5 Most Revolutionary Gaming Marketing Ads and Campaigns Ever Made

Gaming is not only about video games but also about the ecosystem, much like live-streaming, esports or even the Metaverse. And gaming marketing is the future of every company. It isn’t at all surprising that many non-gaming brands enter the market via gaming advertising. 

With the growing ROI, excellent metrics, and increased visibility among Gen Z and young Millennials, it’s surprising that some marketers still hesitate to enter the gaming world. Fortunately, it’s never too late!

Do you want to include gaming advertising in your marketing strategy? Sometimes everyone needs inspiration. Find yours in the best gaming marketing ads and campaigns listed below!

Table of contents:
Travis Scott x Fortnite
Danone x inStreamly
League of Legends K/DA
Ballantine’s x Borderlands
Tiffany Co. x League of Legends

Travis Scott x Fortnite

In April 2020, Fortnite players took part in a theatrical ” Astronomical ” event. The Hip-hop star collaborated with Fortnite and organised a huge virtual concert promoting his new song. Except for attending the event, all players could also find concert posters on walls within the game or on social media. And once they logged into the game, users could see a new map with a vast Travis hologram, dancing and singing the latest tune.

According to Agence Anguis, the first performance of the event brought together over 12 million players. On top of that, almost 28 million experienced it across five events. The concert brought publicity to both the game and Travis Scott. It encouraged young people worldwide to create profiles in Fortnite, even those who had never played it before and weren’t interested in the game alone.

Regarding the number of participants and generated reach, it was one of the biggest and loudest in-game advertising campaigns in history. It will surely be remembered in popular culture for a long time.

Danone x inStreamly

Gaming is not just about video games. There are many ways to advertise without partnering with game developers. Danone collaborated with inStreamly, a live-streaming company specialising in micro-sponsorships, to give a second life to Small Hunger, their Polish brand hero.

Using innovative technology, inStreamly created an AI-based mechanism that allowed the campaign’s artwork to react to what’s happening inside the game. They designed a campaign for Twitch and YouTube streamers that appeared as an overlay of the stream. When the player’s HP was low, Small Hunger appeared on the side of the screen with a snarky comment about the player’s skills or the player themself.

The campaign appeared on screens over 650k times and increased positive mentions about the brand on social media by 2,2x.

League of Legends K/DA

Can you imagine a game without music? Riot Games could not. They even went one step further and created their own K-pop band. It consisted solely of 4 characters from their most popular game.

The band debuted in 2018 in the lead-up to the League of Legends World Championship Finals in South Korea. The virtual band’s first single, Pop/Stars, was seen over 500 million times and has almost 6 million likes on YouTube. In 2020 Riot released the first full K/DA music album called All Out.

That was a completely innovative and groundbreaking marketing approach. It showed game characters as real, relatable characters and formed an emotional connection between characters and viewers. It led to a new fandom, in which some members are not even fans of the game itself. They fell in love with the original sound.

Ballantine’s x Borderlands

The collaboration between Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky and Borderlands must be listed as one of the most interesting video game marketing campaigns. Using celebrities and influencers as the face of a limited edition of a product is a known strategy for every big brand. However, it’s not common for brand ambassadors to be fictional characters from games.

Ballantine’s Whisky communicated with older millennials as the target audience via a limited edition of the brand’s flagship product – mixed whisky. It was distinguished from other bottles by a label with Moxxi. She is a heroine from the Borderlands game, who is a bartender in the virtual world.

Moxxi appeared for the first time in Borderlands 2 (PEGI 18) in 2012. So if the contemporary players still remember her, they are at least 30 years old today. They are an ideal target to advertise top-shelf alcoholic beverages. The campaign comprised personalised bottle labels, a 2min video ad, and Twitter & LinkedIn profiles “run” by Moxxi.

Contrary to the ill-considered Coca-Cola “Real Magic” spot, Ballantine’s brought us a well-made ad. You could feel that the creators did their research and understood gaming and gamers’ needs or tastes. 

Tiffany Co. x League of Legends

In gaming ads, League of Legends is royalty. They collaborated with many fashion, motor, or tech brands in the past. However, teaming up with luxury jeweller Tiffany Co. was something else.

The Summoner’s Cup is one of the most iconic trophies in all esports. It is the prize for the annual League of Legends World Championship. Now, it looks completely fresh thanks to the collaboration with Tiffany Co. The trophy is made of sterling silver, fine silver, stainless steel, brass, and wood, and weighs 44 pounds. It also features a new section with the names of previous champions engraved on the bottom, like a video game equivalent of the Stanley Cup.

While the design will surely be controversial among fans, the new look is already an internet sensation. It has been featured in many viral videos. As the old saying goes, any press is good press, especially in gaming marketing. 

Final Word

The campaigns listed above are just some of the most creative and successful gaming marketing campaigns made. They were chosen because of their spectacular creations and concepts, resulting in unparalleled numbers and an enormous reach. And it’s just a beginning

With gaming becoming increasingly popular, we can see many excellent video game commercials and campaigns in upcoming years (both in-game and real-life). Yet, there is one thing we know – gaming is the future of many industries. So don’t waste any more time. Join the most prominent and creative brands and participate in our digital revolution!