What students learn
1. A plan is a chain, not a pile
Each case is one stage of SOSTAC (Chaffey and Smith, 2022). Students see how a weak link (a vague objective, "everyone" as the audience) breaks every later stage.
2. Depth beats breadth
The first case rewards one framework applied well, with evidence, over five applied thinly. It is the habit most student plans need.
3. Every number needs a reason
SMART baselines, a justified £1,000 split and KPIs with a tool and a frequency turn a wish list into a plan a client could run.
4. Green claims need evidence
The code red case brings in the CMA Green Claims Code and the CMA's fining powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
Built to follow a lecture on SOSTAC and integrated marketing communications, and to sit alongside Shoestring Campaign (run a campaign on a tiny budget) and Greenwash Detective (spot and fix green claims). The charity, its plan and every figure are fictional, so students can practise without being handed answers for a real client.
Five golden rules
- Reloading is safe.The game remembers where you are in this browser tab, so an accidental refresh keeps the scores. Closing the tab clears it.
- There is no back button.Once you press Reveal, the case is locked. Read each team's letter back before you press it.
- One zap per team.The ⚡ button doubles that team's result for one case, good or bad. Once used, it greys out for the rest of the game.
- Timers never start themselves.Press Start. At 0:00 three bells chime and the clock turns pink. Nothing moves on until you press Reveal.
- Once loaded, the page runs without Wi-Fi.Only the source links at the end need the internet.
The scoring model
Cured +10 · helps a bit +5 · no effect 0 · made it worse −5
No letter entered counts as 0
⚡ zap: doubles one case's result, once per game
Winner: highest % at discharge; ties go to more full cures
A team that cures all eight cases finishes on 100%; with a well-placed zap, 110%. Status labels: Flatlining (15% or below), Critical (16 to 39%), Stable (40 to 69%), Healthy (70 to 99%), Thriving (100% and above). The heart monitor speeds up as the score rises and goes flat at 10% or below.
The eight cases
Option letters are fixed, so you can prepare.
| Case | Symptom | Cure (+10) | Helps a bit (+5) | Made it worse (−5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Situation | A 912-word situation analysis listing everything, five frameworks | B: one issue, 4 to 6 own sources, one framework + one concept, evidenced judgements | D: keep five frameworks, cut the post list | A: add another framework |
| 2 · Situation | 78% would rather borrow, 7 in 10 still bought a drill | C: ethical attitude-behaviour gap | D: online value proposition | none |
| 3 · Objectives | "Increase awareness" | C: reach among Dundee students from 1,200 to 3,000 by 31 March 2027 | B: 10,000 followers (no baseline or deadline) | D: post on TikTok daily (a tactic) |
| 4 · Strategy | Audience: "everyone in Dundee" | D: one segment and one persona | B: five personas | A: keep "everyone" |
| 5 · Tactics | Three slogans on three channels; ads link to the homepage | C: one concept and hashtag, each channel a job, matching landing page | B: run all three and see | A: all £1,000 into paid ads |
| 6 · Actions | £1,000 on one billboard for one week | D: six weeks, £550 targeted social, £250 union event, £200 content | B: £200 on each of five channels | A: keep the billboard |
| 7 · Control | KPI for sign-ups objective is "Instagram likes" | A: sign-ups, email platform, weekly | none | D: five-year ROI forecast |
| 8 · Code red | "Zero-waste DIY: borrowing is 100% eco-friendly" | D: specific claim backed by loan records, linked | none | B: add green leaves · C: "carbon neutral" |
Teams that pick the "helps a bit" answer every time finish around 50%. Teams that cure five or six cases finish between 70% and 85%. The zap is where rooms usually split: a team that zaps the code red case and gets it right jumps 20 points at the very end.
Step by step
About 15 minutes with one debrief question; allow 18 for the full debrief.
0 Set the scene and form teams
1.5 min
The brief: four agencies, one patient, everyone at 20%. - Say
- "You're four digital agencies on call tonight. A charity's volunteer wrote this sustainability campaign plan in a rush and it's flatlining. Eight symptoms, one per SOSTAC stage. Pick the best treatment each time. You each get one defibrillator: it doubles the result, good or bad."
