Samsung at Gamescom 2019

How Samsung Worked with Influencers to Embrace Gaming Culture for their Gamescom Booth in 2019

In 2019 Cheil, the in-house marketing agency of Samsung, reached out to bolster their Gamescom efforts with our gaming expertise. Their goal was to create “an international gaming booth, collaborating with the best games and influencers”. This case study elaborates on how we managed over 13 influencers, cosplayers and pro gamers (coordinated over 70+) to create a memorable gaming event.

Project Scope

We kicked off the project by suggesting games and fitting influencers for Cheil’s gaming show concept. The show would be structured around the 3 popular games: League of Legends, Hearthstone and Player’s Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG), to attract the 370,000 people that come to Gamescom every year.

The goal was to make the booth visitor the star and give them the chance to meet and play against their favorite influencers. For that we helped conceptualize the gaming content consisting of talk shows, tournaments and fan games. Everything, except the League of Legends Content, was live streamed for the world to watch. 

We were looking for very specific gaming influencers to be part of the daily show program on the Samsung stage. We chose talents based on criteria such as their international reach while also having a local German fan base. We picked veterans for each game who were adept at moderation and casting as well as overall entertainers. 

At the event, GameInfluencer managed the entire live stream production and show calling in synergy with Cheil. The goal was to match the look and feel of a professional eSports stage. On-sight, our team took care of both talent management and gaming content production to guarantee a smooth process. Lastly, our tech team was responsible for the gaming setup at the booth for influencers and fans alike. This meant tournament and IT administration for more than 40 gaming stations during the entire event.

Meet the Influencers

aSmoogl

30K+ followers. German & English Moderator

Farbenfuchs

95K+ followers. German & English Moderator

P4wnyhof

600K+ followers. English & German PUBG Moderator

Lillithy

65K+ followers. English PUBG streamer

Mrtweeday

730K+ followers. German & English PUBG Streamer

iamThanh

75K+ followers. German & English HS Moderator

Zayuri

150K+ followers. German Moderator & Cosplayer

Sola

575K+ followers. German LoL Caster & Streamer

Mori

140K+ followers. German LoL Caster

Just Johnny

280K+ followers. German LoL Caster & Streamer

Splatterman

300K+ followers. German LoL Caster & Streamer

Fan Reactions to the Samsung Booth 2019

Nothing draws gamers more than the chance to meet their favorite pro gamers and influencers. The reception at the booth was amazing. But it didn’t stop there. To generate additional online exposure, the influencers produced over 160 posts on all relevant social media channels during the entire Gamescom event. With an engagement rate of over 10%, fans were excited to participate in their favorite influencers’ Gamescom stories. Below are a few selected comments and reactions by fans:

The goal was to not only create a high quality show for people at Gamescom 2019, but also for those who were watching from home.

P4wnyhof

League of Legends, Hearthstone or PUBG – he played it all. Variety gaming influencer P4wnyhof streamed every PUBG slot at the Samsung booth. The day started off with a pre-game talk show with breakfast tv vibes, featuring opinions on the latest updates on PUBG, which later on transitioned into PUBG squad runs. With over 25,000 people watching, P4wnyhof  professionally casted the series with a lot of good old banter.

Zayuri

Pre-promotion for the Gamescom 2019 and the Samsung Booth was done by Zayuri, a german cosplayer, over Instagram. With over 100,000 total reached people, Zayuri let her followers know that she will be able to play with them for the League of legends slot in a 5v5 versus another influencer team. Not to forget, she promoted the Cosplay cups in the same post, compiling over 10,000 engagements.

Mori

Professional League of Legends eSports caster Mori tweeted the pre game talk show with breakfast TV vibe and the LoL slot with Splatterman, Zayuri and Farbenfuchs. Reaching over 2,000 people, the passionate german influencer shared his experience during the first day at the Samsung Stage.

iamThanh

Former professional hearthstone player and now variety streamer iamThanh streamed the entire Hearthstone slots together with professional Hearthstone player Bunnyhoppor and online personality aSmoogl. He attracted over 8,000 people over live streaming, sharing his insights on the Hearthstone expansion “Saviors of Uldum”. From fan vs pro matches to professional commentating of you playing against your friend, iamThanh entertained the Hearthstone community with authentic player experiences.

Lillithy

Close to winning a custom gamemode of VIP Hunt, PUBG influencer Lillithy, streamed all of her PUBG matches with her followers at the Samsung Booth. She reached over 2,000 people in just one stream sharing her Gamescom experience, showing off her skilled plays in PUBG

Cosplay Event at the Samsung Booth

For the Samsung Booth at Gamescom 2019, we organized the streaming of two cosplay cups with over 60 contestants participating in their favorite cosplay outfit. The event was streamed on Farbenfuchs and Zayuri’s channels, who also judged and moderatored , reaching over 8,000 people. Ranging from classics like World of Warcraft to modern games like Overwatch or League of Legends – Alexstrasza, Tracer, Diana and many more characters walked the stage to impress the audience. 

Having so many influencers being part of the Samsung Booth at Gamescom 2019, reaching the goal of creating Samsung product activation through gaming culture definitely paid off. The combination of gaming influencers, awesome games and global followers, generated a global reach of over 845,000 people.