Case Study: 150th Anniversary of St. Ludwik’s Children’s Hospital in Krakow

Custom City Games: 150 Years of History in a 90-Minute Adventure. How to Bring a Brand’s Heritage to Life?

How do you tell the story of a century and a half of activity and trust-building in an engaging way? What can you do to make an institution’s history or a company’s values feel close to today’s fast-paced audience?

Storytelling in marketing is a powerful tool, but the real magic happens when you combine it with interaction. In this case study, we take you behind the scenes of a unique project we carried out for the Voivodeship Specialist Children’s Hospital of St. Ludwik in Krakow. It proves that custom city games and modern mobile technology are the best allies when it comes to building engagement among customers, employees and local communities – in both the public and commercial sectors.

The Challenge: A Jubilee and a Brand Event That Truly Comes Alive

Traditional corporate jubilees and anniversary events are often associated with official speeches, galas and award ceremonies. The management of St. Ludwik’s Hospital, however, set EscapeCity a completely different task: turn the institution’s 150-year history into a living, interactive experience in the city space that would successfully bring generations together – from families with children to enthusiasts of Krakow’s history.

We made Professor Maciej Leon Jakubowski the heart of this story – a visionary and idealist who, in 1876, built the cradle of Polish paediatrics from the ground up. Our goal was to carry his legacy into the world of modern communication.

Strategy: Three Pillars of Human-to-Human Relationship Marketing

We based the “Anniversary City Game” project on our own proprietary approach. It shows just how effective gamification in business and marketing can be when brand-image goals are skilfully combined with authentic empathy and values:

1. Modern storytelling that builds closeness
   Instead of overwhelming participants with dry facts and dates, we offered them an emotion-filled mechanic of team building and mystery-solving. The route led from the area around the Main Market Square all the way to the finish line on Strzelecka Street, and the whole adventure lasted about 90 minutes. Along the way, players not only solved historical puzzles but also faced challenges promoting health prevention, mindfulness and empathy. Thanks to this, the hospital’s brand gained a unique context – it stopped being associated solely with medical procedures and became linked instead with warm, everyday care for people.
2. A dedicated mobile app (barrier-free access)
   For every manager, marketing director or PR specialist, real reach and ease of audience interaction are key metrics. We used our own proprietary EscapeCity mobile app, which made entering the game as simple as possible and eliminated unnecessary formalities:
   • no barriers: no need for advance sign-ups or complicated registration.
   • flexibility: the game was fully available 24/7 within a set time window (from 12 May to 21 June).
   • instant start: all it took was your own smartphone, a quick scan of a QR code and entering the dedicated password “LUDWIK”.
3. Gamification as a tool for interactive communication
   This project is perfect proof that gamification can breathe new life into the history, education and marketing of an institution (or a product). By turning a passive audience into an active hero and explorer, we build brand loyalty that simply can’t be achieved through traditional, one-way advertising media.

The Result: When Experience Marketing Meets Emotion

Residents and tourists alike became part of a beautiful story about the birth of Polish paediatric medicine. We showed that although medical technology has undergone a complete revolution over 150 years, the fundamental values – human life, health and a child’s smile – remain exactly the same.

For the EscapeCity team, the greatest satisfaction was wrapping these timeless values in the modern form of a smartphone city game that genuinely resonated with today’s audience.

What Can Gamification and City Games Mean for Your Business?

Today’s effective marketing has moved on from dull advertising in favour of giving audiences unforgettable experiences (experiential marketing). Whether you’re leading a commercial brand and planning an out-of-the-ordinary corporate event, rolling out recruitment games in HR, or growing a cultural institution – your story has enormous power. All it takes is telling it the right way.

The “Anniversary City Game: Follow in Professor Jakubowski’s Footsteps!” project was carried out in cooperation with the Voivodeship Specialist Children’s Hospital of St. Ludwik in Krakow and the Child Health Foundation.