Grey: Pringles’ NPC

The gaming world can be a challenging landscape for brands to insert themselves into authentically. To captivate hard-to-impress gamers and position the brand as the ultimate gaming snack, Grey worked with Pringles to devise a creative solution: offering gamers the world's first paid job in a video game as a non-playable character (NPC) responsible for restocking Pringles vending machines in Train Sim.

To generate excitement, Pringles partnered with Xbox and leveraged Train Sim to create a buzz. The campaign started with real-world experiential and out-of-home initiatives before seamlessly transitioning into the virtual realm. Strategic advertisements within popular gaming titles and a series of films featuring disgruntled NPCs supported the recruitment drive.

At its core, the campaign blurred the lines between reality and the virtual world, empowering humans in the face of increasing technological advancement. By ‘stealing’ a job from robots, Pringles emphasised its relevance in a world dominated by artificial intelligence. The selected human winner underwent a live transformation on Twitch, thereby permanently becoming an NPC within the game.

The campaign amassed 30.8m impressions and captivated Twitch users, who collectively dedicated 2.8m minutes to witnessing the transformation of the chosen individual into an NPC. Ultimately, the campaign drove Pringles' brand awareness by an impressive 38%.

Through the blurring of realities and engaging with its audience authentically, Pringles celebrated human significance in an era of advancing technology, leaving an indelible mark on brand perception and awareness.