Call of Duty - Grime Map Launch

As one of gaming’s biggest titles, Call of Duty is entwined with online culture.



So to reveal and build hype for a new multiplayer map set in London, named ‘Grime’ in tribute to the music genre, we developed a suite of hyperlocal content that was littered with IYKYK references and rooted in the capital city’s music scene.



Tasked with both appealing to players of the first-person shooter while being relevant to the wider social zeitgeist, we enlisted some of grime’s greatest, all born and bred in London, to partner with us. And better yet, they were all genuine fans of the franchise.



First, we riffed off Gasworks, a popular news bulletin-style YouTube show started by cultural needle mover Alhan Gençay, to announce the game’s ode to London and tease the activation to come.



Innovative AR-powered edits on TikTok and Instagram, which glitched and twisted reality, then acted as a bridge between real-life surroundings and the virtual world – with Alhan playing tour guide from Regent’s canal to Shoreditch’s graffiti tunnel.



Finally, MCs JME, P Money, Unknown T and Chip linked up with Alhan in a studio for the least-friendly friendly 2v2 game of COD on Grime. From this, long-form YouTube content allowed viewers to fully immerse themselves in the map, while talent cutdowns across partner platforms leveraged online fandoms to amplify our launch beyond the boundaries of gaming communities alone.



With 656k organic video views and over 12k engagements, turns out, grime is definitely not dead.