#CODEMedicalHeroes – Activision Blizzard, Raven Software, Treyarch Studios, Call of Duty & Call of Duty Endowment
Recent unemployment and underemployment pressures have hit veterans hard. This is especially true for medical military service members. Despite the urgent need to fill healthcare worker vacancies to battle the pandemic, 50 percent of former medics and hospital corpsmen who want to work in the civilian healthcare profession cannot find jobs in the industry.
To raise awareness about this issue, highlight the unique qualifications of veterans for these roles, and to drive policy change, the Endowment created and executed its first-ever integrated marketing campaign, #CODEMedicalHeroes. The goal was to raise awareness and funds throughout the year, with cornerstone beats in May, in honor of Military Appreciation Month, media interviews around July 4th, and in honor of Veterans Day in November. The work culminated with the release of the white paper “Veterans Stand Ready to Fill Critical Healthcare Vacancies.”
The campaign was activated through three gaming platforms—the C.O.D.E. Battle Doc Pack, Call of Duty: Warzone Connecting Screen, and C.O.D.E. Revival Challenge– to rally the gaming community to support the Endowment’s mission. Each purchase of the Battle Doc Pack Store Bundle directly supports U.S. and U.K. military veterans. It has raised more than $600,000, enough to fund the placement of more than 1,100 veterans into high quality jobs.
In addition, the Endowment also coordinated a takeover of the Call of Duty: Warzone Connecting Screen which allowed more than 19 million unique players to see the #CODEMedicalHeroes when logging on to play. Players were also given the opportunity to revive five other players in-game; for each revival, Activision donated $1 to the Endowment (up to $1 million), and 8.5 million players completed the challenge.
In total, #CODEMedicalHeroes generated 16.2 million video views, 63.5 million impressions, 9.3 million engagements and a PR reach of 492 million. The program raised $1.8 million, funded 3,663 veterans’ jobs and reached into the White House, as the White Paper was reviewed by President Biden’s Special Assistant for Veterans’ Affairs as well as governors from three states. The Endowment shed light on an important issue while also raising awareness about it through its gamers. Approximately 60 percent of Call of Duty players expressed awareness of the Call of Duty Endowment, a 30 percent increase since 2020.
