Spark takes gaming in New Zealand to the next level with launch of Spark Game Arena Live via Colenso BBDO, Spur, Let’s Play Live and BUCK
With New Zealand so far having been left out of the global gaming event circuit, Spark has announced Spark Game Arena Live: Aotearoa’s ultimate gaming festival hosted at Spark Arena on 7th September.
Created in association with Colenso BBDO, Spur, Let’s Play Live and BUCK, and amplified by PHD Media and Bastion Shine, the festival will bring over 8,000 gamers together at Spark Arena for a day of world-class gaming experiences, esports tournaments, talks, talent, music and much more.
Says Matt Bain, marketing and data director, Spark: “Gaming is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, yet it’s been largely overlooked in New Zealand. At Spark we want to leverage the power of technology to unleash an Aotearoa that is full of possibilities. This makes gaming a natural area of focus for us – we are investing in the networks and technology that make gaming possible, and it’s one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment not only in New Zealand but globally. This festival is about creating a platform for the New Zealand gaming industry to come together and showcase some of the incredible game developers, animators, and visionaries that are building award-winning experiences.”
The first lineup announcement for Spark Game Arena Live includes global heavy hitters such as Fall Guys and Fortnite, as well as talks from the likes of New Zealand Game Developers Association and Digital Natives Academy. The festival will also play host to the finals of Spark’s ‘Rise Cup’ esports tournament featuring Fortnite, where gamers will compete for a prize pool worth over $140k. Keep an eye out as the lineup is set to grow with more to be announced between now and September.
Says Lucy Cole, managing partner at Colenso BBDO: “79% of New Zealanders identify as gamers, yet they don’t feel catered for here. Spark Game Arena Live does what Spark does best by bringing the best of the world to New Zealand. Gaming is a passion, it’s a career opportunity, and it’s validation of the power of the Spark network. It has been over two years in the making, and a phenomenal amount of work, but we’re hugely proud to have been able to partner with Spark and so many passionate others in this. Bring on September.”
The festival was announced via a first-of-its-kind CGI billboard in partnership with Mediaworks and Assembly, with OOH, VOD and paid social to support.
Tickets to Spark Game Arena Live are on sale now exclusively for Spark customers via Ticketmaster, with general release on Wednesday 3rd July. Get your tickets from www.spark.co.nz/sgalive
1 Comment
This has been a curious campaign to watch and I believe will go down as one of the best examples of not understanding your audience nor having a clear brief on the target for this event and the campaign built around it, leading to beautiful and ultimately empty experience.
– Starting with confusing and unclear messaging on mediums that generate poor bang for buck with gaming audiences. Couple that with a CGI billboard as the key grounding element for the campaign but not going to get cut through with an audience that gets its news online.
– Social that has up until the last few weeks relied upon ads largely blocked with ad blockers in Twitch and broader SoMe and owned channels, one noticeably absent is X, well known to harbour over 75% of gaming conversation.
– An influencer campaign that relied upon partners rosters going live in the final moments that failed to capitalise on their respective audience with a lack of thoughtful or even structured outreach.
Now, to anyone watching a smart money would be on a challenging client that had very little in the way of a clear brief for the event itself making it a challenging task to build a campaign around. To be clear this includes:
– A Fortnite competition using bot technology with little human oversight that resulted in 100’s of people not getting to play. Followed up by poor messaging on social which assured potential attendees that any issues was their problem and oversight. Capped by locked social posts to prevent any more negativity.
– A primary message around a prize pool now our of reach of any attendee buying tickets, for months completely irrelevant to selling tickets.
– A message of global gaming stars that ended up being B-Tier Australian Streamers who while popular in their own right are certainly not going to justify the price of entry.
– A focus on a stage show that at best seems schizophrenic. A Fortnite Tournament followed by speakers from Netsafe and NZ Basketball. The strong money is the audiences there not havening much in the way of overlap.
– Two sessions for a single day, limiting value to 4 hour blocks and forcing strange consumer behavior in leaving the venue between sessions.
– A ticket price that is way off the pace in terms of value for New Zealand events in gaming and pop culture. Armageddon setting the bar for value for better or worse for a days entertainment in this space at around $25 Kiwi. A full day for this event will run you $100.
So what does an agency or set of agencies do when faced with such a challenging event and clear lack of brief. Focus on what drives exec interest and approval, use old school thought that says putting a billboard on the CEO’s way to work will win the day. Focus on style over substance and claim economic headwinds as the failure to generate an audience.
In any case, the weekend will tell whether the above analysis is off the mark and the New Zealand audience has been captured by the mystery of the event despite the embarrassing social metrics and wild ticket giveaways. Or this is going to be the most expense object lesson in NZ’s gaming history.