2021 Brand Experience & Activation

XBOX EQUALITY CONTROLLER

TitleXBOX EQUALITY CONTROLLER
BrandXBOX
Product/ServiceXBOX
Category G04. Social Behaviour
Entrant SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Production FIJAK GMBH Frankfurt, GERMANY
Production 2 POP POSTPRODUCTION Hamburg, GERMANY
Additional Company DAMIENDAMIEN Hamburg, GERMANY
Additional Company 2 LOETRONIC Aachen, GERMANY
Additional Company 3 HEYNE-DRUCK Offenbach, GERMANY
Additional Company 4 DASPRODUKTIONS BüRO.FRAKFURT Bruchkobel, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Rebecca Gordius Minecraft Global Communications Manager
Jenn Panattoni XBox Head of Social Good
Sophie Orlando Xbox Director Gaming Communications
Maxi Gräff XBox Marketing Communications Lead, Xbox DACH
Alex Schil SERVICEPLAN GROUP Global Chief Creative Officer
Leif Johannsen SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Managing Partner
Patrick Matthiensen SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Managing Partner
Lars Holling SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Managing Partner
Ann-Kathrin Frohloff SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Account Director
Diane Schulz SERVICEPLAN GROUP Business Director – Global Key Accounts
Daniel Steller SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Creative Director Copy
Pavel Bondarenko SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Creative Director Art
Theresa Fechler SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Art Director
Tudor Cucu SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Senior Art Director & Illustrator
Maximilian Schöngen SERVICEPLAN GROUP Global Creative Strategist
Dennis Fritz SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Senior Motion Designer / Head of Film
Kevin Lausen SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Motion Designer
Ben Hug SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Head of Design
Till Felix Saint Elmo's Hamburg Media Designer
Fiete Girardet Effectiv Team SFX Founder & Head of Production
Sebastian Heidrich FIJAK Head of Production
Matt Taylor Freelance Illustrator
Vals - Freelance Illustrator
Muti - Freelance Illustrator
Alina Bohoru Freelance Illustrator
Sam Rodriguez Freelance Illustrator
Fernando Nunes Freelance Illustrator
Fernando Nunes Freelance Illustrator
Nils Baumann Freelance Illustrator
Artcommando - Freelance Illustrator
Bernd Westphal Freelance Photographer

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Women make up approximately half of the gaming community. They are successful in eSports and hold leadership positions in the gaming industry. Despite those facts, while gaming women not only have to fight against their opponents, but also against prejudice and sexist discrimination. As a result, many female gamers not only lose the fun of playing, it also has an impact on their real life with significant psychological consequences. We believe that gaming is for everyone. The Equality Controller is not just a controller. It is a powerful statement spread around the world to support and celebrate women in gaming.

Background

Gaming is huge. With more than 2.3 billion gamers worldwide it is the biggest entertainment industry in the world. Women make up approximately half of the gaming community. They are successful in eSports and hold leadership positions in the gaming industry. Despite those facts, while gaming, women not only have to fight against their opponents, but also against prejudice and sexist discrimination. As a result, many female gamers not only lose the fun of playing, it also has an impact on their real life with significant psychological consequences. We at Xbox we believe that gaming is for everyone and want to make life more fun for billions of people around the world by creating gaming experiences that everyone can enjoy. That’s why it was important to us to draw attention to this relevant topic and celebrate woman in gaming.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

“Gaming for everyone” isn’t just a slogan for us. We stand by our commitment that gaming is a place where everyone is having fun. Therefore, we not only launched a worldwide initiative during Women’s History Month to support and celebrate women in gaming, but also took our most sacred piece of the console – the controller – and made a slight adjustment: by turning it into a statement for equality.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The Equality Controller stands for the support women in gaming have for each other. That’s why we sent it to the most influential and supportive women in 23 countries who are role models for all the female gamers around the world. With the messages on the controller we give them strength and support them to be living examples of what self-confidence, belief and pride can do.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We replaced the controller's “B button” with the “equal symbol" and added a special function: by pressing it, gamers hear inspirational and supportive messages from the most famous and successful women in the gaming industry – including Bonnie Ross, CVP, Founder and Head of 343 Industries; Cantika, one of the most popular Hijab streamers in Southeast Asia with a following of 2.7 million; Helen Chiang ,CVP, Studio Head Minecraft, Mojang Studios; Sarah Bond, CVP, Gaming Ecosystem, Microsoft; and Jennifer Lufau, founder of Afrogameuses, a French non-profit and community advocating diversity and inclusion in gaming. Their messages give female gamers strength and self-confidence. The limited-edition controller was designed in 8 different special packaging, created by internationally renowned illustrators, and was sent to the world's biggest gaming influencers in 23 countries on 4 continents, giving the message for equality the reach it deserves.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Equality Controller was limited to 100 pieces, all of which were sent to influential and supportive female gamers in 23 countries in 4 continents. In unboxing videos and reviews, they introduced their followers to the Equality Controller and the idea behind it, talked about their own, very personal experiences with sexism in gaming and encouraged female gamers around the world. Important and influential specialist media took up the topic and reported on it. With 100+ million contacts, 90+ million send outs in the form of wallpapers and gamer themes and an increase in search queries by 1500% (#womeningaming or #gamingforeveryone), we brought the topic to the public's attention and made women in gaming more visible.

Please tell us about the social behaviour that inspired the work

The demographics of video game culture have changed since the 1980s and 90s when video games were perceived as something of interest mainly to young men. Nowadays women make up about half of all game players. Despite this fact, they are often marginalized as "intruders" and confronted with sexism and discrimination – mainly expressed in harassment like sexist insults or comments, death or rape threats, demanding sexual favors in exchange for virtual or real money, or criticism of the presence of women and their interests. In some cases, female players are also stalked, online or offline. 65% of women report harassment and statistically receive three times as much derogatory or insulting remarks than men.