THE CREATIVE FIELDBOOK / SNS MEDIA TECH

Campaign studies

297 source-led reads, 12 per page. These numbered pages work without JavaScript. Search every study and lesson →

97
Travel and tourism / 20207 MIN READ

Looks Like You Need to Let It Out

Inspired by Iceland / Promote Iceland

A remote scream became a small participatory visit to Iceland when ordinary travel was constrained.

The pandemic interrupted international tourism and made ordinary holiday promotion difficult. The agency framed the task as maintaining Iceland’s relevance while acknowledging people’s immediate frustration, rather than assuming they could book and travel normally. A destination cannot always ask for immediate travel. A useful communication can begin with the audience’s current constraints and offer a small experience that fits them. The principle is relevance, not the exploitation of distress: give people agency, avoid diagnosing their feelings and let nonparticipation be a comfortable option.

725,000
reported site users2020 campaign, reported in the 2021 award entry; exact cutoff unstated · People said to have used the website; user definition and deduplication not suppliedEntrant narrative in The One Show archive · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Remote experience
98
Travel and tourism / 20146 MIN READ

Live High Five

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Two distant streets became a simple cooperative game that illustrated an airline’s connecting role.

KLM wanted attention for its World Deal Weeks. The high-five was already a campaign symbol, so the event translated an existing promotional gesture into something people could perform together rather than introducing an unrelated stunt. A street activation competes with people’s desire to keep moving. A recognizable gesture reduces explanation and lets bystanders understand the stakes. Choose an action that is accessible to the actual audience, provide alternatives where necessary and avoid designing participation around a single assumed physical ability.

910,000+
reported unique film viewsFirst two weeks of film distribution in 2014; exact dates unstated · Unique views as described by the trade case; platform definition and deduplication unavailableTrade case study, not independent audit · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Human connection
99
Travel and tourism / 20177 MIN READ

#WeAccept

Airbnb

A public statement of inclusion connected a travel brand’s values to a concrete invitation to host people in need.

The campaign followed Airbnb’s 2016 Community Commitment addressing discrimination on its own platform and responded to the 2017 US travel ban. Its context was therefore both external policy and an internal challenge to deliver inclusive hospitality. A promise of acceptance is consequential for a marketplace because people’s access depends on what happens in actual interactions. Before broadcasting a belief, ask what rules, support and complaint processes make it credible. The strongest adaptation may begin with a service improvement, with communication following what the organization can demonstrably do.

15.4K
reported volunteer-host signups2017 campaign entry; exact reporting cutoff unstated · Volunteer signups, not verified placements or people housedAirbnb-submitted Shorty Awards case · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Belonging
100
Travel and tourism / 20217 MIN READ

Made Possible by Hosts

Airbnb

Photographs of real trips made the value of a host visible through the moments the accommodation enabled.

Airbnb framed its early-2021 marketing task around explaining what hosts make possible as people looked toward travel and reconnection after isolation. The brand explicitly said education about hosted travel was a priority, rather than simply buying more traffic. An accommodation feature becomes meaningful when viewers can see what it lets people do together. The risk is producing a moving travel film that could advertise any service. Include enough truthful context about the host, home or provision to explain why the experience belongs in the brand’s story.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Host-enabled experiences
101
Travel and tourism / 20197 MIN READ

The Edible Country

Visit Sweden

A national food-and-nature proposition became a reservable outdoor activity rather than only an image.

Visit Sweden wanted to draw attention to local ingredients, outdoor life and Swedish food experiences. The campaign framed the country as a do-it-yourself restaurant, using a familiar dining category to explain a less familiar way to experience the landscape. Nature and local food are broad benefits that many destinations can claim. A reservable table gives the audience a familiar starting point for understanding what they would actually do. The useful move is to define the experience clearly, not merely rename an entire place with a surprising metaphor.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Place-based food
102
Travel and tourism / 20167 MIN READ

Doors of Thrones

Tourism Ireland

Salvaged wood became a sequence of story-linked objects that fans could visit in real communities.

Northern Ireland’s connection with Game of Thrones offered an audience interested in the show’s real locations. After Storm Gertrude damaged trees at the Dark Hedges in January 2016, the campaign used salvaged wood rather than simply treating the loss as the end of the attraction. The objects carry a connection to a real place through the wood as well as the imagery. Provenance can make a crafted object more meaningful than a generic branded installation. Document the material’s origin honestly and obtain permissions; an attractive story is weakened if its physical claim cannot be substantiated.

17M
reported short-film views2016 Doors of Thrones campaign; retrospective cutoff unstated · Views of campaign short films, not unique viewers, visits or later Game of Thrones campaignsTourism NI retrospective · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Screen tourism
103
Gaming and entertainment / 20077 MIN READ

Believe

Microsoft / Xbox / Halo 3

A fictional museum treated a game hero as someone future generations would remember.

