THE CHALLENGE
Launch Rise of the Tomb Raider differently—capturing attention with email, a traditionally passive medium.
THE INSIGHT
Tomb Raider game fans love nothing more than to solve a challenge, and the more difficult it is, the sweeter the reward. We needed to create the world's hardest email.
THE IDEA
Transform email into a playable puzzle: the world’s hardest, most rewarding inbox adventure.
THE EXECUTION
Email campaigns as interactive puzzle experiences.
Players solved clues directly within the email to unlock a microsite where they had to solve yet one more puzzle that shared an exclusive level preview.
THE RESULTS
Unprecedented open and interaction rates
Directly drove pre-order spikes
GMA, three Gold Addys, District Gold and Silver Addys, and a Webby nod
Only an elite 0.1% of gamers solved the puzzle, but that meant it worked; we achieved the world’s hardest email that only the most Lara Croft-inspired gamers could solve – and we know they bragged about it – as Social media erupted with tens of thousands of Tomb Raider fans trying to solve the puzzle.
MY ROLE
Conceptualization, creative direction, execution oversight, and collaboration with dev teams.
The last puzzle was a moving video projected onto the mixed up pieces (each piece's image was constantly changing)
Additional CRM developed to target audience segmentation ...
