With 89% of C-suites saying they turn to the FT to assist them professionally (GBI 2022), the FT was well placed to reach and engage them with Google Cloud’s message.

The brief went further than simply reaching Google Cloud’s target audience of European C-suites. To really convince them that data can help them reach their sustainability goals, we needed to achieve prolonged, in-depth engagement. It would not be enough to launch a flash-in-the-pan content campaign; we knew we needed to create an immersive and memorable execution.

Sometimes a serious topic is best tackled through gamified content. We’d already found that gamification is a great way to connect with FT audiences; in 2022 we had astronomical success with our Climate Game, which has over 900K page views to date and won Gold in the ‘Sustainability and Environment’ category at the Corporate Engagement Awards.

This type of content has shown a unique ability to persuade audiences to spend significant time with it, by putting them in the driving seat. Therefore, strategically, we knew that an immersive gamified experience would allow us to present complex business challenges (and how data can reveal the best solutions) in a simple and engaging format that encourages users to think deeply about the subject matter.

We engaged our creative partner Phantom to create the scenario-building game “Business Resilience” – an illustrated storybook-style experience showing how Google Cloud’s smart use of data can lead to sustainability-driven business transformation.

We’d learned that putting the player at the heart of a game helps maximise engagement.

Therefore, in the “Business Resilience” gamewe have the players select a senior roleat the fictional Sunrise Cereals Co, such as CEO Stella or CFO Ali.

They then encounter a series of scenarios, choose which decision to take, and discover how those decisions play out.

And because Google Cloud’s messaging focuses on making businesses smarter, the game allocates each user 50 “Smart Credits” to spend on their decisions, with each one costing and returning different amounts. The more Smart Credits they have at the end, the better their business outcome – and their impact on the planet.

For example, the game’s first “Decision Point” is:

****Optimise your logistics
Over your morning bowl of GrainBites™, you spot a headline: fuel costs are set to rise 47% over the next six months. The increased logistics costs will impact your profit margins.

The player is then offered four choices, which use up various credits. After selecting one, they learn if they’ve “missed out” or made a “smart choice”, with an explanation of why. And because these levels of decisions are highly complex, the game shows both the instant impact and the delayed impact of the player’s decisions.

The game involves minimal set-up to meet the needs of senior, time-poor decision-makers and get them started on the Decision Points as fast as possible.

Although the game is business-focused, we wanted to make it fun and lively to play. So we avoided corporate jargon, using the straightforward language and conversational tone that reflect how most senior decision-makers really speak.

The Phantom team developed a visual storybook illustration style that was attractive to look at without distracting players from the story. Subtle motion helped ake the experience feel immersive, and the dynamic UI kept users engaged by automatically adjusting to different devices and screen types.

At the end of the game, the player sees their score, their smartest answer and a summary of their performance.

We ran an extensive marketing campaign on FT.com and on social media, targeting users in Europe.

Native marketing on FT.com
We used native ads because they embed well in FT editorial and because our research shows our audience engages with them. We promoted the Google Cloud game in native positions across FT.com (including the homepage and alongside contextually-relevant FT editorial articles), to reach FT audiences interested in Technology and ESG/Sustainability content.

The creatives, which we produced in-house, mirror the look and feel of a piece of FT editorial. We crafted three headlines to use in turn:

Game: Can you make a financially resilient and sustainable business?
Can you make this business resilient? Choose your role and play now
New game: test your knowledge of how to make a business resilient

Display traffic drivers on FT.com
We used display ads because they were a great way to showcase the game’s creative element. Using animation to attract attention, we ran visually appealing display traffic drivers in high-impact ad positions,with a call-to-action encouraging readers to click through to the game.

We targeted the creatives demographically towards Google’s two key audience groups of C-suites and Business Decision-Makers (BDMs).

Social media
Central to our marketing efforts was promoting the series on LinkedIn and Twitter, which we selected as the most effective channels to extend the content’s reach to new audiences while driving high-quality business leaders to view the content on FT.com. We targeted the audience on these platforms via interests, behaviour, demographics, location and more.

And our social media messaging was crafted to get the attention of business leaders and make them want to take on the challenge presented by the game, with posts such as:

Business Resilience: Can you make this business sustainable? Play now and find out
This new game puts you in charge of a business’s future. Will you play as CEO, CFO, CIO or Chief Supply Chain Officer?

Overall, the marketing campaign included:

• 1,144,779 FT.com native marketing impressions delivered by contextually targeting a Technology, ESG and Sustainability audience
• 500,000 FT.com display marketing impressions demographically targeted towards C-suite and BDMs
• Native promotion on rotation on the FT.com homepage
• Organic and paid social promotion across LinkedIn and Twitter

The marketing aimed to deliver 15,833 page views across the game and the accompanying articles combined.