Chief Creative Officer, McCann UK, and Co-President
Laurence Thomson
McCann London
Chief Creative Officer, McCann UK, and Co-President
Sanjiv Mistry
McCann London
Executive Creative Director
Jamie Mietz
McCann London
Executive Creative Director
Jim Nilsson
McCann London
Copywriter
Jacob Björdal
McCann London
Art Director
Jim Nilsson
McCann London
Director
Jacob Björdal
McCann London
Director
Karen Crum
McCann London
Head of Strategy
James Appleby
McCann London
Senior Planner
Fanni David
McCann London
Senior Planner
Thomas Keane
McCann London
Planner
Dan Howarth
McCann London
Head of Art
Matthew Thomas
McCann London
Designer
Nazima Motegheria
McCann London
Designer
Clare Prager
McCann London
Project Director
Anna Curtis
McCann London
Project Manager
Rob Smith
McCann London
EVP & CCO, McCann UK
Sailesh Jani
McCann London
Managing Partner
Nicole Robinson-Spaude
McCann London
Senior Account Director
Lynne Carter
McCann London
Account Director
Andy Wynn
McCann London
Account Director
Robert Stockton
McCann London
Senior Account Manager
Conor Lloyd
McCann London
Senior Account Manager
Anastasia Imam
McCann London
Account Manager
Lucy Manning
McCann London
Account Manager
Eloise Thompson
McCann London
Account Executive
Sergio Lopez
Craft/McCann
Chief Production Officer EMEA
Sophie Chapman-Andrews
Craft/McCann
Lead Executive Producer
Kin-man Ly
Craft/McCann
Executive Producer
Ellis Faint
Craft/McCann
Head of Studio
Alex Dougan
Craft/McCann
Head of Studio
Alex Dougan
Craft/McCann
Producer
Harvey Winter
Craft/McCann
Junior Producer
Jeremy Reichman
Craft/McCann
Producer
Liam White
Craft/McCann
Print Producer
Angelo Tsolkas
Craft/McCann
Producer
Pam Oskam
Craft/McCann
Art Buyer
Julie Hughes
Craft/McCann
Art Buyer
John Martin
Craft/McCann
Studio Imaging Director
Rob McDonald
Craft/McCann
Senior Retoucher
Matt Dollings
Craft/McCann
Senior Editor
Paul Jenkinson
Craft/McCann
Senior Editor
Sabina Dallu
Craft/McCann
Editor
Holly Webster
Craft/McCann
Creative Researcher
Robbie Maynard
Craft/McCann
Print Studio Manager
Tai Smith
Momentum
Creative Technologist
Duncan Harris
Freelance
Photography
Josh Taylor
Freelance
Photography
Why is this work relevant for Integrated?
Visit Xbox is is relevant for integrated as it reimagined the way Xbox positioned its games across every touchpoint. From tourist board-style commercials, to in-game guided tours, to promoting games bundles as package holidays, to a partnership with a global travel guide publisher, every channel was additive, reinforcing Xbox's fundamental shift from gaming brand to travel brand.
Background
Xbox’s belief is that gaming should be for everyone. Yet for decades, videogame marketing has always focused on hero characters, guns and explosions. But gaming has become so much more. The graphics in Xbox games are now almost life-like, open-world games are vast, and developers are increasingly including photo modes in their games.
How could Xbox attract a wider audience who didn’t care about guns and bombs?
Describe the creative idea
To bring in that new audience, we created a brand new reason to buy videogames.
Not to play. To visit.
Xbox transformed into a travel brand, promoting not the gameplay, but the locations available in games – all built around a groundbreaking partnership with one of the world’s biggest travel guide publishers, Rough Guides. Together, we created 'The Rough Guide to Xbox', which functioned like a travel guide to a country (what to see, when to go, what to buy etc.), but for the first time, this advice was entirely for virtual worlds.
It changed how customers experience games, and we amplified that shift across all channels, with tourist board-style commercials and OOH ads, experiential in-game guided tours, selling console bundles as package holidays and even applying for official tourist board accreditation.
Describe the strategy
How do you talk about tech benefits like 4K, HDR, and 60 FPS, to a new mainstream audience, who didn't resonate with the specs, or even the conventions of videogame advertising like hero characters and weapons?
To justify the purchase of Xbox’s high-spec console and games, we had to get people to appreciate the richness of Xbox's games in a new way, beyond the normal way of promoting games.
So Xbox underwent an unprecedented brand transformation:
a gaming brand became a travel brand.
For the first time, we began promoting not the gameplay, but the locations available in games, appealing to people on an emotional rather than rational level. It changed how this audience discovers, experience, and purchases games.
It was no longer about promoting games as things to play – but as destinations to see - all wrapped up in the tourist board-esque call-to-action 'Visit Xbox'.
Describe the execution
The executional approach emulates the travel sector - a tourist board-style commercial, DOOH executions, press ads, contextual ads on flight search sites, application for tourist board accreditation, and livestreamed guided tours.
But the centrepiece is a groundbreaking partnership with global travel guide publisher Rough Guides. Together, we created the first-ever travel guide to gaming worlds – The Rough Guide to Xbox, a fully-functioning travel reference book, working just like a Rough Guide to Paris or Italy, which gamers could use to discover the best sightseeing in Xbox games.
Everything channel to a .com site that lets people discover and buy games in a new way. Instead of searching by title or genre, customers browse games by location (like cities, beaches, and more). And to further drive sales of consoles and games, Xbox also promoted console bundles as package holidays.
List the results
- Debuted in 29 countries and counting.
- 4x average response rate
- 55% traffic increase