Game Of Phones
- Brand
- T-Mobile
- Year
- 2022
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Quiz & Trivia
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Reflektor Digital
Objective
T-Mobile was closing out what it called its strongest growth year ever — in postpaid accounts, postpaid subscribers, and home internet — and wanted a holiday send-off that topped the AR snow globes it had run the previous year. The brief called for a message from leadership that felt innovative and festive rather than corporate, while also showcasing the brand's 5G and immersive-tech credentials and giving customers a real reason to participate, not just watch.
Solution
Open the link on a phone, laptop, or VR headset and you land inside a snowed-in, 3D replica of T-Mobile's Bellevue campus. Wandering the grounds, you hunt for holographic company executives hidden around the buildings, circling each one to view it from every side before it asks you a trivia question. Correct answers earn tokens, and as you go you also help steer a slice of T-Mobile's $100,000 charitable donation toward one of three nonprofits. Clear a bonus round after the main trail and you land a sweepstakes entry for prizes.
Results
More than 400,000 players completed the game to enter the prize sweepstakes, an 8,700% jump in participation over T-Mobile's 2021 holiday campaign. Average session length was 5 minutes, and players collectively directed the brand's full $100,000 donation across Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, National Urban League, and Conservation International.
- 1
The player opens the campaign link on a phone, desktop, or VR headset and enters the Magentaverse — a holiday 3D recreation of T-Mobile's Bellevue, Washington headquarters — arriving via a drone-style flyover of the snowy campus before landing inside one of the buildings.
- 2
A hologram of CEO Mike Sievert greets the player, explains the rules and movement controls, and grants a starting balance of tokens; control then passes to the player, who moves freely through the campus's meeting rooms, lounges, and common areas, with the same explorable space on mobile as on desktop.
- 3
The core loop is a scavenger hunt: the player searches the campus for hidden, volumetrically captured holograms of company executives, can circle each one for a 360° view, and answers a hint-supported quiz question to earn a token; a campus map tracks the player's location and how many holograms remain unfound.
- 4
Three standalone mini-games are embedded along the route as separate interactive breaks from the hologram hunt.
- 5
Correct quiz answers double as votes that split the brand's charitable donation among three real nonprofits — Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, National Urban League, and Conservation International.
- 6
Collecting every token unlocks a bonus round offering two additional tokens.
- 7
The session ends with a sweepstakes entry for prizes including an iPhone, iPad, Meta Quest headset, and Beats by Dre headphones.
