Delivery Dash
Open the game- Brand
- Tesco
- Year
- 2019
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Retail
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Social
- Agency
- UNIT9
Objective
Tesco built its 2019 Christmas push around its 100th anniversary, with the retailer's chief customer officer framing the year as a celebration of "100 years of great value and delivering Christmas" and the messaging leaning on price and household budgets. The game gave that story a second life beyond the 90-second TV spot, letting shoppers keep the time-travelling delivery van going themselves and reinforcing that Tesco "has been delivering Christmas for a hundred years."
Solution
The game opens straight from a link shared in Facebook Messenger, with no download or app switch required. The player steers a Tesco delivery van along pixel-art streets, grabbing Christmas groceries and dropping them off at houses before the clock runs out; every pickup and completed delivery adds a few seconds, so the run keeps going as long as the player keeps delivering. Every so often, a burst of festive lights sweeps the van into a different decade of Tesco's history — from a Ford Model T in the 1920s to a DeLorean in the 1980s — swapping the streets and soundtrack for that era. When the timer finally hits zero, the player is dropped back in the present day and their score is posted to a global leaderboard to compare against friends.
Results
Tesco's centenary Christmas campaign, which the game supported, drew 235,870 engagements across public Facebook and Twitter posts between 30 November and 8 December 2019, and the TV spot behind it lifted social media engagement by an average of 146% in the five minutes after each airing — the highest TV Social Lift Score in that year's industry analysis.
- 1
Players open the game directly inside Facebook Messenger's Instant Games section via a shared link, with no separate app install required.
- 2
Behind the wheel of a Tesco delivery van rendered in retro pixel-art isometric style, the player drives through period-styled streets, picking up Christmas dinner staples and delivering them to customers scattered along the route before a countdown timer runs out.
- 3
While driving, the player dodges obstacles and collects power-ups along the way.
- 4
Each item collected and each delivery completed adds time to the countdown, so the run continues for as long as the player keeps working the route, making it an endless runner at its core.
- 5
Hitting glowing Christmas lights on the road suddenly shifts the van into a different decade of Tesco's history, swapping the street's visuals, vehicles (such as Ford Model Ts in the 1920s or a DeLorean in the 1980s), and sound to match the new era; five decades cycle through this way.
- 6
A recurring cameo character, Kevin the Carrot, appears among the pedestrians on the streets.
- 7
The pace of traffic and deliveries accelerates the longer the run continues, making the timer progressively harder to sustain.
- 8
When the timer reaches zero, the run ends, the player is returned to the present day, and the final score is submitted to a global leaderboard.
- 9
Players can compare their score against friends, turning each run into a competition over who travels furthest through Tesco's 100-year history.
