Resistance 2018 ARG Game Campaign

The Challenge
Sony Pictures wanted to engage international audiences for the release of Terminator Salvation in a way that went beyond traditional trailers and posters.

The Strategy
I saw an opportunity to reimagine Twitter as more than a promotional tool—it could be an interactive storytelling platform.

Execution

• Created the first-ever in-fiction alternate reality game (ARG) on Twitter, inviting fans to join the Skynet resistance and play in real time.

• Wrote and scheduled daily story-driven missions, puzzles, and clues.

• Partnered with creative and production teams to align the narrative with the film’s storyline.

Results

• Pioneered the use of Twitter as a gaming and storytelling engine.

• Drove thousands of international participants to engage with the film ahead of release.

• Earned industry recognition, with Mashable calling it “absolutely the right way to use Twitter for marketing: completely opt-in, and incentivizing people to join in because it’s fun, rather than paying cash for Twitter buzz.”

The Legacy: From Terminator to Wheel of Fortune
The success of the Terminator Salvation ARG set the stage for reimagining Twitter as an ongoing game platform. Building on that innovation, we partnered with Wheel of Fortune to create Twitter Toss-Up, a real-time version of the show played directly through Twitter.

• Fans followed @WheelofFortune, logged in through a game page, and tweeted guesses to puzzles as they were revealed over the course of an hour.

• The game quickly grew in popularity, expanding to three daily rounds to keep up with demand.

• The @WheelofFortune account jumped from 700 to nearly 16,000 followers, with fans creating their own hashtag community around the game.

This project not only modernized Wheel of Fortune for a younger demographic, but also cemented Twitter’s role as a space for interactive fan engagement.