Career Quest

Client: Open University, OMD

For many 18–19-year-olds, real life feels like a game stacked against them - unaffordable, uncertain, and uninspiring. Nearly half don’t know what career they want.

But there is one place they do feel powerful: video games.

Every day, 6 million young people step into virtual worlds where they take on missions, gain skills, and become heroes. Yet they don’t realise those games are full of real-world, career-shaping life-skills - and that they already have the mindset to succeed.

So, The Open University (OU) partnered with LADbible to create Career Quest: a social-first campaign that reimagined classic video game characters - NPCs (non-playable characters) - as OU graduates.

From warriors with sports science degrees to alchemists trained in biomedical sciences, each character revealed how OU study could turn overlooked players into legends. We brought it to life through TikTok, Instagram, GAMINGbible, and an interactive AR experience on Snapchat.

The results? • 13.4 million impressions • 92,000 engagements • +16% uplift in brand excitement among first-time university goers • And most importantly: 40% of gamers now believe OU is for “someone like me.” • +20% recruitment from 18-19-years olds YoY

Career Quest didn’t just entertain - it made education feel empowering, achievable, and personal to a lost generation of learners.