Title	SQUADVERTISER
Brand	MICROSOFT
Product/Service	XBOX / HALO
Category	E06. Co-Creation & User Generated Content
Entrant	McCANN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	McCANN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement	EMT/DENTSU AEGIS London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR	EDELMAN London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company	MOMENTUM WORLDWIDE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company 2	MRM METEORITE London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Rob Doubal	McCann London	Co-President & Chief Creative Officer
Laurence Thomson	McCann London	Co-President & Chief Creative Officer
Sanjiv Mistry	McCann London	EMEA Creative Director
Jamie Mietz	McCann London	EMEA Creative Director
Chad Warner	McCann London	Integrated Creative Director
Jim Nilsson	McCann London	Creative
Jacob Björdal	McCann London	Creative
Sergio Lopez	McCann London	Head of Integrated Production
Michael Thomason	McCann London	Head of Art
Danny Elliot	McCann London	Designer
Thomas Keane	McCann London	Planner
Clare Mann	McCann London	Senior Project Manager
Lois Newcombe	McCann/Craft	Producer
Sailesh Jani	McCann London	Business Director
AJ Coyne	McCann London	Account Director
Tom Oliver	McCann London	Account Manager
Charlotte Walters	McCann London	Account Executive
Ellis Faint	McCann/Craft	Studio Manager
Liam White	McCann/Craft	Print Producer
Robert Freeman	McCann/Craft	Artworker
Rami Noumaan	McCann London	Account Executive
Alice Parker	McCann London	Account Executive
John Martin	McCann/Craft	Studio Imaging Director
Amelie DeRoche	McCann/Craft	Artworker
Andrei Andreescu	McCann London	Creative Tech Lead
Ellis Faint	McCann/Craft	Studio Manager
Liam White	McCann/Craft	Print Producer

The Campaign

Squadvertiser. It’s Halo meets HR. Rather than advertising Halo, Xbox launched a digital tool that let teams advertise for new teammates. With Squadvertiser they could create customised recruitment ads, specifying precisely the candidate they were targeting. These ran as billboards, banners and print to get teams’ needs in front of a wide audience of potential recruits.

Creative Execution

Squadvertiser consisted of two main sections. One section was an ad creator, which allowed teams in need of new players to create customized recruitment ads, which could then be shared on social platforms or be distributed on Xbox’s own media spaces, such as billboards, banners, magazine and newspaper ads. The other section was a job board, on which unemployed players could search for Halo jobs matching their skill sets, and then apply directly to the team.

For the first time, Halo gamers could ‘hire’ who they wanted, forming lasting friendships in the process, leading to more Halo being played. Squadvertiser is used by 9000 gamers daily Ads have a 17% response rate Halo 5 became the most-played game on Xbox Live

The issue at hand was that the target audience was faced with an unsatisfactory multiplayer experience. So rather than advertise the product (Halo), our strategic approach was create something that would make the product better.