CHALLENGE

Ogilvy NY and Ogilvy Sydney were working together to develop the advertising behind American Express's sponsorship of the Australian Open and tennis star Andy Roddick. One of the most interesting concepts developed was to pit Andy Roddick against PONG in the tennis battle to end all tennis battles - or at least provide some memorable entertainment. The agencies challenged Fuel Industries to recreate and update PONG by placing Andy Roddick in the action.

STRATEGY

American Express consumers are typically older and affluent, reinventing PONG was selected as a perfect strategy for online entertainment because, being over 30 years old, it reaches back across an incredibly wide target audience. The game would engage users by allowing them to play PONG from the original perspective - but also by switching to a 3D view, where the real environment, the Australian Open court, is revealed.

CREATIVE & EXECUTION

Built with a clean, simple - and in the kitschy style of 70's Atari games - the game allows users to guide Andy by simply moving their mouse in the direction they want him to go.

Score as high as you can in 5 minutes as the crowd cheers over the traditional retro blips and beeps of the original PONG, the soundscape evoking memories of both a good tennis match and a classic video game.

PERFORMANCE

The website attracted more than 1.8 million visitors in its first two weeks. About 5 percent of those visitors clicked through to get information about applying for a card