Killabyte

Objective

Spark, New Zealand's largest telecommunications company, sought to redefine the gaming festival experience by creating an immersive collective gaming narrative. The brand hosted Spark Game Arena Live where attendees transformed from passive spectators into active cooperative players pursuing a shared objective. The campaign aimed to differentiate the festival through an integrated interactive experience that deepened engagement across the entire event.

Solution

Killabyte reimagined the festival as a massive multiplayer co-op game inspired by Nokia's classic Snake. Attendees received RFID-enabled wristbands that functioned as weapons against a digital virus character named Byte. Players scanned their wristbands at strategic touchpoints throughout the venue—tournaments, expert talks, food stations, gaming zones—to inflict damage on Byte and accumulate experience points. A mobile app called Mission Hub allowed participants to monitor their progression and complete side quests involving the collection of hidden Byte scales distributed around the venue. Every festival activity contributed directly to the overarching goal of collectively defeating Byte. Two session winners (morning and afternoon) received gaming equipment packages valued at NZ$1,750 each. The experience was created by Colenso BBDO with development partners BUCK, Spur, and Satellite Media.

Results

Players engaged for 51,142 total minutes, generating 600,000 total interactions. Two session winners, JOYNZ and Bravemage4676, each received NZ$1,750 in gaming equipment.