ABOUT

Microsoft invited players to a new generation of games and entertainment with the launch of their all-in-one console, the Xbox One. Keen to show they understand and can still surprise the loyal gaming community, we worked with Crispin Porter + Bogusky to help Xbox launch an ambitious and very secretive campaign aimed directly at serious gamers.

After a four-month media run, we made a tweak to the TVC, adding a one-second glitch that most viewers never even noticed. Soon, however, eagle-eyed gamers were posting the mysterious glitch on forums and the questions started flowing. We took players on a cryptic journey across the internet to unlock prizes including special edition consoles. Our lucky finalist, however, would have to go one step further to collect the biggest prize of them all.

Despite its diminutive size we approached the one second glitch with the same verve and attention to detail as we would tell any great story. Imagining it as a thriller, but with the scenes played out by the user, we wanted the glitch to scratch at the sub-conscious, impressing an uncertainty upon viewers that not all meets the eye and will them to look a little closer. Codes were hidden in plain sight, puzzling the uninitiated but tease our target, the hard-core gamers.

Through many ideation sessions with CP+B we dreamed up imaginative and obscure ways to hide the prizes, we thought a lot about how ciphers could be linked together. One minute post-launch, gamers had uploaded Glitch online and were dissecting each frame. Within 24 hours, the mystery was reported by gaming websites. In 37 hours, Glitch was cracked: 14,500 individuals attempted, claiming 196 rewards. The initiative generated 17.8m impacts and was massively appreciated by gamers. Xbox were so pleased with the results that they launched a second Glitch campaign for the game Sunset Overdrive in December 2014.