Sky City
View the case- Brand
- Sky Broadband
- Year
- 2024
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Simulation & Strategy
- Platform
- In-Game
- Agency
- Whalar Group Ltd
Objective
Sky Broadband wanted to be seen as the UK's number-one broadband for gamers and reach the roughly 17 million mid-to-hardcore players who tune out conventional advertising. Rather than tell that audience its connection was fast and reliable, Sky wanted them to feel it inside a game they already cared about, without breaking the play. The activation was also built to tie the Sky Broadband name to gaming and to Sky's wider product family — Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, Sky Glass, Sky WiFi Max Hub.
Solution
You drop in by typing a map code into Fortnite and land in Sky City, a metropolis suspended in the clouds around a glowing central tower that boosts your speed on contact. From there, up to 16 players fight it out across the rooftops of three skyscrapers, getting around not by running the streets below but by grinding speed rails, bouncing off launch pads, riding zip lines, and stepping through teleport portals — movement built for speed, not just decoration. Along the way you can duck behind a giant cinema screen for cover, or detour into a themed tower to play quick rounds of golf, tennis, racing, or football before rejoining the fight; a hidden penthouse rewards explorers with nods to other Sky products. In November 2024 the same map reopened as an asymmetric mode, Become the Jackal, tying the city into Sky's The Day of the Jackal series.
Results
Sky City drew 200,000+ plays (2,000% above the category benchmark) and reached 150,000+ players by Sky's own count, with The Drum and Shorty Awards citing 200,000+ unique visits; unique reach hit 2.8 million players. Average session length ran 23 minutes, adding up to 35,000+ hours of total playtime and 1.5 million+ rides on the map's speed rails alone, with 3 million+ brand interactions recorded island-wide. The linked Speed Showdown creator tournament added 27.1 million in combined reach, a partnership with creator TheBoyDilly delivered an estimated 94 million impressions (1,467% above target), and paid media around the campaign logged 150 million views. Post-campaign brand lift measured +3.3% ad recall on Meta, +3% ad recall on TikTok, +2.6% association between Sky and gaming, and +2.5% overall brand awareness.
- 1
The player enters Sky City by typing the island code 9674-9752-3343 into Fortnite, or by following the direct link to the experience.
- 2
A match begins with 16 players flying onto the island along a series of speed rails, revealing a panorama of Sky City: three futuristic skyscrapers surrounded by low brick buildings that form a rooftop-to-rooftop battle arena.
- 3
Players traverse the map by grinding on speed rails, launching off ramps, and riding ziplines between buildings, with rail routes giving a tactical edge over players moving on foot.
- 4
At the map's center stands Sky Tower, wrapped in the brand's spectrum colors; approaching it grants the player a speed boost.
- 5
Portals and tunnels instantly teleport players to another part of the city, letting them disengage from a fight or flank an opponent.
- 6
Sky Cinema doubles as cover during firefights, its façade screen looping branded content, while the Sky Sports skyscraper is divided into themed arenas — golf, tennis, racing, and football — each with its own combat geometry.
- 7
The Penthouse area hides easter eggs referencing Sky Glass and the Sky WiFi Max Hub router, discoverable by exploring its interior.
- 8
The core loop is a free-for-all: players scavenge weapons, score kills in rooftop gunfights, then move on via the rail network to the next encounter.
- 9
A November 2024 update, Become the Jackal, repurposes the same island as a 16-player free-for-all where the first to 20 points wins; players who track down three hidden key items gain extra shields, a unique weapon, and double points, becoming 'the Jackal' and a target for everyone else, while a leaderboard, themed achievements, and five hidden watermelons offer goals outside combat.
- 10
Players also reach the island by watching creator livestreams and joining challenges for real-world prizes, or, for a 72-hour window, through a portal placed on a top creator's own island that dropped visitors directly into Sky City.
