE
Contributing Company 2	DAN PARIS Boulogne-Billancourt, FRANCE
Production Company	\ELSE Boulogne-Billancourt, FRANCE

Name	Company	Position
Philippe Simonet	TBWA PARIS	Executive Creative Director
Nathalie Huni	DAN PARIS	Executive Creative Director
Marc Fraissinet/David Ruffier	TBWA PARIS	Account Managers
Ivan Zindovic	DAN PARIS	Technical Director
Sylvain Theyssens	DAN PARIS	Art Director
Fabien Duval/Gilles Suprin/Thomas Boudot	DAN PARIS	Copywriters
Muriel Mehong	DAN PARIS	Interaction Designer
Pierre Bouquet	DAN PARIS	3d Designer/Art Director
Hugo Piquemal/Louis Ansa	DAN PARIS	Assistant Art Director
Christophe Courty	DAN PARIS	Motion Designer
Timothy J. Reynolds	.	3d Low Poly Designer
Maxime Boiron	ELSE	Head Of Tv
Séverine Damolini	ELSE	Post Production Manager
Fanny Mithois	ELSE	Sound Producer
Valentin Gault	ELSE	3d Motion Designer
Vincent Borreda	DAN PARIS	Digital Project Manager
Glenn Pezier	DAN PARIS	Technical Project Manager
Nicolas Rozen	DAN PARIS	Back End Developer
Emal Saifi/Antonin Langlade	DAN PARIS	Mobile Developer
Sylvain Tran/Geoffrey Mayeux	60 FPS	Front End Developer

The Campaign

SNCF (« Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français » or « French National Railway Company ») is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates in a nearly monopolistic position on the French market. There is no particular restriction or regulation concerning SNCF’s communication, but as a major public actor, it isn’t used to leading branded entertainment operation, and generally focuses on more traditional communications.

Results

The Challenge : SNCF employs 250 000 people in 120 countries. In 2014, the company launches a large recruitment campaign, to attract the best engineer school students. But the potential recruits are mostly unaware of the variety of engineer jobs available at SNCF. The Objectives : - To attract the best students in each school, who are a very rare and sought-after target - To create awareness for SNCF about the variety of its jobs and the their high level of technical expertise - To reinforce SNCF’s relationships with schools and students - To build a detailed HR database with the most qualified candidates The Strategy : There is a strong competition among engineer schools in France. So SNCF decided to play on this competitive spirit to engage the candidates. The execution : SNCF launched the « Défi Ingénieurs SNCF » : the most difficult serious game ever. Students of 180 French engineer schools faced each other on 10 challenges, each one harder than the other. To maximize the recruitment process, the game was connected to social networks such as LinkedIn, and completing their resumes helped the candidates earn bonus points. The artistic direction and the site development had to follow strict rules : the students had to be immersed in a real video game as well as in the daily life and challenges of SNCF engineers. The website had to be rich in HD content but fast loading at the same time. The players had to be able to enjoy the game on every device without a deterioration of the experience on mobile and tablets. That’s why we chose low poly.

- Currently online on www.defi-ingenieurs-sncf.com, the « Défi Ingénieurs SNCF » was promoted with display ads on job search and news websites, and in free daily newspapers, with 4 publications in the « 20 minutes ». - A massive tactical campaign on social media on the whole SNCF ecosystem, and via Facebook Ads, announced the operation to engineers. - A communication toolkit was rolled out in 180 engineer schools, among which 20 presented the operation through a pop-up « Défi Ingénieurs » stand on the campus

- SNCF wanted to communicate on the variety and the expertise level of its jobs : The most difficult serious game ever posed 10 challenges corresponding to 10 jobs at the SNCF. Each new mission was harder than the previous one, and the last one was almost impossible to complete. - SNCF wanted to reinforce its relationships with schools and students : 150 schools over 180 engaged in the game 5000 students participated SNCF gained 3200 new followers on LinkedIn - SNCF wanted to build a detailed HR database : 950 candidates registered in only 3 months - SNCF wanted to attract the best students in each school : With its really difficult challenges, the game operated a strict selection. Only 17 students finished it. Having all played 44 minutes in average, they all uploaded their CVs on the website. The « Défi Ingénieurs SNCF » became a real alternative recruitment process for students, helping them to concretely understand the level expertise a job at SNCF needed, and show their skills in realistic conditions.