Competition in the Times Top 100 (TT100) Graduate Employers list is intense; and after a period of stagnation in the rankings, Unlocked was ready to take it on and grow their reputation with potential talent. Our nostalgic arcade game concept combined with a bold on-campus presence and a digital game resulted in an unprecedented outcome – Unlocked Graduates rose 45 places in TT100 rankings, from 67th to 22nd.

As a not-for-profit tackling one of the UK’s toughest social challenges – reoffending – we had to get creative and build a campaign and hybrid campus-socials campaign able to boost their brand visibility, to amplify their purpose and educate students on the incredible benefits on the programme.

This campaign had to flex to digital and physical, able to fit with Unlocked’s existing locker game campus installation and complement their extended recruitment drive. We also knew that boosting 1-2-1 interactions would be really powerful in reach and memorability.

So, we developed Achievement Unlocked. A campaign that tapped into world of gaming, a world very familiar to Gen Z, with a retro feel to tap into the nostalgia trend.

We built a bespoke Whack-a-Mole game ‘Whack-to-Win’, swapping out moles for benefits on the scheme and skinning the game in the campaign visual identity. Players would make the leaderboard, and every Friday a £30 Deliveroo voucher was gifted to the leader.

The game helped us reach High Flier campuses the installation wasn’t attending, it gave ambassadors a hook with which they could engage students, and it was a great way to generate low pressure user generated content.

The existing locker game was visiting 12 universities across three months – so we needed feet on the ground. We partnered with The Crowd agency to supplement the existing Unlocked Brand Ambassadors, boosting numbers to over 50 ambassadors across the whole campaign campus days. Roaming ambassadors handed out flyers, got students playing the game, and directed them to the stand where they could engage with Unlocked staff who were focused on the extended recruitment drive.

We also engaged student micro-influencers to post to Tik-Tok, which we then boosted with paid promotion. Our creator partners brought Unlocked to massive new student audience at every High Flier university. One video alone brought in nearly 800 click-throughs in just two weeks.

• The highest riser in TT100 rankings from 67^th to 22^nd in 2022, raising the profile of this purposeful organisation to the attention of quality talent
• 4687 game plays from 1300 unique players
• 1061 student interactions with the installation
• One influencer, @definitelynotemilymc got 51.7k views and nearly 800 click-throughs on one boosted TikTok video
• Finalist in the ISE Awards for Best Single Purpose Attraction Activation