In 2013, Ubisoft wanted to launch their new hacking game, Watch_Dogs, in which the hero uses a mobile phone as a weapon. Their objectives were to raise awareness of their new title, create engagement with the brand and promote pre-orders. With a year to go between the announcement and release date, how can we stay top of mind with our target?

Our strategy was to get Canadian gamers hooked on the Watch_Dogs brand by bringing the game to life under the theme: your phone is your weapon. So we created Watch_Dogs Live, a mobile gaming app that turned every phone into a hacking device.

Watch_Dogs Live received over 200,000 downloads from the App Store and Google Play; double the projected number. It was ranked in the top five games in the App Store, received 500,000 YouTube views for our content videos and 8,700,000 total hacks. The 80% engagement rate was unprecedented for a free mobile gaming app. Additionally, Watch_Dogs Live received 10,480,000 unpaid media impressions and earned Ubisoft the title of Canadian Marketer of the Year.

Watch_Dogs Live was a free mobile-to-real-life role-playing gaming app.

Participants were recruited through a video issued by Dedsec, a fictitious hacker group. Once the app downloaded, participants used it to create profiles and hack thousands of surrounding targets, including ATMs, hospitals, police stations and airports. With each successful hack, participants took control of targets and moved up the leaderboard.

Additionally, four real-world missions were launched to bring down the villain. Each mission had a mission video, a live-stream and a recap video. In their first mission, participants used Watch_Dogs Live to hack an ATM, distributing thousands of dollars to an unsuspecting crowd of shoppers. In a second mission, hackers used their phones to blow up a car. A third mission saw hackers take control of a live broadcast of a popular sports talk show. And, in their final mission, the community hacked a secure cargo container to steal its contents.