World of Tanks: Holiday Ops

Every December, World of Tanks launches a new in-game commander with a Holiday Ops short, and every year the bar moves higher. Players love action and have no patience for clichés. In a season when every other brand goes cosy, and audiences expect magic, sentimentality was the one thing guaranteed to fall flat.

In gaming culture, the hero is the one who breaks the script, even the Christmas one. So we built the adrenaline-filled antidote to every cosy holiday ad: chaos as celebration.

We turned the holiday commercial into a six-minute film-within-a-film, Santa’s Stunt Double: Santa injured, a stunt double summoned, and Jason Statham hijacking the set, blowing up the script, both on screen and as a playable in-game character. Directed by Nez Khammal, shot at Warner Bros. Studios London with 100% and Glassworks. MATTER led strategy, creative concept, and narrative, taking it from concept to approval in five days.

More than 3.4 million organic views in the first week alone. 100 percent positive sentiment from fans. Earned media picked it up globally, across both gaming and entertainment outlets, before the campaign even finished its run.