Samsung Gaming Hub Challenge

Objectives 

With low awareness among gamers, the Samsung Gaming Hub service needed to establish, present and showcase itself as an exciting and credible gaming experience, as well as offering a real alternative to traditional console gaming.

1.       Drive awareness to Samsung Gaming Hub

2.       Present Samsung Gaming Hub as a credible and exciting gaming experience

3.       Drive participation and engagement with Samsung

Insights 

Globally, 42% of Gen Alpha (born 2010 and later) engage with games in multiple formats, including playing, viewing, listening to podcasts and attending in-person events.

The thrill of watching video games with a live in-person gamer is now a key part of the gaming experience with an online audience set to hit 1 billion viewers this year.

Idea & Strategy 

By leveraging the surge in popularity of live, esports gaming, as well as harnessing the influence and reach of professional gamers, our idea was to create the world’s first Samsung Gaming Hub Challenge streamed live in London, New York and globally.

The idea was aimed to increase awareness and have meaningful impact for Samsung Gaming Hub, cementing it as a credible destination for gamers seeking innovation, diversity and a truly immersive gaming experience.

Execution 

In partnership with Epic Games and capitalising on the influential power of 2 pro-gamers, we set about establishing The Samsung Gaming Hub Challenge.

On the run-up to the event, we used the power and reach of our gaming influencers to build excitement and anticipation across digital and social channels – using friendly rivalry between them to drive online engagement and attendance on the day of the event.

Hosted live from Samsung’s London KX store, the 2hr event included player interviews and warm-up matches, as well as a tour of the store showcasing related Samsung gaming products before culminating in a head-to-head battle for the Samsung Gaming Hub Challenge trophy.

Supported across Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube, Reddit, Samsung.com and PR, we didn’t just live-stream the event online, we streamed it live to Samsung’s New York store - and in a world’s first, to London’s Piccadilly screen where we streamed the broadcast live into a 3D gaming environment we created.

Part of the 30-minute broadcast to the Piccadilly screen, we created ‘ad breaks’ in between matches to showcase Samsung-related products, and also enabled people to interact with live gameplay from their mobile phones, with 3D emojis they could send to the Piccadilly screen in real-time – a spectacle that garnered a staggering 26.9 million impressions across various social platforms and showcasing Samsung's commitment to making the everyday extraordinary.

Results 

•          4 million live streaming viewership - highest-viewed content on the Samsung UK YouTube channel

•          572k social impressions across Samsung and influencer channels

•          Produced 9 of the top 20 most-watched Rocket League streams on Twitch

•          Rocket League ranked as the top 3 most played games on the Gaming Hub for the first time ever during the campaign

•          Post-event ATL campaign garnered 49M impressions on YouTube and Reddit combined.

•          On-device Ads reached +708K organic impressions

•          100% Uplift in the Gaming Hub Page on Samsung.com