McCann London on Surviving the Elements

As the sun came up in London this morning on a crisp day in November, eight gaming fans were desperately trying to cling onto the hope of winning a holiday by enduring the harshest of weather conditions on a billboard above London’s Southwark Street. Suffering arctic cold blasts, intense wind, wild snowstorms and sudden heat thrown at them by the voting public, the challenge was set up by McCann London to mark the launch of Xbox's The Rise of the Tomb Raider, which is out today.

Over the 24-hour duration, the contestants slowly dropped off - Tomb Raider Superfan Jade Jolie bowing out with hypothermia, for example - and winner Adam Carr was announced after around 20 hours of the gruelling conditions on Friday morning.

As the gamers recover from the experience, below, the creative team at McCann London talks about the stunt explaining why the approach was right for the client and how the agency went about executing the exciting idea with live event firm m:united.

What was the brief from the gaming client and why did they want to create an experiential activation?

The brief was not experiential. The brief was simple. Lara Croft is a global icon but the world knows a dated version of Lara. How can you get Lara back into public conversation and ensure the world knows she now represents something different. She is a survivor, a heroine in her own right on her own journey of discovery.

Plus we must do this in the most cluttered time of the gaming calendar (e.g. Star Wars Battlefront, Fallout and Call of Duty titles all out the same week).

Why did you opt to run with an endurance test and tell us a bit more about how you arrived at the idea?

Endurance is simple; it directly links back to the game and Lara’s journey of endurance, survival, self-discovery.

We wanted to do something truly unique (a world first) hence the creation of the Survival Billboard. Plus London is Lara’s home town so seemed the perfect location for our stunt.

Why was eight the right number of contestants?

We wanted to give back to the Tomb Raider fans by giving them the chance to live like Lara. Critically our contestants (fans) also made up the headline and we needed eight to achieve this.

Tell us about the initial steps to find the participants… where did you start?

It all started by using our T&C’s (usually something advertisers try to hide) as the centrepiece of our campaign (featured in press, OOH and two-minute radio spots). The creative used the real T&C’s that contestants must adhere to in order to take part. focusses on the “Terms & horrible, horrible conditions” of the Survival Billboard, relating every painful facet of the challenge in excruciating detail.

Everything from descriptions of heat¬induced hallucinations to warnings about the risk of losing frostbitten fingers are contained within the imposing text. The aim: to discourage most people from applying, but attract the ones who are looking for an extraordinary challenge against nature worthy of Lara Croft herself.

And if they were up for it, the ad drives to the application site at survivalbillboard.com where they needed to complete a set of questions and challenges all relating to Lara and the new game.

How did the voting for the conditions they'd endure work?

Viewers went to survivalbillboard.com where they voted for a weather condition (arctic cold, strong winds, wild snowstorms and intense heat). The condition with the most votes was then unleashed onto the contestants for the following hour. Each hour brought a new vote and a new condition to face.

And how important was Jade Jolie's involvement with the project?

Jade Jolie was incredibly important. As one of the most globally recognised Lara Croft fans she was critical to have on the billboard.

Watch more content surrounding the campaign, including interviews with the contestants at SurvivalBillboard.com.