SOAP COdes
What was a very simple task from our client turned into a multi-award winning piece of work that had legacy impact on the Call of Duty UK social channels, spawning multiple offshoot assets for months to follow.
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.
The result
Unprompted creator pick-up
Youtubers made content about our content, clickbaiting audiences with how-tos for the ‘rarest COD item ever’.
High engagement
The campaign reached 5 million engagements, all without any paid media.
Organic debate
Controversy took over Reddit. The game caused heated debates online about how gamers could get hold of this item.
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.
The Drum Awards, 29 Nov 2023
Winner for Community Management at The Drum Social Media Awards
BIMA AWARDS, 21 Nov 2023
Gold at the BIMA Awards in the Popular Culture category