Agency Adventure
View the case- Brand
- Snapchat
- Year
- 2023
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- OddCommon
Objective
Snap needed to rebuild its relationship with agency partners after the pandemic reduced its annual roadshow to Zoom and Teams webinars, right as the platform was struggling to hold onto ad budgets in 2023. Rather than run another slide-deck presentation, Snap wanted a format that could teach staff across every agency discipline — media planning to creative — how to use its ad products and build a Snapchat media plan, while stirring up some friendly rivalry between competing holding companies.
Solution
At snapchatagencyadventure.com, players first build a character — choosing a name and avatar, picking the holding company they work for from a list of approved agencies, and selecting one of five client briefs (Financial Services, Beauty, Retail, a Direct-to-Consumer App, or CPG) — before landing in the lobby of a 16-bit-style pixel-art ad agency. From there it's arrow keys to walk the office, space bar to strike up conversations with NPC coworkers, and a phone menu to get around. Scattered through the building are four mini-games that walk through a real pitch process in sequence — Brief Sprint, Brainstorm, Deck Build, and Big Pitch — alongside optional detours like a yoga room, an AR bonus, and a custom Snapchat lens tied to the launch. Coworkers along the way introduce Snapchat tools such as the My AI chatbot, which players can try firsthand, and offer downloadable PDFs of ad templates and tips matched to the chosen vertical. Scores from the mini-games roll into a leaderboard averaging each agency's three best results, with the session ending on a shot at a charity prize for the winning agency.
- 1
The game opens on a 16-bit-styled title screen, then has the player pick an employer from a list of participating agency holding companies and independents, enter a player name, and build a pixel-art avatar.
- 2
The player then chooses a brief vertical — Financial Services, Beauty, Retail, Direct-to-Consumer App, or CPG — which determines the storyline and mini-game content that follows.
- 3
After a bird's-eye view of the office layout, the player is dropped into the lobby and explores an open-world agency office with the arrow keys, approaching flagged NPCs and talking to them with the space bar to get colleague banter and assignments; a phone menu opens at any time to navigate between game sections and office departments.
- 4
In the first mini-game, Brief Sprint, the player runs through office corridors collecting brief materials from the strategy team while dodging distractions, tracked on a HUD with avatar, mini-game title, and score; a summary screen afterward lets the player read the assembled brief.
- 5
In Brainstorm, the player works a sticky-note board to gather ideas within a time limit while avoiding tangents and negative energy, with a HUD showing timer, score, and pop-up rewards for hits; a follow-up screen shows the meeting notes collected.
- 6
In Deck Build, the player reviews a presentation deck and spots duplicate slides.
- 7
The player previews likely client questions, then plays Big Pitch, the final mini-game, hitting story beats at the right moments during the presentation to score points.
- 8
Along the way, conversations with colleagues introduce real Snapchat ad tools, including a playable demo of the My AI chatbot, and optional side content — chatting with a Snapchat rep, visiting a yoga room, and finding hidden extras like an AR bonus and a launch-tie-in lens.
- 9
The session ends with a downloadable PDF of ad templates and strategy tips tailored to the chosen vertical, a results screen, and a leaderboard ranking agencies by the average of each team's three best scores.
