The second installment of the marketer’s guide to gaming culture picks up where the first part left off.
Where the following explores three effective gaming strategies from restaurant brand Chipotle within the fighting game community (FGC).
The objective is to demonstrate effective gaming marketing adds value to game experiences and, as a result, is authentic to gaming culture.
Once again, please complete the gaming marketing dictionary before continuing. Since you need to grasp certain gaming-related vocabulary to proceed.
Fighter coin activation
In 2023, REV/XP led the FGC campaign for Chipotle – an American fast casual restaurant brand.
One in-game activation tapped into “fighter coins.” A fighter coin is the in-game currency for Street Fighter 6 – a game title published by Capcom. The coins are used to purchase in-game cosmetics and access customization services.
There is no way to earn fighter coins in-game. So, players must purchase them with real world currency.
In other words, Street Fighter 6 introduced what is called microtransactions.
Given that Capcom already priced Street Fighter 6 at nearly 60 US dollars upon its release. The Street Fighter 6 player base did not receive the microtransaction model well. Some went so far as to label it predatory.
That means Chipotle had to get creative when tapping into virtual currency. Since fighter coins aren’t a highly esteemed cultural symbol like the hadouken, for example.
So, the activation, in partnership with Capcom, offered 20,000 promotional codes for use on the Chipotle app or Chipotle.com.
Each code was worth 250 fighter coins. Most importantly, the promo codes empowered players to earn fighter coins by performing an action, as opposed to paying for them. That action successfully removed the negative association from the touchpoint.
In turn, the campaign, according to Capcom senior brand marketing manager Jaclyn Simmons in a Digiday article, “had a 100 percent redemption rate of Fighter Coins.”
Twitch rewards
Chipotle also offered viewer rewards on Twitch – a livestreaming platform popular with gaming audiences. The program gave 500,000 free chips and guac to Chipotle Rewards members who watched more than one hour of Street Fighter 6 livestreams on participating Twitch channels.
Twitch livestreaming is more than random media behavior. It is also an expression of competition-inspired values within gaming culture.
For instance, according to SullyGnome, half of the top ten game titles (League of Legends, Valorant, Counter-Strike, Dota 2 and Apex Legends) watched on Twitch in 2023 were also competitively focused.
That’s because values like improving your own gameplay and/or helping others improve theirs is a key motivator for gaming behaviors on Twitch.
So, the viewer rewards did more than show up where audiences spend their time. They leveled up the Twitch viewing experience – by rewarding behaviors that resonate with values like becoming the best and improving personal performance.
In other words, the strategy was deeply authentic to gaming culture.
Evo advertising
Evo is a widely recognized cultural ritual within the gaming community. The 2023 edition attracted over 9,000 registered players, representing 71 countries. Viewership also topped 7 million hours watched with a peak viewership of 440k, according to analytics provider Esports Charts.
Chipotle’s 2023 Evo activation included an onsite Community Lounge. The location was equipped with charging stations, seating and a Street Fighter 6 x Chipotle custom photo wall.
The onsite community lounge added value to the event by providing a physical space for attendees to relax, socialize, etc. As a result, it effectively weaved Chipotle into a gaming cultural ritual.
It also played a big role in inspiring the Evo crowd to cheer loudly every time a Chipotle ad appeared on the big screen.
Chipotle then continued 2023’s momentum with a specially tailored spot for the Evo 2024 Announcement Show.
The ad was a playful reference to what is referred to as “Evo moment 37,” an iconic moment in a Street Fighter III match held at Evo 2004 between two fighting game legends, Daigo “The Beast” Umehara and Justin “JWong” Wong, who both appeared in the ad.
“Evo moment 37,” was just one part of The Beast’s and JWong’s career contributions to the FGC. Those same careers have transformed both into more than just influencers with fans/followings.
Instead, they are the equivalent of cultural heroes within the FGC. Most importantly, their presence transformed Chipotle’s ad into a cultural product – an artifact which expresses the values and practices in video game culture.
Conclusion
Gaming behaviors, such as watching livestreamed video game content or attending an esports tournament, are expressions of video game culture.
So, by adding value to those experiences, marketing strategies can resonate with the gaming community’s values, rituals, heroes, and symbols.
In other words, you don’t have to possess knowledge of every single cultural nuance relevant to a target gaming audience. Your strategy can, instead, focus on adding value to a game experience relevant to that audience. Where the resulting communication will be authentic to gaming culture.
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