Fortnite x Travis Scott, or how marketing reinvents itself
From April 24 to 26, 2020, Fortnite players were invited to participate to a new immersive and surprising event, presenting exclusively the new song of the American rapper Travis Scott : “Astronomical”. More than an explosive and terribly effective communication campaign, this event illustrate the born a new way to imagine marketing.
At Anguis, we attended the event. Ten minutes, it’s enough time to make us travel, to galvanize us, but more than anything, to mark us. Between the different moods and universe changes, we had time to add the rapper’s sounds to our playlist, and spot the different pairs of Nike shoes of the giant character (or skin, in Fortnite language) incarnating the singer. We were also able to decrypt how Travis Scott and the creators of the game succeeded so well in their promotional campaign.
A formidable content marketing strategy
First of all, it’s essential to define what content marketing is. It is a marketing strategy which consists for a company or a brand in designing, producing and distributing media of various kinds (blog article, picture, video, etc.). The goal is to keep the user entertained so that he consume the advertising and is interested in it.
Today, the best example is the use of product placements with Youtubers. The YouTube video sharing platform is one of the most visited sites in the world every day. If it offers businesses the ability to add ads over the videos of different channels, the most effective communication remains the product placement carried out directly by the creators of content followed by millions of people. They have a much more effective influence on their audience — their subscribers. Indeed, they embody for some of them a figure of trust, a referent, like a good friend who presents his latest find to us during a conversation. While bypassing ad blockers, Youtubers provide platform users with the most valuable added value of our time : entertainment, which gets the attention of viewers (YouTube users), regardless of product or service they promote.
The event proposed by Fortnite and Travis Scott enter (in force) in the category of content marketing. And for good reason : captivated by artistic beauty and music, the player only pays attention to the virtual show that is offered to him. On the Internet, the average attention time is 8 seconds; here, Fortnite achieves the feat of grabbing the attention of its user for 10 minutes — remember, this is a promotional campaign.
Tens of millions of consumers reached
The first performance of the event bring together more than 12 million Fortnite players. We then measure the gigantic short-term impact of this marketing strategy.
The long term is just as formidable. We must therefore take into account the articles published on the subjects on the Internet, and the different replays available on Youtube which will certainly be viewed a few million times thereafter.
Spread over two days, the five performances of a single 10-minute event will reach millions of people around the world. Rather effective, as advertisement.
An impact planned in 3 stages
The choice of platform
The reputation of the Fortnite video game is well established. To date, this is the game that has marked a generation, bringing together a huge community without borders, neither geographical, nor financial (it is a free game), nor platform (this game is available on all consoles, pc and smartphone). The reasons for the success of this Free-to-Play are very well explained in the video by content creator Marketing Mania on YouTube.
After social networks, video games seem to become the new niche supports to promote its brand. They are part of the daily life of tens of millions of people, and allow a freedom of artistic expression never achieved before. Do you want your target to travel and make them dream ? Why not allow her to interact and surprise her ? Define your project, and have it developed in a video game.
Teasing
Information was relayed everywhere: in the media, on the official Fortnite game website, on social media, by word of mouth. And if you weren’t convinced, just log into the game and see a mysterious pink dot appear in the sky during each game of Battle Royal. The players knew there was a milestone coming, but not what it would be made of. Mystery stirs curiosity, and curiosity gets the attention.
“Gentlemen, you had my curiosity… but now you have my attention.”
Django Unchained, Calvin Candie
The idea association
To play a video game is to put yourself in the shoes of a character, and to experience adventures by proxy. By living virtually the journey that Fortnite and Travis Scott have proposed to us, all on the rapper’s skillfully brought sounds, the player felt striking emotions, which brought an association of ideas in his mind. This is the central key to this marketing strategy. The player associated the rapper’s music with a moment of surprise, happiness, galvanization. This is a memory that will mark him, much more effectively than a simple video ad on social networks.
These pleasant emotions will reappear when the player affected by the event listens to the singer’s music, which prompts him to add Travis Scott to his regular playlist.
A new way of marketing
The challenge for any marketing agency or entrepreneur is now to understand how marketing is reinventing itself. Promoting your brand on traditional communication media is no longer enough: you have to innovate to get into the everyday life of your target.
The most valuable value to exploit is now the attention of our target. It is by innovating and always being more creative that we can reach a wider audience, while standing out from our competition. We have the technologies and the keys to carry out unique and immersive communications campaigns, our only limit now is our imagination.
Are you not convinced ? We are currently writing this article while listening to the new sound by Travis Scott.
