Call of Duty Grime Map Creator Reveal
Influencer MarketingWe Are Social revealed Call of Duty's London Grime map for Activision through creator Alhan Gençay and grime MCs, reporting 656K organic views across multiple platforms.
About the campaign
Activision revealed Call of Duty's London Grime map with We Are Social, Alhan Gençay and grime MCs, reaching 656K organic views. Call of Duty is a gaming title entwined with online culture. The goal was to reveal and build hype for a new London-based Grime multiplayer map.
The agency built hyperlocal content full of IYKYK references and rooted in London's music scene. It first riffed on the YouTube show Gaswork with creator Alhan Gençay to announce the map. Alhan was then sent on a mission to find the Grime map in real life London. AR-powered edits on TikTok and Instagram glitched real surroundings to bridge them with the virtual world. MCs JME, P Money, Unknown T and Chip then joined Alhan in a studio for a 2v2 match on the map. Call of Duty UK posted the announcement videos on X on May 8 and May 10, 2024.
The agency reports 656K organic views across multiple platforms. Average engagement rose 47% against the Facebook channel average. On X, the average engagement uplift was 93% against the channel average. The work is listed at the NY Digital Awards under Social Media, Influencer Marketing, and took Bronze at the Lovie Awards.
Case in 60 seconds
Activision needed to reveal and build hype for a new London-based Grime multiplayer map, and because Call of Duty is entwined with online culture, the announcement had to land inside that culture as well as inside the game.
Grime fans in London trust references they recognise from their own scene, so a map named after the genre earns attention only when people the scene already follows vouch for it in its own language.
We Are Social built a suite of hyperlocal content, littered with IYKYK references and rooted in London's music scene, which tied the virtual Grime map to the real city and to grime artists the scene already knows.
Creator Alhan Gençay announced the map through a riff on the YouTube show Gaswork and then searched real London for it, while AR-powered edits on TikTok and Instagram glitched real surroundings into the game. MCs JME, P Money, Unknown T and Chip later joined Alhan in a studio for a 2v2 match on the Grime map.
We Are Social reports 656K organic views across multiple platforms, with a 93% average engagement uplift against the X channel average and a 47% uplift against the Facebook channel average. The work carries a NY Digital Awards listing in Social Media, Influencer Marketing and a Lovie Awards Bronze in Social: Entertainment, TV & Film.
Strategy Breakdown
Creative & Execution System
Assets & channels
- YouTube
- TikTok
- X (Twitter)
Partners
- We Are Social
Creator role
- Alhan Gençay — creator
- JME
- P Money
- Unknown T
- Chip
Results & Evidence
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Organic Views | 656K organic views |
| X Engagement Uplift | 93% engagement uplift |
| FB Engagement Uplift | 47% engagement uplift |
Why We Are Social's strategy worked
- 1
Announcing a game feature through a format the audience already watches, such as a riff on an existing YouTube show, borrows that show's credibility because viewers recognise the format before they register the brand.
- 2
Pairing one creator host with a group of established musicians turns a product demo into a social event, since a competitive 2v2 match gives the talent a reason to banter instead of reciting features.
- 3
AR edits that glitch real surroundings give a virtual location a physical address, which lets a map grounded in a real city travel on short-form feeds where the city itself becomes the hook.
Results
23
Influencers
14.8M
Youtube views
726K
Combined likes
Results
6.2M
Views
96M
Impressions
+77%
Above internal target