video games

Government intelligence organisation targets recruits with Xbox Live ads

(GUARDIAN) - Government intelligence organisation GCHQ is to run an ad campaign within Xbox Live online games, including Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed, to attract quick-thinking 18- to 34-year-olds to its ranks.

The campaign marks the first time that GCHQ, which reports to the foreign secretary, David Miliband, and works with MI5 and MI6, has run ads through Microsoft’s internet-connected Xbox Live platform, which connects gamers all over the world.

GCHQ’s recruitment campaign will appear through a range of Xbox Live games, including blockbuster franchises such as Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin’s Creed II.

The government agency is running the six-week campaign using recruitment firm TMP Worldwide and said that many of its recruiting criteria are “reflected in game-play experiences on Xbox, such as quick thinking, problem solving and team work”.

Xbox Live’s main demographic, 18- to 34-year-olds, is also a good fit for GCHQ.

The campaign will include ads on the Xbox Live “dashboard” and within games through streamed video banners.

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