How Husqvarna’s viral campaign turned lawnmowers into gaming consoles

To tackle Husqvarna's challenge, the strategic process began with deep research into cultural trends, particularly within gaming and internet communities. The team identified a rising trend of running the classic game DOOM on unconventional devices, which resonated with tech-savvy, playful audiences. The game “DOOM” is not only a household name but the grandfather of modern gaming, revolutionizing the gaming industry. The two creators are gods among engineers, and pushed the limits of what can be done with computers. One notable thing is that even 30 years after its first release, the game is still alive.

Workshops and collaboration with tech engineers, marketers, and gaming experts helped refine this idea, aligning it with Husqvarna’s product—the robotic lawnmower. The breakthrough insight came from understanding that gaming culture could intersect with the brand’s engineering prowess in a fun, unexpected way. Audience research confirmed that targeting younger engineers, who value creativity and technical innovation, would enhance brand sentiment.

A key challenge was ensuring the campaign resonated with both gamers and tech enthusiasts while staying true to Husqvarna’s values. This was overcome by leveraging the DOOM trend and launching the campaign at DreamHack, a major gaming event. This strategic use of cultural relevance led to an original, viral campaign that amplified brand awareness.

The target audience was young tech talent—many of whom love gaming. They read gaming news and follow the gaming scene. Gaming media outlets often share stories if it’s backed by great visuals and has an unexpected hook. And to make it authentic, an earned core was needed.

The Solution

The idea is simple: To attract attention from tech-lovers, we installed the legendary game DOOM onto robotic lawnmowers—literally turning lawnmowers into gaming consoles. And released it to the world on the 30th anniversary of the game.

The idea comes from the phenomenon of installing DOOM on different devices, which has been a test of skill for engineers for years. A fun thing people online like to do, but that never really has been pushed to the max. That is what we wanted to do, not just install it, but actually release it as a (free) update worldwide. And, for the first time ever, making multiplayer playable on a non-gaming device.

All this lined up with the upcoming 30th anniversary of DOOM. Both the agency and the R&D team at Husqvarna wanted the campaign to be an homage to the creators, the game, and the innovative spirit it hails from.

And to finally become extra interesting for media outlets to share, and to reach far and wide, we launched this hell of an update with an epic trailer that no one could resist to share.

Results

Featured in over 1,000 major outlets like Wired and IGN, the campaign touched gamers and non-gamers worldwide, with a total reach of over 3.8 billion people across 135 countries. Achieving a PR value of $105 million means the campaign paid itself back over 10,000 times the investment. The product-heavy trailer was shared in most articles, leading to an increase of brand awareness by 815%.

We saw thousands (upon thousands) of positive comments online, on websites, on Reddit, and on social media. But most importantly, after seeing the campaign, 74% of young engineers are highly interested in Husqvarna as an employee. Also, 85% of engineers now consider Husqvarna an innovative company. By installing DOOM onto mowers, we connected with tech-savvy people worldwide but also taught regular people about an advanced product segment and a brand they didn’t even know existed—Husqvarna and their advanced line of robotic lawnmowers.