Take A Flight Through Middle-earth
View the case- Brand
- Tourism New Zealand
- Year
- 2013
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Travel & Hospitality
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Custom Logic
Objective
Tourism New Zealand built the game to ride the release of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," turning fan interest in Middle-earth's fantasy landscapes into interest in New Zealand as an actual, bookable destination. It was the next move in the "100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand" platform, meant to push that story to a new level of engagement in key markets — and to funnel players off the game and into the regional and activity content on newzealand.com where a trip actually gets planned.
Solution
Players steer a bird in flight over a blank, ocean-like canvas on newzealand.com, and New Zealand's coastline and terrain draw themselves in below as they fly, shaped from real elevation data. Scattered across the islands are collectible cards — each one tells the story of that stretch of map and adds a bird to the player's flock, so the longer they fly, the bigger the flock and the more of the map opens up. The goal is to reach four real Hobbit filming locations and claim a key to the Lonely Mountain, which unlocks exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from Weta. Other players' flocks appear in the same sky in real time, so a session can turn into flying alongside strangers from anywhere in the world. There's no timer and no way to lose — the game is available in nine languages and simply ends when the player decides to stop exploring.
- 1
The player opens "Take a Flight" on the Tourism New Zealand site newzealand.com, with the experience localized into nine languages.
- 2
The game starts on an empty ocean canvas, with the player controlling a single bird and no landmass yet visible.
- 3
As the player steers the bird across the sky, the landscape below draws itself in from real elevation data, so the terrain that appears matches New Zealand's actual geography.
- 4
There is no timer or time pressure: the player chooses their own route and pace, with on-screen prompts suggesting where to head next.
- 5
Collectible cards are scattered across the islands that appear; picking one up reveals information about that region and adds birds to the player's flock, so a larger flock uncovers bigger sections of map on each pass.
- 6
The world is shared: players encounter other people's flocks flying the same skies and can interact with them.
- 7
The main goal is to reach four filming locations from "The Hobbit" marked on the map; visiting all four earns a key that unlocks the Lonely Mountain, where an exclusive video from Weta is waiting, along with bonus content from the "Book of New Zealand" installation, including interviews and photos from its Los Angeles event.
- 8
From there, the experience hands the player off to regional and activity information on newzealand.com, steering them toward planning an actual trip.
