Patriot games: How Tencent made a virtual race track to mark National Day

For Chinese National Day in October last year, Tencent successfully combined its racing game, QQ Speed Mobile, with a National Day theme.

The campaign aimed to attract more viewers in and outside the game as the People's Republic of China marked its 70th anniversary. Tencent wanted to use the campaign to show the changes China has seen through the past 70 years while celebrating the anniversary.

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The company created a virtual track embedded with landmark scenes and buildings, giving players an immersive experience of China's development. The game also provided hidden bonuses and special incentives such as bonus point, special head portraits and game props.

Tencent cooperated with state-backed Xinhua News Agency as the main channel for advertising the game, using articles, videos, and interactive webpages to create more shares among social media and players.

Tencent also made full use of its gaming community to raise awareness in and outside the game. It not only advertised on its game platforms, but also asked KOLs, independent media and famous players to interact and create more communications. Besides the state-backed media channel, Tencent also advertised the game in WeChat, Weibo and other social-media platforms.

The specific racing track created for the campaign had attracted more than 610 million plays as of Tencent's submission for the Digital Media Awards in November last year. During the first two weeks when Tencent launched the campaign, it attracted more than 15 million plays on a daily basis.

This campaign has won the gold medal in the Apps, Gaming category.