The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2025
Mercury hides cheat codes across NZ media — a treasure hunt that gamified broadband
Mercury Broadband hid cheat codes in TV shows, posters and mugs; Kiwis scanned them for a share of NZ$100,000 in prizes.
Mercury Broadband (Mercury NZ)
What it had to solve
Mercury, a New Zealand electricity company, had just moved into broadband under a new 'Bring the Buzz' brand platform. Entering a category where every rival promised fast, reliable connections, it needed attention that ads about speed alone could not buy — so it turned the launch itself into playable media.
How it works
Mercury, New Zealand's biggest electricity retailer, moved into broadband in 2025 behind a platform called 'Bring the Buzz'. The category was full of ads insisting that this network was faster and more reliable than the others, so a launch built on the same claims would disappear.
Cheat Codes, created with FCB Aotearoa and Assembly, instead turned the campaign into a nationwide treasure hunt. Cheat codes were planted inside TV shows, social feeds, posters, coffee mugs and even engineered broadcast 'glitches'; once spotted, players scanned icons on everyday household appliances with their phones to enter the codes.
Prizes included Samsung smart appliances and free broadband packages, with a total pool of NZ$100,000. The mechanics were powered by an AI-driven web experience, and the hunt ran through the New Zealand winter as the centrepiece of the new brand platform.
The campaign won a Bronze at Spikes Asia 2026 in Use of Mobile & Devices, where Mercury's award entry was credited to the agency under its later name, McCann New Zealand.
Why it lands
- Broadband parity made speed claims worthless, so differentiation had to come from the experience rather than the product.
- Hiding prizes inside the media itself turned every ad break, poster and broadcast into a playable surface instead of an interruption.
- The scan mechanic pointed at household appliances, tying Mercury's power heritage to its new broadband offer in one gesture.
- A six-month-old brand platform gave the stunt an emotional frame — technology and imagination energising everyday life.
What it did
A commodity utility launch became a winter-long national game: codes could surface anywhere in everyday media, and each find turned an ordinary appliance into a prize. The campaign later earned a Bronze at Spikes Asia 2026 in Use of Mobile & Devices.
What you can take
When every rival promises the same benefit, do not out-claim them — hide the benefit inside the media itself, so finding the message becomes the experience.
Since then
The hunt ran through winter 2025 and fed the broader 'Bring the Buzz' platform that Mercury kept using for its broadband push. In March 2026 the campaign was recognised with a Bronze Spikes Asia in Use of Mobile & Devices.
Sources
- Mercury has the cheat codes for its nationwide treasure hunt
- Mercury levels up broadband in new 'Cheat Codes' gamified campaign via FCB Aotearoa
- Spikes Asia 2026 Brand Experience & Activation winners
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card