Bid For Greatness
- Brand
- PlayStation
- Year
- 2013
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Other
- Platform
- In-Game
- Agency
- HAUS
- With
- BBH New York
Objective
With PS4's launch approaching, Sony wanted to keep the momentum of its "Greatness Awaits" film going past a single viewing and turn passive fans into active PlayStation Network participants. Gamers had already sunk millions of hours into earning trophies with nothing tangible to show for it, so the brand set out to reward that grind in a way no competing platform could match — and to generate press conversation without a media budget behind it.
Solution
Players sign in with their PSN ID and the site reads their gold trophy count on the spot — that total is the only currency in play, no money involved. Once a day for two weeks, one new item from the "Greatness Awaits" shoot goes up for bidding: a costume, weapon or piece of concept art from games like Assassin's Creed IV, Killzone: Shadow Fall, The Last of Us or Skyrim. Players choose whether to throw every trophy at one coveted lot or spread them thin across several. When the 24-hour window closes, the highest bidder wins the physical prop outright — and keeps every trophy, since nothing is actually deducted from their account.
Results
500,000 page views over the auction's 15 days, an average session length of 2 minutes 48 seconds, and 157 million earned media impressions generated with zero media spend.
- 1
The player opens BidForGreatness.com and signs in with a PlayStation Network ID — there is no separate registration, and the PSN account itself serves as login.
- 2
The site automatically tallies the player's accumulated gold trophies and displays that total as a bidding balance; trophies are the only currency, and entry is limited to residents of the 50 US states and DC.
- 3
The auction runs on a fixed schedule of 15 unique lots, with exactly one new lot opening each day and closing 24 hours later at 1:00 PM Pacific.
- 4
Each lot showcases a real prop from the "Greatness Awaits" film shoot — a costume, weapon, or piece of concept art tied to a PlayStation game, such as Captain Kenway's cutlass or the Dragonborn's shield and sword.
- 5
Players bid their trophy total against other participants on the current lot, choosing whether to commit everything to one item or spread bids across several.
- 6
Bidding never deducts trophies from a player's PSN account — even the eventual winner keeps their full trophy count regardless of outcome.
- 7
When the lot closes, the highest bid at that moment wins.
- 8
PlayStation then verifies the leading bidder's eligibility and trophy legitimacy before confirming them as the winner, disqualifying anyone who violated the rules.
- 9
The confirmed winner receives the physical prop from the shoot, and results for each of the 15 lots — including the winning trophy bid — are published.
- 10
Players who don't win lose nothing and return the next day as a new lot opens, with the cycle repeating once daily until all 15 lots have been auctioned.
