Toronto-based Youthography just wrapped up a successful viral and interactive campaign for the launch of Montreal-based Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed at the end of last week.

The Creed Challenge gave fans of the then-unreleased video game a chance to engage early with the title. Calling it a Canadian first for video game marketing, Youthography reports that TheCreedChallenge.ca netted more than 24,781 registrations, more than 44% of which came from friend referrals. The site was live between October 22 and November 14.

Users were challenged to collect credits within the virtual world by moving around the board in search of other players and secondary prizes. Prizing sponsors included Xbox and NCIX – offering players the chance to win consoles and PCs. One day of the contest was branded Xbox 360 Day, and the in-game map was changed to a green hue. Weekly newsletters to participants reminded them to return to the site, giving them clues on where they could find the prizing on the map.

Print ads supporting the campaign ran in Chill, UMM, Exclaim!, Hub CE and Hub Digital Living magazines. Online media including banner ads on RDS, TSN.ca and SympaticoMSN.ca. In-store promo included standees, posters and shelf danglers at major retailers, all driving consumers to the Creed Challenge web address.

Ubisoft’s media agency, ZenithOptimedia, handled the media buys.