Last year at Comic-con 2011 we helped video game publisher THQ organize a QR code-driven web-based scavenger hunt to promote the release of their upcoming Voltron game. The idea was simple (See video below): 5 standees with QR codes were stationed in different locations around Comic-con and fans were encouraged to find and scan all 5 QR codes in order to enter in the “Hunt to Form Voltron” Sweepstakes. The result was buzz and interest around Voltron at Comic.con 2011. PRNewser named it as part of “4 Comic-Con Efforts That Hit the Mark”, Turner PR’s “5 Ways Social Media has Changed Comic-Con 2011”, and great coverage in blogs like Mashables and others (see results section below).

Overview:
This diagram illustrates the basic flow of the scavenger hunt. We were asked by the THQ marketing team to put together a comprehensive flow diagram to help partners and stakeholders understand how the promotional campaign would work (this is just one of the graphic pieces from that flow chart).

Web-Based Application:
Participants would simply scan each of the 5 codes using their mobile phones to unlock a badge. The Metablocks Scavenger Hunt application would keep track of each unlocked badge by associating it with the participant phone or email address.  Participants were able to share their badges on Facebook and Twitter (this helped created viral buzz around the campaign).

Marketing and Promotion:
The key to the success of any Scavenger Hunt is promotion and THQ did a great job of promoting the campaign. As part of the marketing, we created an attractive poster that was used at Comic-con.  The scavenger hunt poster summarized the key aspects of the scavenger hunt and prizing elements. A version of this poster was also added as a tab on the Voltron Facebook page. At the show, the THQ team also handed out physical badges (see photos below) and postcards to promote the campaign.

We also created a scavenger hunt microsite to help promote the campaign.

THQ worked with Comic-con and had staff members promote the scavenger hunt at the show. This included creating and promoting the campaign via video content as well. This was distributed through their YouTube channel and other media outlets.

Results:
THQ summarizes some of the results in the infographic below (from this Behance post).

– Check out more photos here

The promotion generated a tremendous amount of buzz at Comic-con 2011 and was covered widely by bloggers including PopArtistsVille.com, Building Social Bridges, PRNewser, MovieViral, TurnerPR, and Mashables.