THE FANCHISE MODEL

TitleTHE FANCHISE MODEL
BrandMICROSOFT
Product/ServiceXBOX DESIGN LAB
Category E01. Acquisitions
Entrant McCANN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation McCANN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Production MRM//McCANN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 CRAFT WORLDWIDE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company AYZENBERG Seattle, USA
Credits
Name Company Position
Laurence Thomson McCann London Chief Creative Officer
Rob Doubal McCann London Chief Creative Officer
Sanjiv Mistry McCann London EMEA Creative Director
Jamie Mietz McCann London EMEA Creative Director
Jacob Björdal McCann London Art Director
Jim Nilsson McCann London Copywriter
Clare Mann McCann London Project Director
Paul Gillespie McCann London Senior Project Manager
Craig Cameron MRM//Meteorite Senior Project Manager
Mandy Wilson McCann London Project Director
Sergio Lopez Craft Worldwide, London Head of Integrated Production
Doris Tydeman Craft Worldwide, London Agency Producer
Dan Howarth McCann London Head of Art
Gustavo Fernandes McCann London Designer
Dan Miles MRM//Meteorite Designer
Karen Crum McCann London Head of Strategy
Charlotte Walters McCann London Planner
Rob Smith McCann London Executive Vice President
Sailesh Jani McCann London Regional Business Director
Tom Oliver McCann London Account Director
David Smith MRM//Meteorite Account Lead
Lynne Carter McCann London Senior Account Manager
Charlotte la Torre McCann London Account Manager
Sophie Grierson McCann London Account Executive
Alice Parker McCann London Account Executive
Jessica Bayat McCann Worldgroup Director of Communications, UK & Europe
Andrew Tusabe Craft Worldwide, London Editor
Francisco Penedo Craft Worldwide, London Agency Producer
Paul Jenkinson Craft Worldwide, London Editor

The Campaign

Xbox created The Fanchise Model, a campaign that let users take ownership of their unique controller design, promote it to the world, and earn a part of its profits. The more people bought your design, the more you earned. As a result, consumers became entrepreneurs. Gamers raced to spot gaps in the market, strategizing about what types of designs would be the most popular. Some claimed designs based on sports teams, movies and current events in the hopes of becoming a top-seller and, consequently, a top-earner. Others used it to raise money for causes such as breast cancer awareness and gender equality. Users marketed their design through social media, encouraging friends and followers to buy their controller. To help users sell even more, Xbox gave them bespoke marketing campaigns that included press, TV, social, celebrity endorsement and in-store promotion. By giving away part of the profit, everybody profited.

Creative Execution

The Fanchise Model ran during a five-month period (April – August 2017). It was promoted through a number of different media, including .com, social, the Xbox dash, press and more, along with support from a number of design influencers. Xbox also helped market gamers’ own designs, through banners, social media, bespoke videos, press, in-store promotion and more.

Results

- Sales increased by 350% - 41% of site visitors claimed a design - Average amount earned was $95.24 - One gamer made $1.131

With a call-to-action to ‘Design. Promote. Earn’, The Fanchise Model completely changed our target audience’s behaviour, turning Xbox Design Lab’s consumers into entrepreneurs. The campaign let users take ownership of their customised design, promote it, and earn a cut of its profits. This mutually beneficial mechanism resulted in each user becoming a channel for direct marketing, urging friends and followers in social media to buy their controller. At a time when gamers were concerned about the rising costs of gaming, The Fanchise Model didn’t only attract customers and drive sales – it built a powerful relationship between gamers and Xbox.

At a time when the gaming world was increasingly concerned about the cost of gaming, Xbox understood that the new customisation service Xbox Design Lab would need a breakthrough idea to make gamers buy controllers that were 50% more expensive than normal ones. The strategy was to tap into the sense of pride that gamers feel when designing their controller. And instead of just asking them to buy a product, Xbox let them claim ownership of their design and earn a cut of its profits. With a call-to-action to ‘Design. Promote. Earn.’, The Fanchise Model turned Xbox’s fans into active fanchisees.