There has been so much talk, and a good amount of initial activity, connecting the growing world of gaming…not just esports as many still say, but casual and competitive gaming, that it has sometimes become white noise. What’s real business, what’s buzz, and what’s a real way to judge ROI. Along with that conversation is the constant drumbeat of crossover anecdotes, where the gaming world may or may not be trying to get, or at least learn and integrate, the best practices of professional sports business.
Some of it has been flawed and contrived, like trying to fit a square esport property into a round traditional sports hole. Some of it is in development, some of it is coming from a brand side, where the company outing up a spend in one area, be it gaming or traditional sports, sees an opportunity to pivot and expand their reach by storytelling to both groups. Brands like Coke and Buffalo
Wild Wings have found a sweet spot, and another one trying to make the noise with some big spends going from the gaming world to a traditional audience is HyperX Gaming.
The company, known for its elite offerings, especially on headsets for gamers, is spending a good part of early 2019 spending time, branding and dollars to make the mainstream connection to casual gamers, and to casual music and sports fans, that there products have huge value and buzz and equity.
One of the first of those bold steps took place earlier this month, when HyperX Announced their “We’re All Gamers” Ad Campaign, including celebrity influencers Post Malone, Gordon Hayward, Joel Embiid, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pokimane, Shroud, Daigo, De’Aaron Fox and Rush.
In addition to the wide swath of bold face names from across genres and sports, HyperX made the huge step to become presenting sponsor of NBA Saturday Primetime telecasts, which began on January 19 and will continue through the playoffs and the NBA Finals on ABC and ESPN. The branding will is part of broadcast and finds its way into SportsCenter, and even works through signage in key arenas like Philadelphia (where the Sixers organization (Harris Blitzer Sports and EntertainmentTeam Dignitas is also a HyperX partner) and other places, especially where ownership has shown an affinity to gaming.
The goal of the campaign in broadcast is clear; integrate into today’s dual-screen world of watching on a big screen and looking down at a mobile device to watch the game or during breaks in between gameplay, no matter what the game, traditional or non traditional it is.
Then this week HyperX took another stride toward the mainstream, announcing plans to roll out a massive mobile gaming unit just a block from the site of the Super Bowl in Atlanta, designed to again marry music, pop culture, and mainstream sports with the gaming world. Again the message; the Super Bowl is a big game, and our players love the big moment, be they in the gaming world or the traditional sports world; we all mesh together, from casual sports fans to elite athletes and musicians to casual gamers looking for best in class equipment. Play and use what the stars like, and build your brand from there.
In some ways, the HyperX push is not unlike what Beats By Dre did to grow the music headphone market a few years ago, as was pointed out by a colleague in the gaming business. If you present a quality product with an elite lineup that is vast and also engaged, and the message is authentic, you have a chance to grow a non traditional market share. Beats went the way of identifying athletes who loved sound, especially music, one of which was a young emerging QB, Russell Wilson. As they supported the Seahawks QB, his rise coincided with their emergence, and his elite play tied them to him as an elite product. It was a well thought out strategy, one which helped catapult Beats into their eventual sale to Apple.
Now this is not to say HyperX is plotting the exit right away. The gaming world is still very fluid in its transition and while HyperX is a gold standard product in that space, the crossover affinity to a new audience is just getting started. Will it succeed in expanding marketshare, especially on headphones, beyond the gaming world? We shall see, but the brand is now in a wider storytelling conversation that it was even six or eight months ago, and to be that disruptive, engaging brand looking beyond a console of traditional gaming, is a nice step in a crossover that other brands will look to.
