How 5 Gum teamed with Twitch to give gen Z gamers something to chew on
5 Gum won at The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising APAC 2022, snagging both the Grand Prix and the Best Use of Gaming award for its ‘Team Clutch’ Twitch campaign. Here’s a closer look at how the idea was brought to life.
5 Gum mobilized the Twitch community / 5 Gum
In the Australian market, 5 Gum was looking to make headway with under-25 consumers, who make up the biggest portion of gum chewers. The Wrigley Company-owned gum brand teamed with Twitch to create a one-of-a-kind gaming experience designed to engage gen Zers.
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The brief
Although gen Zers are avid gum consumers, 5 Gum was finding it difficult to reach these young audiences through traditional media channels. The brand needed a way to cut through the noise and connect with young people in a way that felt authentic.
Considering that some 87% of gen Z consumers play video games on devices like gaming consoles, smartphones or computers at least weekly, 5 Gum saw an opportunity to connect with its target audience through gaming.
The brand tapped the popular live streaming platform Twitch – which hosts a highly-engaged gaming community – with creating a solution that would create meaningful connections between gamers and the 5 Gum brand.
In particular, the chewing gum brand sought to translate its brand tagline ‘Life happens in 5’ to live gaming audiences in a way that would resonate with gen Zers.
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The idea
Twitch worked with 5 Gum to launch Team Clutch, a group of popular up-and-coming Aussie streamers: /AussieAntics, /soleKEFS, /GeekGG, /PaladinAmber and /PlayitShady. The moniker Team Clutch was inspired by the use of the term “clutch” in sports commentary, which has been used to describe players who can keep calm and perform well under pressure. In gaming, a “clutch” moment entails executing an impressive, brag-worthy maneuver during gameplay.
The campaign strategy was built on the idea of aligning “clutch” gaming moments with the 5 Gum brand to seamlessly integrate the brand into the gaming lifestyle and connect with gen Z audiences in a natural and authentic way.
Twitch brought Team Clutch together for three live streams in July and August of this year. The gamers took on popular titles like Fortnite while participating in unique challenges along the way, embodying 5 Gum’s brand message of ‘Life happens in 5.’ Each event included a dynamic viewing experience that allowed users to see all streamers on a single screen or to toggle to individual streamers to catch close-up angles of the action.
To augment the events, 5 Gum made a number of investments that aimed to integrate the brand with the gaming environment, including in-stream product placement, social media promotion, branded graphics and profile branding, premium video buys, homepage headliner and display ads and branded physical signage in the form of neon signs and merch.
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The results
The live stream exceeded expectations and topped the country’s charts as the #1 most-viewed stream, with 158,000 views, reaching 117,000 viewers. Through the various activations, Team Clutch’s streams saw 481,000 minutes watched on the sponsored stream – equivalent to a year’s worth of engagement. Ultimately, Team Clutch saw the highest reach of any Twitch live stream in Australia during the time period.
Plus, the events drove other kinds of engagement: they generated 11,000 chat messages on Twitch.
The campaign delivered strong outcomes for 5 Gum: a post-activation survey conducted by Twitch Research Power Group found that the effort lifted the gaming association by 14% and increased purchase intent and brand favorability by 9%.
Another survey spearheaded by MediaCom reported that brand penetration hit 5% – surpassing the brand’s goal of 4.2%. Brand associations rose for events in which audiences: need to concentrate; must restore mental focus; and are playing electronic games.
This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising APAC 2022. You can see all the winners here. The Drum Awards for Marketing are currently open for entry. Find out how you can enter now.