- Students
- Four teams, each with paper, a pen and a runner. Rename the teams on screen if you like.
1 Cases 1 to 7
about 1.5 min each · timer 0:45
Read the chart aloud, start the 45-second timer, then tap each team's letter. - Click
- Press Full screen, then Start.
- At 0:00, runners hold up their letter on "three, two, one". Tap each team's letter, and ⚡ if they zap.
- Press Reveal the treatment. Read the diagnosis aloud, then the yellow "Use it in your plan" tip.
- Watch for
- Case 3: teams often pick the 10,000 followers. Ask "from what, by when?"
- Case 6: someone always defends the billboard. Ask who walks past it, and how often.
The reveal: colours show cured, helps a bit, no effect and made it worse. Monitors beep for cures and flatline for mistakes. 2 Case 8: code red
2 min
An alarm sounds. This is the last chance to use a zap. - Say
- "Since April 2025 the Competition and Markets Authority can fine businesses up to 10% of global turnover for misleading consumers, and that includes green claims. What do you do?"
- Watch for
- "Carbon neutral" sounds like a fix. It swaps one unproven claim for another.
3 Discharge and debrief
1 to 4 min
The heart-rate chart shows where each team's line dropped. The healed plan shows a whole SOSTAC plan on one page. - Say
- "This is what a one-page plan looks like. Where did your line drop? That's the ward to check in your own plan."
- Next
- The final screen links to Shoestring Campaign and Greenwash Detective for practice after class.
Solo mode
Share lab.yingwu.co.uk/campaign-er/#solo for homework or revision. The player runs one agency against three that treat in secret, each with a personality: Buzzword Bureau guesses a lot and zaps boldly, Big Budget Media always keeps the billboard, and By-the-Book Ltd is right about four times in five. Beat all three to earn the "Discharged healthy" badge.
Debrief questions
- Hardest ward? Usually Situation (case 1) or Control (case 7). Both feel like admin, but they hold the plan together: the situation analysis justifies the objectives, and KPIs prove whether they were met.
- Why is "everyone" weak, even for awareness? A small budget spread across everyone reaches each person too rarely to be remembered. A segment lets you pick channels, timing and messages that the group actually sees.
- The £1,000 in two sentences. A good answer links each line to an objective and the persona: "Most goes on targeted social because our students live on their phones (Objective 1). The union event builds trust and gets us earned coverage (Objective 2)."
- Rewrite a green claim. Make it specific, evidenced and no broader than the evidence: "made with 30% recycled plastic (supplier certificate)" instead of "eco-friendly packaging".
- A different client? The structure stays; the evidence, segment, channels and claims change. That is why the situation analysis comes first.
Cheat card: the button order
- Start triage, Full screen, Start (0:45)
- "Three, two, one": tap each team's letter (and ⚡), read them back
- Reveal the treatment, read the diagnosis and the yellow tip
- Next case, Start, letters, Reveal (repeat to case 7)
- Code red: read the councillor's post aloud, Start, letters, Reveal
- Discharge the patient; point at the heart-rate chart and the one-page plan
Behind the treatments
- Carrington, M.J., Neville, B.A. and Whitwell, G.J. (2010) 'Why ethical consumers don't walk their talk', Journal of Business Ethics, 97(1), 139-158. doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0501-6
- Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2022) Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. 8th edn. Harlow: Pearson.
- Chaffey, D. and Smith, P.R. (2022) Digital Marketing Excellence: Planning, Optimizing and Integrating Online Marketing. 6th edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Competition and Markets Authority (2021) Green Claims Code: making environmental claims. gov.uk
- Cooper, A. (1999) The Inmates Are Running the Asylum. Indianapolis: Sams.
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, c. 13. legislation.gov.uk
- Doran, G.T. (1981) 'There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives', Management Review, 70(11), 35-36.
- Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2016) Marketing Management. 15th edn. Harlow: Pearson.
- United Nations (n.d.) Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. sdgs.un.org
A simplified classroom model: the points are a teaching device, and more than one treatment can be defensible in a real plan. The charity, survey figures and loan numbers are fictional.