EMEA Launch for Xbox 360 Kinect

Story

A decade after the initial launch of the Xbox console, Microsoft decided it was time for another tilt-shift in the way we interact with gaming. Responding to the universal, family appeal of consoles like Wii, and ever-aware of the moves of closest rival Playstation, it was the goal of the Xbox 360 EMEA team to broaden the appeal of the platform. Moving away from our heartland, origin audience of hardcore gamers into something that could be the centrepiece of the living room; a hub for the entire family and a core piece for Microsoft's broader 'three screen' strategy. There was a key element to unraveling this plan - enter, Kinect for Xbox 360. A highly technical peripheral that enabled a complete controller-free approach to gaming. Our job: launch it. Stratospherically. 

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Approach

This was an integrated, omni-channel campaign of epic proportions. ​(Or your synonym of choice for 'throw everything at it'). 100s of people from markets around the globe worked on this, both in agencies and in-house. But the innumerable strands of this campaign were rewarded by the $1.5bn the product grossed in the first two months alone. Below are some of the key activations we worked on - the strategies within them and how they drove the over-arching strategic objective, and creative campaign direction of "You are the controller". 

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Gamescom 2010

There are two keynote events in the gaming calendar year: E3, the glitzy press-centred forum in LA, and Gamescom, the World's largest consumer conference for gaming in Cologne. The latter became a central hub for announcements, pre-release demos and meet-the-minds interviews with the creative and technical teams. Being set in Germany, World Cup winner Jens Lehman was signed up as a key brand advocate - aligning closely with one of the launch titles, Kinect Sports - and worked alongside us to reveal the European launch date of 4 November 2010 on the back of an Xbox 360 shirt. A few signed footballs, to boot. 

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Can you out-dance Kylie - 'Project hotpants'

With a view to engaging an entirely new type of audience, we signed a partnership agreement with Kylie Minogue to sponsor her European tour. This put us front-and-centre amidst a young female audience - classically the toughest for the gaming market to appeal to - with interactive pods at all of her European tour dates. A key launch title game Dance Central was the perfect fit for the partnership, as players could jump in and attempt to 'out dance Kylie'. Further still, we created a piece of viral film featuring Kylie and a golden-hotpant sporting superfan, a raft of Swarovski encrusted Kinect sensors for fans to win, and inspired user-generated content with people attempting to out dance Kylie herself. 

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EMEA Co-ordination

As the EMEA hub, our remit was to unlock partnerships that crossed borders, whilst also ensuring alignment and on-message execution at a local level. As liaisons and leaders, we guided the markets with the latest 'buzz' across EMEA each week via social media monitoring tool, Sysomos. 

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Outcomes

With 10 million unit sales in the first 60 days of release, the Kinect topped the iPhone, Wii and iPad to become the king of consumer tech juggernaut launches. 

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The World's fastest-selling consumer device, ever. 

Guinness World Record

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