Cardboard World
- Brand
- UPS
- Year
- 2009
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Other
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Doner
Objective
The UPS Store wanted small-business owners to see past the shipping counter to the full range of services on offer — packing, printing, freight — and to drive attention to a new online print service ahead of the holiday season.
Solution
The visitor drops into a fully cardboard 3D world and meets Joe Biz, a small-business adventurer scrambling to win back a lost client before a big meeting. Moving through the scene, the player picks up Joe's odd jobs and works through a string of short challenges, each one built around a specific UPS Store service — pack a shipment, print a piece, arrange a delivery. Clearing a challenge earns a token; collect four and the player unlocks entry into a sweepstakes for a dream vacation. From the same site, the player can also watch the TV spots the world is built around.
- 1
The player enters a microsite rendered entirely in cardboard — the same handmade-cardboard world seen in The UPS Store's TV campaign — and can explore and walk through it rather than just watch it play out.
- 2
The player meets Joe Biz, a cardboard small-business adventurer who is preparing for an important meeting and trying to win back a lost client, and who asks the player for help.
- 3
Moving through the cardboard world, the player finds spots where Joe hands out a new piece of business to take on, each one tied to a task or mini-game at a different location on the site.
- 4
Each task is built around a specific UPS Store service — packing, shipping, printing, including its newer online print service — so playing through them also shows what the chain offers small businesses.
- 5
Completing a task for Joe earns the player a token.
- 6
After collecting four tokens, the player unlocks entry into a sweepstakes, filling out a registration form to compete for prizes headlined by a dream trip.
- 7
Outside the tasks, the player can also watch the campaign's TV commercials and browse service information, all presented within the same cardboard-world setting.
