Today at 2 PM eastern one of the largest gatherings of concurrent gamers witnessed an in-game event from a galaxy far far away that may redefine the future of multimedia marketing.
Fortnite and the Star Wars team promoting The Rise of Skywalker collaborated to deliver massive in-game event featuring JJ Abrams and a clip from the upcoming movie.
Fortnite is looking to redefine multimedia experiences and offering brand collaborations at an audience scale we have never seen.
With tens of millions of players connected in-game and millions more watching the live event unfold (2.2M on YouTube, 1.1M on Twitch), not only did we get to see a clip from the movie but also interact directly with the content to shift the experience from passive to active. The engagement and excitement were through the roof!
After logging into a queue, players were instructed to go to Risky Reels (An in-game location) and prepare for the show. There was a live countdown.
The day was teased during the recent 2019 Game Awards. Players received a free in-game glider and were promised something that had never been done before in the history of in-game marketing.
After the countdown, The Millenium Falcon flew around and landed and out popped our host Geoff Keighley along with The Rise of Skywalker director, JJ Abrams.
Next came the interactive quizzes predicting what we were about to see.
Finally, an actual clip from The Rise of Skywalker IN-GAME!
The event ended with lightsabers and blaster rifles now being available to all players in the game.
This was an absolutely brilliant move by Star Wars to create buzz and awareness pre-film. Previously, in February 2019, EDM superstar Marshmello performed an in-game concert for ten million concurrent users. This dwarfs what’s possible from a reach perspective for live events and opened the door for others such as Star Wars to build upon the success of that in-game event.
Expect more opportunities for brands to connect directly with a highly coveted audience beyond only sponsoring an esports event. This event included creating value for the players by providing free in-game content to enhance the experience, as well as access to unique content that can only be seen through the Fortnite experience.
Fortnite and other games are looking to redefine awareness and engagement, and those looking to capitalize should start looking to those in the know such as gaming/marketing agency TripleClix. Chris Erb, founder of TripleClix, and I discuss how to create marketing value via gaming during Episode 1 of the TripleClix podcast.
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