The World Without Zero

Background

The latest James Bond movie, ‘Quantum of Solace’ was to be launched in Romania in November 2008.
Coca-Cola Zero became a global partner of James Bond ‘Quantum of Solace’ and this partnership had to be exploited also in Romania.

The Challenge

Create a memorable and engaging user experience in the online environment based on the partnership between Coca-Cola Zero and the latest James Bond movie ‘Quantum of Solace’.

The Idea

Recreate the Bond experience in the online world, by engaging users in a 007-like mission where they have THE WHOLE INTERNET at their disposal.

The Story

An evil mastermind was trying to destroy the digital world by ELIMINATING ZERO from the binary code. Users had to become agents and pass through a lot of challenges throughout the Internet to save the digital world.

All this experience was built like an A to Z story where every clue mattered, each character played a very well defined role and everything was logically connected from the beginning to the end.

The Mission

As it was about saving the online world, agents could and had to use the whole Internet in order to fulfill the mission.

The Agent who was to save Zero was going to be rewarded with a trip to see the real James Bond in London at the premiere of his latest movie ‘Quantum of Solace’.

It all started with
RECRUITING THE AGENTS

The E-mail

Agent’s home base, www.lumeafarazero.ro

After recruitment, the agents had to constantly connect to the home base in order to get mission info and to upload their mission status in order to advance. Here, they interacted with the Agency, through the boss (R.) and the geek technical guy (B.).

The agents were not receiving specific orders about what they had to do, as ‘nobody from the Agency knew what to do’. The Agency could only help with some intelligence, but it was for the agent to save the day.

After each solved step, agents received (here in the home base) extra info from B. or R. in order to be able to continue.

Briefing videos

Agent’s home base images

See some of the most challenging tasks:

They searched keywords on Google and found clues through Adwords.

They found first clue on a blog.

On this blog, agents had to zoom out some ASCII graphics and to identify the important one: the Zebra.

They investigated a news article on a web site (apropo.ro)

The article was offering to users a general perspective on the virus, Zebra, which was first designed by a retired programmer years ago and it was considered that it could revolutionize the information technology. In order to go deeper, agents had to contact the journalist who wrote the article.

Agents talked to the journalist via e-mail

The Agent contacted the journalist on e-mail trying to find out more about Zebra. The journalist didn't want to talk about it first, but in the end he made the agent aware.

Agents talked to a programmer on a private chat room and found out about Tanya (Bond Girl)

The programmer offered relevant info only when asked the right questions.

They spied on Bond Girl

They spied on Bond Girl with the most spectacular gadget received from B., so they could get her laptop access password.
It was a very hard task, as agents had to be patient and to watch closely when she was entering the room. She was doing different types of actions besides using the laptop: watching TV, talking to the phone, read a magazine, check herself in the mirror etc. If agents were missing the moment when she entered the password, they had to wait for her again!

Investigate some interconnected profiles on a social network:

• Chassedelle
• Fratele Karamazov
• Johnny Blue
• Pistocchio

Agents had to realize that those profiles were having only one friend in common: anyta4eva (the anagram-cover name of Tanya, the Bond Girl).

Agents accessed the remote desktop of Bond Girl and stole some files

On the desktop, there were some pictures but one file was impossible to open as it was encrypted. Users had to download that file and send it to the base, in order to be hacked by B, the IT guy. Some users tried to hack it by themselves. :)

User reaction
---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------
Subject: Salut :keep your eyes wide open:
From: "elias san"
Date: Mon, October 20, 2008 12:43 pm
To: contact@lumeafarazero.ro
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi
Should I wait until you guys contact me about Tanya’s file on the remote desktop or can I help to decode it ?
I saw that the file, which has 238-db.rar,is not rar, is txt format. The txt format is coded in base64 algorithm and coded in md5 algorithm. I want to go further with the decoding.
Should I continue or should I wait?

They investigated 3 well-known Romanian blogs and find important info

3 top romanian bloggers (nihasa, zoso, andressa) posted real articles on their blogs. These articles were making no sense to regular readers of the blog. But agents had to follow the info and discover the fourth blog where they found a new clue (some GPS coordinates). Those coordinates had to be brought to the base. But as the blogs were real blogs, some agents had pretty interesting reactions: they tried to contact directly the authors of the blogs (one even got one blogger's number and called her!); as the coordinates were referring to a real street in Bucharest, he went down there and checked all the Coca-Cola billboards for clues!

