Deliciously Dark Escape
- Brand
- Trolli
- Year
- 2020
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Active Theory
Objective
Trolli wanted to reach young gamers on their own turf and make its 2020 "Big Bet" pay off: data showed a gamer lived in most U.S. households, many of them under 18, and Trolli saw a natural overlap with buyers of its gummy worms. Timing the campaign to the PlayStation 5 launch let the brand turn a bag of candy into a digital reward loop, giving fans a reason to keep buying while staying true to Trolli's offbeat internet humor.
Solution
A QR code on specially marked bags of Trolli Gummy Worms sends players to a browser-based platformer at trollideliciouslydarkescape.com. After registering, they steer a worm through a neon, glitch-lined "dark web," running and jumping across five levels of rising difficulty — dodging bots, lasers, and firewalls while grabbing data chips and power-ups. Each run is capped by a ten-minute countdown, and every coin collected becomes a "star," an entry into a PlayStation prize draw (VR bundles, game codes) plus an instant coupon for another bag of Trolli. Scanning the code also unlocks a 14-day PlayStation Plus trial and a custom PS4 theme. The story ends on-brand: reach the final level, and the worm gets eaten.
Results
30,300 unique players; average session length of 10:02, the full length of a level's timer.
- 1
Players unlock the game by scanning a QR code printed on specially marked packs of Trolli Gummy Worms; the same access is also available by visiting the site directly or mailing in a 3x5 request card, without a purchase.
- 2
The site frames itself as a dark-web hideout for Trolli's worms, rendered in a neon, glitch-laced retro-pixel style.
- 3
Players register with name, address, phone, email, and birth date to convert play into sweepstakes entries, and pick a home retailer, Walmart or National, which routes their entries into that retailer's prize pool.
- 4
A level-select screen offers five stages of the "Deliciously Dark Challenge," and players choose which to play first.
- 5
Each run is a timed, side-scrolling platformer: a worm avatar runs and jumps through a level within a fixed 10:02 window, collecting coins as the in-game currency, picking up power-ups such as temporary invincibility, an enemy-disabling burst, a bigger jump, a speed boost, or a random bonus, while dodging network-themed hazards like glitches, firewalls, bots, and lasers.
- 6
The five levels vary in theme and objective: eating five scattered data chips, descending deeper into the network, breaking through firewalls, escaping a large glitch, and freeing fellow worms trapped in the system.
- 7
A run's twist ending is its win condition: reaching a hungry mouth and being eaten marks a successful clear.
- 8
Coins earned during a run convert into stars, and stars convert into sweepstakes entries for the player's chosen retailer pool, capped at six entries per day.
- 9
Entries are drawn against a PlayStation-branded prize fund: 145 grand prizes of a PlayStation VR bundle with Marvel's Iron Man VR, 250 first prizes of a Concrete Genie PS4 code, and 420 second prizes of a Trolli coupon, for 815 winners total.
- 10
Scanning the pack's code also grants a 14-day PlayStation Plus trial and a Trolli-branded dynamic theme for PS4, independent of sweepstakes results.
