Armed with the understanding that insurance compels exactly no one on its own, State Farm faces an uphill climb captivating the attention of younger consumers and educating them about its benefits.
But that’s exactly what State Farm must do to cultivate ongoing future demand for the brand and its products and services, and more importantly, as the nation’s number 1 insurer of homes and autos, to fulfill its mission to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams.
So in 2023, State Farm saw an opportunity to expand its decade-long gaming footprint beyond standard esports sponsorships and into creating original content to do exactly that – educate Gen Z and Millennial audiences about insurance while building brand relevance and relatability.
Enter the Gamerhood Challenge 2023, a five-episode all-things-gaming series where reality show met live gaming tournament with a little insurance education sprinkled in. Gamerhood seamlessly integrated the brand’s good neighbor ethos into a huge gaming “neighborhood” where insurance-related mishaps, charitable giving, a play-at-home interactive experience, and more made for a uniquely entertaining series aimed at increasing brand awareness with younger consumers.
For Gamerhood Challenge 2023, State Farm built the largest-ever physical gaming environment where top YouTube and Twitch stars competed in not only video games, but also neighborhood games and yard games – a targeted expansion to appeal to the broader casual gaming market over the more niche Esports market ($208B vs. $1.38B annual, respectively).
The 5-episode series took place in a 50,000-square-foot gaming ‘neighborhood’ with eight custom-designed tiny homes where the YouTube and Twitch stars competed in teams, and a Gamerhood park for yard games with Jake from State Farm alongside a special guest in each episode. The gigantic production ultimately required 44 cameras, 175 staffers, and 100+ screens.
Streamed weekly on State Farm Twitch and YouTube accounts and simulcast on talent accounts, teams of two competed against each other in a wide variety of games – from Among Us to charades to paintball and more.
To achieve massive viewership, State Farm strategically worked with 15 of Twitch and YouTube’s most followed gamers, influencers, and content creators (206M collective reach), creating a cast of 8 gamers, 2 series hosts, and 5 surprise special guests. Gamers included Ninja (Twitch’s 2022 most-followed channel — 18.2M followers), Ludwig (2022 Content Creator of the Year), and Typical Gamer (13.6M YouTube followers) who connected with their audiences through social channels and custom Gamerhood YouTube videos-on-demand (VOD), while special guests posted their respective episodes after their appearance, leading to millions of additional views.
Tapping into insurance-related topics and adding to the entertainment value, competitors had to face unexpected “mishaps” during the video games portion of each episode courtesy of custom-built, remote-controlled devices and hydraulics. Among the mishaps were high winds that caused tree leaves and debris to smash windows and fly through homes, a snowstorm that destroyed roofs and filled homes with snow, and an appliance apocalypse that caused laundry landslides, and more. To help fend off the mishaps, players had a chance to win a “Special Delivery” package that would help protect or mitigate the mishaps – subtly conveying the importance of having insurance in an over-the-top and entertaining way.
To gamify the viewer experience and drive engagement, each episode of Gamerhood Challenge 2023 included a play-at-home experience where users could participate in insurance trivia and other games via mobile for a chance to win prizes of their own.
Connecting with Gen Z and Millennials’ passion for social good while reinforcing State Farm’s “good neighbor” authenticity, teams competed for the giant Key to the Gamerhood and a $100,000 donation to their chosen nonprofit (Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, and Junior Achievement) over the five-week series. Each of the runners-up also received $10,000 to their charity, ensuring no one left empty-handed. In addition to the direct monetary gifts, State Farm used its platform and influencer partnerships to advocate to millions of viewers on behalf of these organizations, encouraging viewers to contribute to these important causes through volunteer efforts and donations.
Gamerhood Challenge 2023 blew past State Farm and the industry’s expectations. An amazing 20M+ viewers watched Gamerhood Challenge on State Farm’s Twitch and YouTube channels, and players’ and streamers’ individual channels — more than doubling the massive starting goal of 10M viewers.
It ultimately reached an incredible 534.5M people on social media — surpassing the 251M goal by 113% — and won more than 1 billion earned media impressions. Combined impressions from players, hosts, the live show, VODs, social media and earned media totaled an astounding 2+ billion.
Tangible disruption rippled throughout the game-streaming market with Twitch changing its policy to prohibit gamers from simulcasting on two platforms simultaneously in the wake of the Gamerhood Challenge. Excelling beyond State Farm’s already substantial goals, Gamerhood resoundingly proved there’s a place for nonendemic brands in gaming and that insurance actually can be interesting.
And most importantly, the non-profits came out on top, with Feeding America taking the top prize of $100,000 and Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, and Junior Achievement each being awarded $10,000. The tournament concluded with the surprise announcement of State Farm providing an additional $10,000 to each cause, reinforcing the importance of and gratitude for the missions of each.
