inStreamly Best Gaming Influencer Marketing Campaigns of 2021

Campaign Creative ManagerIga Łukawska

2020 was a big year for gaming and streaming. The first year of COVID pandemic saw half the whole world locked up in their homes. People started firing up live streams instead of TVs which caused an enormous spike in viewership numbers across all streaming platforms. So how did it go in 2021? Read on to find out our best gaming influencer marketing campaigns of 2021!

1. Livestreaming and gaming scene in 2021
2. adidas ZX 2K Boost campaign
3. Danone ‘Small Hunger’ campaign
4. devils.one and College of Physical Education and Tourism campaign
5. Cyberpunk 2077 and Sprite campaign

Livestreaming and Gaming Scene in 2021

While remaining optimistic, experts expected the viewership growth numbers to drop to more realistic ones in 2021, which didn’t happen! Instead, according to Newzoo’s research, the streaming audience grew in 2021, resulting in a 12.7% jump compared to the previous year, which reached 747 million people. In addition, the studies showed that people who started watching streams in 2020 enjoyed this form of entertainment so much, they stuck around.

This created an incredible ecosystem for streamers, viewers and brands connecting with audiences. We have seen an extraordinary level of engagement first-hand in the campaigns we helped create throughout the year. 

adidas ZX 2K Boost – Making the Product a Star of the Show

This campaign has been a unique experience for us and streamers alike. The campaign’s goal was to present viewers with a new shoe collection by adidas and encourage them to ‘feel the ZXience’. 

Together with VMLY&R agency, we connected the product with streamers and audiences in a two-level campaign. The first layer was artwork displayed on streams to reach as many people as possible. The second one was picking a few streamers to make special live streams to add engagement. For example, during their streams, creators tried the shoes on and, together with their viewers, watched other streamers attempt playing Fortnite with unique feet controllers created by adidas for this event. 

This resulted in a complex campaign that both had a great reach and engagement thanks to connecting all the communication paths.

Want to know more about this campaign? Check our case study!

Danone ‘Small Hunger’ – A Gaming Campaign That ‘Lives’

Danone presented us with the challenge of increasing Danio’s brand awareness among Gen Z. We knew that ‘Small Hunger’ had to play first fiddle here. So, thanks to the technology created by VMLY&R agency, we created an interactive artwork of Small Hunger.

By using artificial intelligence and pattern recognition, the character knew what was happening on the screen. Every time a player’s health bar dropped, Small Hunger had some snappy comment to throw in. This allowed him to become recognisable quickly and a welcome part of the streams!

Check out the full case study about Small Hunger’s attempts to disturb streamers’ broadcasts!

devils.one and College of Physical Education and Tourism – A Super High CTR

The College of Physical Education and Tourism and one of the biggest Polish professional esports teams, devils.one, started the first Polish field of study. Thus, linking the passion for esport with a professional career. 

From the get-go, we knew that presenting this message to a streaming audience would be one of the most effective ways to spread this news. However, even to us, the click-through rate has been record-breaking. By the perfect combination of the topic with engaging display artwork, we achieved a CTR of over 12%!

Read more about the campaign that exceeded our expectations here!

Cyberpunk 2077 and Sprite – Beyond-Default Engagement

The goal of this campaign was relatively straightforward – make gamers hyped about the upcoming release of the Cyberpunk 2077 game and encourage them to participate in a Sprite lottery run in collaboration with CD Projekt.

To engage the audience, we took our experience as gamers and connected the unique style of Cyberpunk 2077 with the displayed artwork. Aside from that, together with MediaCom, we organised week-long activities using Discord. Viewers and streamers created teams solving tasks assigned to them each day. 

This merger of exciting activity, modern technology and appealing message resulted in one of the most innovative campaigns we have had the pleasure to co-create.

Learn more about this gaming campaign taken straight forward from the future here!

While these are only a few of many campaigns run in 2021, these show how flexible, exciting and innovative streaming campaigns can be. The power of individual streamers bringing branded messages to gamer audiences is immense. We can’t wait to see what 2022 gaming brings!

Campaign Creative ManagerIga Łukawska

Writing is something that I really connect to. I love coming up with new ideas and creating stories. In private, I spend an embarrassing amount of time reading fanfics (yes, you read that right), feeding my brain with stories I can take inspiration from while cuddling my two cats.