This wasn't just an ad; it was a live human experiment on a London billboard.
Dubbed "Survival of the Grittiest," this experiential campaign for Xbox challenged eight fans to stand on tiny ledges and endure everything from arctic winds to sudden heatwaves.
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The UX of suffering
The challenge was to bridge a physical billboard endurance test with a global digital audience.
Through a real-time voting system integrated with a live Twitch stream, users unleashed actual blizzards and heatwaves on contestants, turning a brutal challenge into must-see entertainment.
The perfect storm, by design
Where digital votes met real-world weather.
The campaign website was designed as a dynamic hub that evolved through three distinct phases.
First, it filtered would-be contestants through a series of cryptic puzzles. Next, it built anticipation with contestant profiles and a live countdown.
Finally, during the main event, the site transformed into an interactive broadcast platform, allowing a global audience to watch the live stream and vote in real-time to control the brutal weather conditions unleashed on the competitors.
To achieve this, we directed the entire design process from initial journey maps to the final UI, ensuring the ambitious creative vision was executed flawlessly.
“Just voted for a blizzard on #SurvivalBillboard and now they’re getting absolutely blasted. I love it.”
Results
A huge hit with the public and juries alike, the campaign picked a brace of awards and was subsequently voted Campaign’s Creative Experience of the Decade.
3.5m
views in 24hrs
1,000
weather votes every hour
56k
hours of streamed content watched
90+
awards
5 Gold, 9 Silver and 6 Bronze
2 Gold
3 Gold, 4 Silver
4 wins, including the Grand Prix
2 Gold
Grand LIA, 3 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze