Media Intelligence

A virtual first

It's not every day our media choices become global news. But then the media choices we made on behalf of our client, GCHQ, were very far from everyday.

GCHQ is a British Intelligence agency, which works at the cutting edge of communications technology. Given the unique nature of their work, and their ongoing need to recruit bright, technology-savvy graduates, we thought they would make ideal candidates for being the first employer to use in-game advertising.

For several years now, companies such as Microsoft-owned Massive have been selling advertising space in virtual gaming worlds. But until we came along, it was only consumer advertising agencies who had taken advantage of it.

Working closely with both GCHQ and Microsoft, we chose suitable titles out of a catalogue of about 40. As well as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent, which provided an obvious tie-in with the secret service theme, we opted for a popular racing game, designed to help us reach as broad an audience as possible.

Our use of the medium garnered considerable press coverage, and raised what would in any case be a notable account to the status of global news story.

It also saw us win the Best Innovation category in the 2008 CIPD recruitment marketing awards.