National Geographic Channel

Brain Games Playable Facebook Ad

Fig 704a. National Geographic Channel

Format: Social Media Content c.2020

Challenge yourself to complete the Brain Games Gauntlet, inspired by the fast-paced game in the show, with this interactive playable Facebook & Instagram  Ad.

Promoting a series about mind-bending games can be challenging when traditional ads don’t allow viewer interactivity. So, when Facebook introduced their playable ad units, we were inspired to test the limits of this new medium. Our solution was to create a bespoke gaming experience—that conformed to this technology’s limitations—where viewers could test how they would perform in each episodes culminating moment: The Gauntlet.

Facebook playable ads are unique in that they are entirely self-contained. Everything, including the art, music, and full functionality, needed to be packed into a very small file limit. We had to get clever, but fortunately our passion for classic gaming gave us the perfect solution. Pixel-art and chiptune audio are very small, from a size perspective, so we leaned into that and transposed the style of the show into a retro arcade vibe!

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