Xbox’s first "treasure hunt" campaign highlights how gaming marketing in Australia has developed, says Twitter’s head of brand strategy, Lee Owens.
The campaign, developed by Twitter, Xbox and its social agency Bastion Effect, encouraged users to engage with the brand by completing challenges on the social media platform, such as guessing the correct emoji combination for games and finding QR codes.
Running at the same time as popular gaming event PAX AUS earlier this month, it drove @XboxANZ mentions up 300% year-on-year, helping connect the brand with the hard-to-reach gaming audience.
THERE'S 30 MINUTES LEFT HERE'S A CLUE
— Xbox ANZ (@XboxANZ) October 13, 2019
⚒️ -?- 😈 -?- 🔥 -?-
Owens says he’s starting to see interesting partnerships between sports and online audience, and this Australian-based campaign shows local brands are driving innovation.
“The gaming industry in Australia is seeing explosive growth and brands are clamouring to get behind the likes of esports tournaments and teams to create authentic alignment from the ground up,’ Owens says.
“The need and appetite from gamers to grow their world are at an all-time high. Brands have a huge opportunity to build structure around gaming communities and build meaningful connections with like-minded fans.”
In bigger gaming markets such as the US, brands from all categories are trying to reach gamers.
For example, fast-food store Wendy’s won a Cannes Lion earlier this year for embedding itself into Fortnite, a campaign it kicked off and tracked on its Twitter account.
Xbox’s Australia and New Zealand business lead Tania Chee says Twitter is the ideal platform for reaching both new and existing fans.
“One of the biggest advantages to engaging with gamers on Twitter is the ability for fan participation, whether they were in Melbourne for PAX or sitting at home in Perth – we were able to offer active experiences to bring them closer to the world of Xbox,” Chee says.
“The gaming community on Twitter continues to grow globally, and Australia is no exception.
“Gamers on Twitter are heavy engagers compared to other communities and love sharing brand content, tweeting about new titles and sharing their opinions.”
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