The One Show

The One Show is the world's most prestigious award show in advertising and design. For over 50 years, the Gold Pencil has been regarded as one of the top prizes in the creative industry. The One Show has a rich legacy of honoring some of the most groundbreaking ideas, created by some of the most remarkable minds in creativity.

Learn more about The One Show 2026

About

See the Jury

Jury Presidents

View Categories

Get Tickets

2020 One Show - Integrated

The Birth of Gaming Tourism

Agency McCann / London + Craft/McCann / London + Momentum / London

Client Xbox / Microsoft
BACK TO RESULTS

Annual ID

OS_IG20_036M

About the Work

CHALLENGE Videogame marketing has always focused on characters and weapons. How could Xbox attract a wider audience who didn’t care about the violence? IDEA We opened up a whole new sector: videogame tourism, which gave people a new reason to buy games. Not to play. To visit. Because games have become so vast and lifelike, they can be sold as destinations. Xbox transformed into a travel brand, for the first time promoting not gameplay, but games as tourist destinations. It was all built around a groundbreaking partnership with global travel guide publisher Rough Guides, which worked much like their guides to countries, but with all the advice entirely for virtual worlds. Launched at the UK’s largest travel expo, the idea changed how people experience games, and the transformation was amplified on everything from tourist board-style ads to in-game guided tours to selling console bundles as package holidays. It was not just a new lens on gaming, but a new lens on travel. RESULTS - Debuted in 29 countries and counting - 4x average response rate - 55% traffic increase - 67% above average engagement rate