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THE CHALLENGE

In 2019, Playstation signed an exclusive marketing deal with EA Games for the FIFA franchise. And having only 1% of Sony’s marketing budget and no discernible difference in game play or cost, Xbox had to get creative to gain and retain players.

How can we target football fans in the UK and turn them into Xbox fans?

Xbox asked us to target UK football fans and encourage them to play EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA) on Xbox, and to encourage loyalty to Xbox through gaming rewards.

THE STRATEGY

Football is full of emotion – that’s why fans love it. But at matches, brands market in the least emotional way possible, with billboards on the pitch side-lines. So we decided to meet real football fans where they were, by hiding gaming reward codes in the places that matter on match day…

If it was part matchday we turned it into media for hiding gaming reward codes:
Hot Dog? Reward codes on buns
Buying merchandise? Reward codes on scarves
We even placed reward codes on laundry hanging at the away fans entrance of Luton FC!

Our strategy focused on reaching the target football audience both in real life at football stadiums and on dedicated football platforms on social media. Once discovered, codes could be shared by fans on social and would be picked up with gaming media too.

THE EXECUTION

We timed the activations to occur before, during, and after the EA Sports FC up to the title’s release.

We placed the gaming reward codes in real life locations on match days, including stadiums across the UK and Germany. Fans could find code amongst the merchandise, foods stalls – even on the security team – and trade them in for gaming advantages online. Of course, the finds were highly sharable too.

The campaign was amplified by No Context Footy, Footy Scran, and shared on Xbox owned and operated channels in the UK, with a mixture of static photography and video assets.

THE OUTCOME

Xbox Hidden Fan codes was hugely successful for the brand. 100% of the 216 hidden codes were claimed by fans.

26.4K social engagements were achieved and 4.3M social post views were garnered. The Score More with Xbox FY2024 launch achieved: 25M+ Reach 9.2M+ Views 350K+ Engagements