The Brief:
As the result of a well-timed conversation over drinks one evening, Wildgoose agreed to donate its creativity and technology in adapting the existing concept of a paper-based scavenger hunt around New York City for the St George’s Society members, made up of both British ex-pats and their American colleagues and friends.
The aim of the day was simple, to provide a fresh, entertaining and engaging social event for society members and their families, raising money for the charity whilst also supporting and promoting British retail brands in the city.
The Solution:
We worked closely with St George’s on the content of this challenge to ensure that it provided an engaging and relevant experience for the range of participants attending.
It wasn’t a typical event for Wildgoose, we generally work exclusively with corporate clients; however we relished the challenge of creating something new and after consideration, it was decided that there were clearly two categories of players: “Corporate Millennials” and “Families”. Both sets of teams needed a different level of content and pace of challenge to ensure that they enjoyed the activity and that we provided something for everyone. It was decided that our app’s unique ability to run two separate challenges in separate locations, all within one game, sharing one collaborative live scoreboard, needed to be utilized.
Families were presented with a creative and interactive challenge throughout Central Park including hotspots that encouraged children to interact with characters in costume and props, taking part in photo and video challenges at key locations such as The Alice in Wonderland statue and Strawberry Fields.
The pace was much more relaxed in the park with activities and tasks aimed at being fun for all the family.
Whilst families enjoyed the sunshine and the breathtaking sites of Central Park, the “City” teams took to the streets of the Financial District in a fast-paced activity filled with location-specific challenges containing trivia about the area’s British history and heritage and key buildings of interest along with some of the same fun photo and video challenges teams in the park were taking part in.
“City” teams were also tasked with heading into a selection of participating British brand stores in Columbus Circle such as Thomas Pink, Ted Baker and Links of London who were sponsoring the event. Teams were tasked with scanning company logos and branding to unlock challenges that had them engaging with the brand and some of their key products. This encouraged the participants to engage with brands they may not have known were there before and drove footfall and awareness for the stores from their key demographics.
The Results:
Through carefully crafting two complementary challenges that took place seamlessly within one game, Wildgoose were able to offer a team building social activity that engaged and related to each group individually, while making them feel part of the same event. From children to corporate executives, all teams were given a mix of challenges that promoted communication, teamwork and good-humored creativity whilst also providing some relevant and informative facts and knowledge about two extremely separate key areas of New York City.
St George’s society raised $4,000 from sign up to the activity and British retail stores gained exposure and a chance to engage with their key demographic. Our feedback reporting module offered both St George’s and the retail outlets an amazing insight into what worked best for this first time event and what, when we run the event again next summer for the society, we all can do to improve the member’s experience.
