“We took over a space without traditional advertising opportunities by hacking the harshest penalty of the game: the reporting mechanism.”
Michael Nikolajuk
Head of Marketing & Communications
Geizhals Preisvergleich
Geizhals
Poor-quality microphones are among the biggest annoyances in online gaming. With “Report to Reward,” Mediaplus has turned this universal pain point into the starting point for a community engagement campaign for Geizhals. Instead of promoting products, the campaign highlights and solves a real problem faced by the gaming community. More than 4,400 reports and 189 identified audio offenders later, frustration turns into a reward, and an everyday annoyance becomes a brand service that creates real added value for gamers. As a result, Geizhals positions itself not only as a price comparison site but also as a relevant part of gaming culture.
Audio Offender Identified
“PC Audio” Page Views
“PC Audio” Revenue Growth
Location
Industry
Services
Ideation & Campaigning, Social Media, Social Media & Influencer Marketing, Media Strategy & Innovation
With “Report to Reward,” Geizhals developed a campaign that addresses one of the most frustrating aspects of online gaming and turns it into a positive incentive. Instead of simply putting up with poor audio quality, the community could actively contribute to a better gaming experience and be rewarded for it. The result was an eye-catching brand experience that combines community, gamification, and product relevance.
How do you turn frustration into a community movement?
For many gamers, poor-quality microphones are among the biggest sources of frustration in online gaming. Distorted voices, distracting background noise, or unintelligible communication can ruin the entire gaming experience and, in the worst case, cause an entire team to lose.
The challenge for Geizhals: to create relevant added value for the gaming community and position the brand where gamers face real problems every day. The goal was to develop a campaign that not only generates attention but also addresses a widespread annoyance and solves it in a playful way.
The harshest punishment in the game becomes the ultimate reward
With “Report to Reward,” Geizhals turned an everyday source of frustration into a positive experience. Gamers could report players with particularly poor audio quality, thereby giving them the chance to earn new equipment. Supported by creators and the specially developed Mic Police, the campaign was designed not to punish, but to help.
Creators Christensen and Lunarie introduced the Mic Police in short-form videos and brought them into their Discord communities and livestreams. Paid social media ads scaled the initiative, and the community spread the word to other servers. The campaign culminated in a live-streamed “Among Us” finale featuring creators and the community. Those reported most frequently received new headsets from Geizhals.
Thus, a simple report became a reward, and Geizhals became an active supporter of a better gaming community.
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“We took over a space without traditional advertising opportunities by hacking the harshest penalty of the game: the reporting mechanism.”
Michael Nikolajuk
Head of Marketing & Communications
Geizhals Preisvergleich
“Together with Geizhals, we've proven that even the most annoying problems have the potential to drive powerful communication. Report to Reward turned frustration into engagement and showed how brands can actively strengthen their communities.”
Ronald Hochmayer
Managing Partner | Mediaplus Austria
About Mediaplus
Mediaplus, headquartered in Munich, is one of Europe’s largest independent media agencies and part of the Serviceplan Group. The Mediaplus Group employs around 2,200 people in more than 20 wholly owned offices worldwide and has a presence in over 40 locations, including partner offices. Its services span Media Strategy & Innovation, Media Planning & Buying, Data & AI, Performance Marketing, Advertising Technology, and Commerce & Retail Media. As an owner- and partner-led company, Mediaplus stands for personal responsibility, long-term client relationships, a drive to innovate and entrepreneurial thinking. True to its claim “People. Pioneering. Progress.”, Mediaplus combines strategic consulting with data and AI expertise and a deep understanding of brand and business growth. Through “House of AI”, the group-wide AI framework, it pairs proprietary data models with in-depth market expertise. Mediaplus has been repeatedly recognized in the WARC Media 100 and the RECMA Quality Ranking, and in 2026 was named Media Agency of the Year at the German Media Awards for the fifth time.
The Geizhals Mic Police allowed gamers to report poor audio quality directly on Discord, Twitch, and YouTube. All reports were collected centrally, and the players who were reported most frequently received new headsets from Geizhals.
To ensure fair results, multiple reports from the same person were automatically downweighted. As a result, the community’s consensus carried more weight than individual repeated reports. This allowed us to identify 189 audio offenders from over 4,400 reports.