Activision ‘SOAP Codes’

Entertainment Activision United Kingdom

The brief

Activision challenged us to get a demanding Call of Duty community excited for an in game item to boost player sentiment.

Our insight

In the age of ‘digital hoarding’, people see more value in something when it’s earned.

The idea

Inspired by the franchise’s beloved Scottish soldier, John ‘Soap’ MacTavish, we created hype around in-game weapon accessories through social. Instead of giving the item away, the audience had to earn secret codes for it by quickly dropping soap emoji comments in response to our social posts. Like in Call of Duty itself, the quickest reflexes win. We turned the item drop into a game that spoke directly to community humour. One organic tweet later, Soap Codes blew up.

The actor behind Soap, who provides the voice in the game, Neil Ellice, saw the fervour and wanted in. We recorded another callout with Neil, addressing the hype and stoking the fans’ fire.

Results

Unprompted creator pick-up

Youtubers made content about our content, clickbaiting audiences with how-tos for the ‘rarest COD item ever’.

Organic debate

Controversy took over Reddit. The game caused heated debates online about how gamers could get hold of this item.

High engagement

The campaign reached 5 million engagements, all without any paid media.

Positive sentiment

The campaign received 87% positive sentiment across social channels.

AWARDS

The Lovie Awards, 10 Nov 2023

Gold Lovie and People’s Lovie Award Winner in Social: Best Community or Fan Engagement category.

BIMA AWARDS, 21 Nov 2023

Gold at the BIMA Awards in the Popular Culture category

The Drum Awards, 29 Nov 2023

Winner for Community Management at The Drum Social Media Awards