S.H.I.E.L.D. Ops
- Brand
- Acura
- Year
- 2012
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Automotive
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Plan8
- With
- RPA
- With
- Feels Like
Objective
Acura had spent several years building a role as the "official vehicle of S.H.I.E.L.D." in Marvel's films, and The Avengers' release gave the brand a chance to move that product placement into an owned digital experience where fans could actually interact with the cars. It was also the moment to promote the redesigned 2013 RDX, which had a cameo in the movie. The real target was young comic-book fans who have no natural interest in Acura, won over by playing rather than being pitched to.
Solution
Players sign in with Facebook and arrive at a S.H.I.E.L.D. command console built around a rotating globe holding classified files on Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Thor, unlocked by entering a sequence of codes for each hero. From there, players head into the Combat Simulator, choosing a hero, a S.H.I.E.L.D.-outfitted Acura, and a weapon loadout, then fight off incoming targets against the clock; the score adds to an overall agent rank that unlocks further rewards. In the Vehicle Hangar, players spin their chosen car on a turntable and tap hotspots to examine the gear mounted on it, and can hit CONNECT to pair a smartphone and use it as the simulator's controller. Each run ends when the timer runs out, banking points toward the player's next rank.
- 1
Arriving at the site drops the player into a dark S.H.I.E.L.D. terminal interface rather than a car promo page; logging in through Facebook is the only sign-up, doubling as the player's agent ID. The site frames itself as a remote depot of the agency, delivering hero briefings as in-fiction video rather than text.
- 2
At the center of the screen, a rotating globe marks dossiers on four Avengers heroes, each locked behind a depot tied to a real-world city. In the DEPOT UPLINK section, the player works through a multi-step code sequence to unlock each dossier.
- 3
Unlocking a depot opens a full-screen hero dossier with the hero's portrait and name, offering three options: view the hero's specs, view the hero-inspired tech, or go to the combat simulator.
- 4
Viewing specs surfaces a read-only breakdown of the hero's own abilities. Viewing tech reveals a weapon inspired by that hero (such as the Hulk-linked Shockwave Cannon), which is added to the site's Tech Armory.
- 5
In the Vehicle Hangar, the player picks one of three S.H.I.E.L.D.-edition Acura models and inspects it on a rotating platform, where hotspots call out the tech mounted on the car.
- 6
Combat runs in a separate top-down simulator screen loaded with the chosen hero, weapon, and car; a phone can be connected as a game controller for the desktop screen. The player fires at incoming enemy targets, metering shot power on a Shockwave Power Meter rather than simply clicking, against a timer and running score.
- 7
Each simulator run adds to a cumulative score and agent rank, and the player must clear all four heroes' simulators to keep climbing — no single simulator carries a player through the ranks. Difficulty varies by hero.
- 8
An Agent Hub tracks the player's depot and rank progress alongside a public leaderboard, while a prize info screen shows what each rank tier unlocks, from mid-tier prizes up to a grand-prize trip built around the Tony Stark Experience.
- 9
A share button posts the player's results back to Facebook, closing the loop through the same network used to log in.
