Cisco: Mars Network Challenge

Objective

Cisco needed to educate enterprise customers, partners, and employees about its DNA Center network management solution in an engaging, hands-on manner. The company sought to increase awareness and build measurable sales leads by transforming complex network engineering concepts into an interactive competitive experience, positioned as the company's largest global digital launch at the time.

Solution

A tower defense game blended with matching game mechanics, themed around building the first sustainable human habitat on Mars. Players navigated five Tower Defense levels per base plus Base Challenges requiring real Cisco DNA Center solutions to complete network provisioning, security, and infrastructure tasks across four different simulated sites. The platform featured a leaderboard system and was deployed to 43 countries in 21 languages simultaneously on Day 1, with top performers eligible for rewards including passes to Cisco Live events, Advanced Services credits, and certification opportunities. The game evolved over an 18-month strategy with new levels and additional Cisco solutions introduced over time.

Results

100,000+ registered players; 130 million social impressions; 223% above targeted engagement goal; became one of Cisco.com's top content performers for customer engagement. Represented Cisco's largest global launch ever at the time of deployment.