The Outrageous Idea of Selling a Video Game as a Travel Destination / XBOX "THE BIRTH OF GAMING TOURISM"

The problem

For years, game advertising had leaned almost entirely on violence and characters. Xbox had been stuck on the problem of how to reach people who weren't interested in shootouts, and how to talk about the beauty of the worlds built by a high-spec console using language that had nothing to do with combat.

The insight

McCann London's answer was simple: don't sell what you do in the game, sell the places inside it. Present it not as something you play, but somewhere you visit. Because game worlds had become so realistic and vast, they could genuinely work as travel destinations. That single shift in perspective was already a win.

The idea

At the center of it was "The Rough Guide to Xbox," created together with travel guide publisher Rough Guides. It was the first travel guide ever written for a virtual world. The rollout mimicked the tourism industry itself: tourist-board-style commercials, digital out-of-home ads, ads placed on flight search sites, an application for official tourist board certification, and even guided tours complete with live streaming. They held a press conference at London's travel event "Destinations," selling the console and its games as a package holiday.

What happened

The campaign won nine Lions at Cannes Lions, with five more shortlisted. It rolled out across 29 markets worldwide, with plans to expand further in 2020. Then the pandemic hit, and the idea of "traveling inside a game" suddenly became startlingly real.

Afterthought

With just five words, "Not to play. To visit," they flipped the entire grammar of game advertising on its head. And they didn't stop at a clever line, either, they went all in and brought a real travel guide brand into it to make it actually happen. Not fighting, just wandering around. That level of commitment is what got me. I want to make work like this someday.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2020

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