Subject
15 articles
CLASH ROYALE | COPYCATS WELCOME | 2026
The experience points people earned in knockoff games just turned into rewards from the real thing. Instead of suing, they welcomed them in.
Battleground Mobile India | The Great In-Game Wedding | 2025
Meet in the game, marry in the game. On BGMI's battleground Pochinki, a couple held a real three-day Indian wedding, complete with Mehendi, Sangeet and Phere. Two hundred million people watched what became "India's Biggest In-Game Wedding."
Mountain Dew | Play the Dew | 2025
Just by saying "DEW," you can make gunfire, engine roars, explosions — pretty much any sound a game needs. A brand name that doubles as a sound effect? It almost feels too good to be true.
Haraku Ramen | One Noodle | 2025
3.5 meters. That's the length of a single noodle. When I heard it described as "a noodle designed so you never have to hit pause," I couldn't help but laugh. This is a genuine love letter to gamers from an Indonesian ramen shop.
PlayStation | Project: MEMORY CARD | 2025
For PlayStation's 30th anniversary, the star wasn't the brand—it was players' memories. 26,000 submissions became a single song, thanks to YOASOBI.
DOVE | CODE MY CROWN | 2024
85% of Black gamers say they don't see their own hair represented in video games. Dove's response wasn't an ad—it was a 200-page technical guide.
BURGER KING | STEVENAGE CHALLENGE | 2020
An English fourth-tier club averaging 3,000 fans a game, rated one star in FIFA 20. The moment Burger King became their sponsor, gamers around the world started transferring Messi and Ronaldo onto this team.
WENDY’S | Keeping Fortnite Fresh | 2019
A fast food chain spent nine hours destroying freezers inside Fortnite, and the game's developer ended up removing freezers from the game entirely. This stunt beat Nike's "Dream Crazy" to win the very first Grand Prix in the Social & Influencer category at Cannes Lions.
STOCKHOLM PRIDE | LOS SANTOS PRIDE | 2017
They put a pride parade into the world of GTA5 that absolutely cannot be destroyed. In a city where you're allowed to run over pedestrians and shoot criminals, they made the one thing you can't attack—and thinking about what that means gives you chills.
PlayStation | できないことが、できるって、最高だ。 | 2016
"It's the best feeling, doing what you couldn't do before." This tagline gets turned into a long-form celebration of life itself. I don't think it got much buzz, but I honestly think it's pretty amazing.
OLD SPICE | DIKEMBE MUTOMBO'S 4 1/2 WEEKS TO SAVE THE WORLD | 2013
According to the Mayan calendar, the world was supposed to end on 12/21/2012 (December 21, 2012). Old Spice picked its savior: Dikembe Mutombo, one of the greatest defenders in NBA history. And the whole idea of saving the world through an 8-bit game is already pretty absurd.
TOYOTA | BACKSEAT DRIVER | 2012
A kid in the backseat who used to just whine "are we there yet?" now grips their own steering wheel inside an iPhone app that's linked by GPS to the real car. Boring travel time spent just tracing a parent's driving got turned into a whole game.
NIKE | I AM PLAYR | 2012
There's a game where you live a footballer's life in the first person. Nike was woven into that story as if it were simply part of life — and over 400,000 pairs of boots got sold inside the game. It never feels like advertising, but that's exactly what it is.
BURGER KING | XBOX KING GAMES | 2007
Burger King's agency made three Xbox games. They sold them for $3.99 as an add-on to value meals. They sold 3.2 million copies. The company's quarterly profit went up 40%. This is the story of an ad agency that made a product instead of an ad, and made the company money.
BURNING HEART RECORDS | MILLENCOLIN BATTLE | 2002
In 2002, putting a CD into your computer launched a game. Looking closer, I was stunned. This was basically Guitar Hero, three years before Guitar Hero existed.