Salesforce’s ambitious collaboration with MrBeast has earned recognition from D&AD, picking up a Wood Pencil for its multi-platform execution while also receiving honors across the Digital Experiences and Influencer categories.
The winning work, “Beast Launch,” formed part of Salesforce x MrBeast Present: The Million Dollar Puzzle, an eight-week national activation that expanded far beyond the limits of a traditional Super Bowl commercial.
Created for Salesforce and Slack by Salesforce’s in-house agency, the campaign was directed by Jason Woliner of Caviar and edited by Graham Turner and Danny Scharar of Union.
The project began with a public exchange between Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, and Salesforce founder Marc Benioff. After Donaldson posted about making a Super Bowl commercial, Benioff replied with a direct invitation: “Very seriously, Jimmy, you should do our Salesforce Super Bowl commercial for 2026.”
What followed became something much larger than a 30-second media buy. Watch below:
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Salesforce and MrBeast transformed the commercial into a nationwide digital scavenger hunt, using Salesforce and Slack technology to support the campaign in real time. Over the course of eight weeks, more than 276,000 players worked through more than 100 puzzles, while a custom AI-powered Slackbot helped manage participation and interaction.
The campaign generated 2.7 million Slackbot messages, more than 419 million views for its making-of documentary content and approximately 1 billion impressions overall.
Rather than simply advertising Salesforce’s products, the activation turned them into the infrastructure behind the experience. Slack functioned as a central hub for communication, puzzle-solving and participation, allowing the company to demonstrate its tools through use rather than explanation.
That product-led approach helped the campaign stand out in several D&AD categories.
“Beast Launch” received a Wood Pencil in Creator Content / Best Use of Multi-platform and was also recognized for Digital Marketing / Use of Creators and Digital Marketing / User Participation.
The campaign’s scale was matched by its editorial complexity. Turner and Scharar shaped a massive volume of material into content that balanced spectacle, storytelling and product demonstration without losing the fast-paced energy associated with MrBeast’s work.
For Union, the recognition reinforces the role editorial can play in large-scale participatory campaigns, particularly when one idea must move seamlessly across broadcast, documentary, social, influencer and interactive platforms.
The work also reflects a broader shift in major-event advertising. Instead of treating the Super Bowl as the campaign’s endpoint, Salesforce used the broadcast moment as a launchpad for a longer experience built around audience participation.
In that sense, The Million Dollar Puzzle did more than extend the life of a commercial.
It turned the campaign itself into a live demonstration of the product.
CREDITS:
BRAND: Salesforce x Slack
AGENCY: Salesforce
- Creative Director: Jason Letkiewicz
- Agency Producer: Vic Palumbo
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Caviar LA
- Director: Jason Woliner
- EP(s): Michael Sagol
- Producer: Tyler Ben-Amotz
EDIT: Union Editorial LA
- Editors: Graham Turner & Danny Scharar
- Assistant Editors: Tyler Costill & Isaiah Fernandez
- Editorial EP: Colette Huemer
- Editorial Producer: Brian Mulvey
- HOP: Lillian Ghodoushim
- President/ Managing Partner: Michael Raimondi
TELECINE: Roast N Post
POST: Pariah
- VFX Artist(s): Russell Fell, Chris DeCristo
- EP(s): Michael Steinmann
MUSIC: Music Orange
