TBWAHakuhodo Tokyo: The Escape

TBWAHAKUHODO has developed and internally launched "THE ESCAPE," a game content to be played on its metaverse office. Combining the idea of an evacuation challenge game and disaster preparedness drills, it will be utilized as a tool for “team building” in the hybrid working style as well as improving employees’ disaster awareness. In the wake of the spread of COVID-19, TBWAHAKUHODO proactively introduced a hybrid work style in early 2020. While hybrid work has taken root as a culture at the agency, there have been challenges in internal communication and team building, such as a decrease in serendipity from random conversations within the company and fewer opportunities to gather in real places to work on the same tasks at the same time.From these issues, in 2022, TBWAHAKUHODO launched a project utilizing the metaverse in order to revitalize internal communication as well as to evolve creativity from new collaborations that transcend departments and positions using emerging technologies. So far the agency has implemented a variety of measures, including "management meetings on metaverse," or "Avatar CEO Management Meeting," in which multiple employees disguise themselves with the avatar of the CEO to frankly discuss their opinions on the company at the management meeting, and the installation of "VR room" where anyone can freely use VR and the metaverse at the office. “The Escape” was developed as part of the Metaverse Project, a game content on the virtual office that enables team building through evacuation drills. It begins with an earthquake at the office, and multiple players work together to evacuate the office while rescuing injured colleagues and handling a fire accident. Players can be immersed in a realistic 3D office space wearing VR headsets, crouching down to secure their own safety and performing firefighting activities to accomplish the required missions one after another. The virtual office is faithfully reproduced the real office, with first aid kits and fire extinguishers placed in exactly the same places as the actual locations.