Halo 3 already had dedicated players. The award entry describes a brief to interest people beyond that core by emphasizing Master Chief’s humanity and heroism, giving newcomers an emotional route into a complex science-fiction world. Instead of asking how spectacular the game looks, ask what its world would leave behind. An imagined archive lets a complicated product become legible through familiar objects and human testimony. For an entertainment property, one compelling artifact can provide a lower-cost entry point than a comprehensive explanation of every character and rule.

More than US$300 million
reported worldwide Halo 3 salesFirst week of release in September 2007; announced 4 October 2007 · Total game sales, not Believe-attributed incremental revenueMicrosoft company announcement; unaudited campaign attribution · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →World-building
104
Gaming and accessible technology / 20197 MIN READ

Changing the Game / We All Win

Microsoft / Xbox

Real gamers demonstrated what accessible hardware changes in ordinary play and friendship.

The Xbox Adaptive Controller addressed barriers faced by gamers with limited mobility. Microsoft’s May 2018 announcement says it was developed with gamers and accessibility organizations; the 2019 advertising therefore followed an existing product-development effort rather than introducing an advertising-only promise. A technical feature becomes understandable when viewers see the activity it enables. Start with what the person wants to do, then show the obstacle and the changed experience. Avoid making a disabled participant a symbolic prop for the brand. Their own priorities, preferences and explanations should determine which product benefits deserve attention.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Accessible design
105
Gaming and live entertainment / 20157 MIN READ

Survival Billboard

Microsoft / Xbox / Rise of the Tomb Raider

An outdoor advertisement became a live endurance show whose conditions viewers could influence.

Rise of the Tomb Raider needed attention in a busy game-release period. The campaign converted Lara Croft’s survival theme into an observable real-world contest rather than relying entirely on trailers or game screenshots. A live vote needs an observable consequence. If viewers cannot tell what their decision changed, participation becomes decoration. The transferable structure is a simple choice followed by visible feedback. For smaller brands, changing a puzzle, soundtrack or fictional obstacle is enough; real discomfort is not necessary to create a consequential interaction.

3.5 million
entrant-reported viewsLess than 22 hours during the November 2015 activation · Views across the campaign reporting, platform mix and unique-viewer denominator not disclosedEntrant narrative in The One Show; not independently audited · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Interactive entertainment
106
Gaming and football / 20236 MIN READ

The Everyday Tactician

Xbox / Football Manager / Bromley FC

A real paid football-club role tested the connection between gaming knowledge and practical sports analysis.

Xbox wanted Football Manager fans to see Game Pass as a place to play FM24. The idea addressed a familiar aspiration: using tactical knowledge from a simulation in professional football, with a club willing to provide a genuine learning role. The premise is interesting because skills from one setting may help in another, but the connection is a question rather than a guarantee. Define the actual tasks a participant can perform and the limits of the simulation. A professional mentor makes the test more credible than claiming a game automatically produces an expert.

190% increase
entrant-reported Xbox FM24 player growth versus FM23Comparison window not specified in the 2025 award entry · Xbox FM24 players versus FM23 players; base counts, cohort matching and incrementality not suppliedEntrant statement in The One Show, not causal proof · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Skill transfer
107
Television and entertainment / 20196 MIN READ

Dracula Billboard / Dracula Special Build

BBC / BBC One

A billboard obeyed the vampire’s relationship with darkness, revealing its face after sunset.

A new BBC Dracula adaptation needed a fresh introduction to a heavily familiar character. Rather than explaining the plot, BBC Creative used the vampire’s association with night to make the advertising surface itself behave like the story. Day becoming night was meaningful because it belonged to the character’s story. Start with a genuine relationship between subject and setting: heat, reflection, opening hours or changing light. An environmental effect should communicate something specific. Otherwise the installation risks being an impressive mechanism that could advertise almost any brand.

7 million+
partner-reported video viewsReporting window not supplied · Video views; platform mix, unique audience and paid/organic split not disclosedTalon case study, not independently audited · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Environmental storytelling
108
Sports broadcasting / 20127 MIN READ

Meet the Superhumans

Channel 4

Elite athletic intensity reframed the Paralympics as compelling sport that deserved mainstream attention.

Channel 4 wanted new audiences for the London 2012 Paralympics. Its brief was not simply to announce broadcast rights, but to establish the athletes and competition as a major sporting event worth watching. If people see an event as worthy but unexciting, more information may leave that frame intact. Show the stakes, skill and unpredictability that make the experience valuable on its own terms. A local club can foreground tactical decisions or competitive tension rather than asking audiences to attend solely out of generosity.

37 million
broadcaster-reported reach of Games coverageAcross the 2012 Games through 6 September, reported 8 September 2012 · Channel 4’s wider Paralympic coverage, not views of Meet the Superhumans; viewing-threshold methodology not stated on this releaseChannel 4 audience report, not isolated campaign attribution · Source →
Read study, data & creative direction →Elite sport
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