2022 Winners & Shortlists

BATTLE OF THE GAMERS

BrandBMW
Product/ServiceBMW
EntrantZENITH Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryLive Broadcast / Live Streaming
Idea Creation ZENITH Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production GAMERS HUB, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

When the world went on lockdown, simultaneously, simultaneously sparked as consumers of broad demographics sought out a joyous environment to pass time. In turn, this created a greater void for our brand to as we leveraged the lockdowns to unleash joy through passion activities while also encouraging people to stay at home which propelled our entry into the scene. The overall experience entertained core gamers with live-streamed tournaments expanding across blockbuster titles, professional led academies, branded podcasts, and the community games & giveaways with the most recognized gaming influencers in the region.

Background

BMW’s communication is highly dependent on global activity, and our goal is to find a way to resonate local audiences in different ways, including channel diversity. We wanted to take it one step further by creating a new pillar of communication through an exponentially growing scene, Esports. The global pandemic began to plague, changing the way people envisioned life, and impacting industries at scale. The main goal was to position the brand that has no affinity within the local MENA Esports community in the most genuine way possible, while achieving the following objectives to address the bottom line. • Drive mass participation to build an Esports CRM of 17,500 participants. • Become a leader in automotive Esports market share with a target KPI of 60%. • Maximize engagement rate & viewership across of 10% & 20 Million respectively. • Gather 6,000 participants who are in-market to buy a car

Describe the creative idea

BOTG lived live and online bringing together top talent, influencers and content to the gaming community in the middle east. With countries coming in and out of lockdowns and physical events canceled, BOTG was taken online to allow access for all the gaming audience to tune in and watch the different competitions taking place across different popular games. We looked at entertaining the viewer not only by watching two players compete against each other but also to engage with the stream by commenting and reacting to the special activities that were to take place live. BOTG is all about the joy of competing and for that purpose the whole stream was branded to showcase the dedication of BMW towards the gaming community in the region and to establish it's position at the forefront of gaming activations from a automotive brand.

Describe the strategy

In order to engage the gaming audience in the region with BOTG we established BMW’s digital gaming ecosystem with brand-new social media channels dedicated to live streaming the competitions both local and regional. BMW esports ME twitch and facebook channels were created to live stream these events. The strategy to achieve this goal consisted of a full-funnel approach, which all began with an immersive live experience, subtly branded to keep the brand top of mind. The goal was to execute an engaging product full of catchy game highlights, comedic moments between casters, giveaways that kept users returning & anticipating the live stream and bring on-board recognizable figures to join the fun. Top gaming influencers participated in the live stream to create memorable moments, one of them being celebrating a top PUBG influencer's birthday live on the stream with his fans, All of which drove users down the funnel to convert.

Describe the execution

BOTG consisted of two seasons, spanning over six months of consistent live streams across major platforms. Thirteen of the biggest gaming influencers in the region such as Ahmet Bayati and Ahmed Show to name a few either promoted or joined the streams to create memorable experiences. The most exciting moments included Hulk Clash revealing his face for the first time ever after building a huge fanbase, bringing the much-anticipated moment for his fans to life on the BMW stream, boosting engagement levels significantly. In addition, Ahmet Bayat joined the stream to celebrate his birthday, paving the way for millions of his followers to join in. Fans also had the opportunity to play their favorite games, all being live streamed to showcase their participation. One of the most unique aspect was a collaboration with BMW to create a virtual studio consisting of a 3D model of their newest flagship models.

Describe the outcome

The heart of our activation lived online and relied heavily on exciting content including over 3,600 assets, all of which were showcased across paid, owned & earned touchpoints. Tournaments took place through social media & streaming channels and allowed the brand to resonate on a fan-based perspective. The creatively executed live experience ultimately assisted in driving bottom-line growth & helped achieve our core objectives. The overall activation across both seasons drove 20,485 participants, which is a 17% increase compared to our KPI. We achieved our goal of becoming the dominant automotive Esports player, with an SOV of 63% post our activation, 5% greater than our KPI. We achieved an engagement rate of 13% & over 23 Million Views, far surpassing our KPIs by 30% & 15% respectively. Over the course of two seasons, we gather over 8,700 individuals who are interested in buying a car, surpassing our KPI by 45%.

Credits

Name Company Role
Sajid Ismail Publicis Media Strategy and creative idea
Hussein Alawyieh Publicis Media Case film + creatives
Jad Ismail Publicis Media strategy and execution
Mohamad Hachem Zenith media
Reem Fetyan Publicis Media Partnership manager
Rita Kteiche Zenith Account executive
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