User reaction
b Said in October 21st, 2008 @9:55 pm:
I found the coordinates.. I have put them in google earth .. I found 2 locations: the Bridge from Grozavesti and the Bridge from Natiunile Unite (the one over Dambovita river). And nothing. I went there, I looked on the ground, on the buildings, on the outdoors there, on the screens with commercials…nothing.nothing.nothing. the only place I didn’t look is under the bridge. Did someone solve this enigma???????????…plsss HELP ….I went to the 2 bridges twice - there was NOTHING. Is it the wrong??????????…sorry for the way I wrote ….because of the neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeervs

They talked to Bond Girl via a video chat application and negotiated change of information

Right below, you can see a part of the discussion that the agent had with Tanya, the Bond Girl. Users had the chance to also flirt with Bond Girl. Unfortunately for them, Bond Girl didn't respond very well to flirting. She was also on the mission ;)

They chased a car with a mini-helicopter controlled remotely through an application and recorded the conversation in the car

This is a mini-game. The user had to control the mini-helicopter and follow the red dot (the chased car) in spite of the wind that made the mission harder. As the helicopter was staying closer to the chased car, the sound got clearer. In order to advance, agents had to find out useful information from the discussion in the car. It was a discussion between the trustful helping guy of the evil mastermind and a sponsor who thought he would make profit from selling the software.

They followed the tracks of one of the evil guys

Agents investigated and found one of the evil guys location through a hidden profile on a social network and a profile on the mapping application Panoramio.com.

They fell into a trap

They assisted remotely a SWAT team through a thermal detecting application and had to save colleagues by solving an anagram. Most of the agents didn’t manage to solve the anagram, getting the SWAT team killed :(

The countdown Puzzle

The final and hardest task was to solve a puzzle that could stop the launch of the virus, before the countdown ended.
As agents got to this final mission, they received this puzzle with no directions of solving. By moving the pieces, they could observe that the numbers were highlighted in red if the sum of 2 connected numbers was 7 (Bond’s ID).

They had to put the pieces in the puzzle in that way that made all numbers red.
The first who solved the puzzle was the savior of the digital world and also the winner of the big reward.
Please see below how this puzzle was working.

The Reward

The agent who saved Zero was rewarded with a trip to see the real James Bond in London at the premiere of his latest movie ‘Quantum of Solace’.

Results

More than 23.000 agents registered and engaged in a one month long campaign that proved to be the most challenging campaign yet in .ro

The World Without Zero went viral.

User generated a lot of content: ad-hoc forums and dedicated blogs were created around the story.

User engagement:

We received e-mails from users offering their services to the agency. Please see translated emails:

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Camera cu teleobiectiv
From: "n a"
Date: Tue, October 28, 2008 1:57 pm
To: "Agentia" <agentia@lumeafarazero.ro>
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I say it’s best to upgrade the thermic gadget – so that you can see all the letters that Tanya puts her fingers on. If you don’t do that, I may be able to get you the password from her computer. Thanks

---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------
Subject: Salut :keep your eyes wide open:
From: "elias san"
Date: Mon, October 20, 2008 12:43 pm
To: contact@lumeafarazero.ro
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi
Should I wait until you guys contact me about Tanya’s file on the remote desktop or can I help to decode it ?
I saw that the file, which has 238-db.rar,is not rar, is txt format. The txt format is coded in base64 algorithm and coded in md5 algorithm. I want to go further with the decoding.
Should I continue or should I wait?

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Ajutor
From: "Sens manson"
Date: Sun, October 19, 2008 3:31 pm
To: contact@lumeafarazero.ro
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi. I know it’s not quite ok, but I can try my luck and ask.I tried for days to overpass the coded file level – and nothing. It’s hard to believe that B will decode it, so I want to know what I can do to decode it.
Or should I really listen to B’s instructions and wait?

Thanks,
Gabriel Cutencu (sensmanson)

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: Mesaj de la R. - Confirmare date profil
From: "Marius Uncrop"
Date: Tue, October 21, 2008 3:07 pm
To: "Agentia" <agentia@lumeafarazero.ro>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I want to continue your project, doctor. We can even collaborate on it.
Contact me with more info on “zebra”…

Some agents believed it was even beyond Internet: they went offline looking for clues:

in Bucharest:
b Said in October 21st, 2008 @9:55 pm:
I found the coordinates.. I have put them in google earth .. I found 2 locations: the Bridge from Grozavesti and the Bridge from Natiunile Unite (the one over Dambovita river). And nothing. I went there, I looked on the ground, on the buildings, on the outdoors there, on the screens with commercials…nothing.nothing.nothing. the only place I didn’t look is under the bridge. Did someone solve this enigma???????????…plsss HELP ….I went to the 2 bridges twice - there was NOTHING. Is it the wrong??????????…sorry for the way I wrote ….because of the neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeervs

in Brasov:
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: Kuhn a vorbit
From: "Ecstasy valy"
Date: Thu, October 23, 2008 4:08 pm
To: "Agentia" <agentia@lumeafarazero.ro>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,
I know now that everything happens in Brasov. I found the street “Dupa Ziduri” and the two towers: white and black. But I didn’t find anything in between them: there is nothing there – is it a place near these towers?