Insight

A lot has changed since ‘92.

Back in the ‘90s, gamers used to tune in to watch a cult TV show called GamesMaster. It was their one-stop-shop for cheat codes, sarcastic humour, and gamers being savagely murdered by a floating head (played by Sir Patrick Moore).

Fast forward to today, and the gaming world has changed in every way imaginable. Gone are the days of blowing dust out of the cartridge in your Sega Mega Drive. Enter Twitch, eSports, and Fortnite. And among this brave new world, the Channel 4 execs made the controversial decision to create a social-first reboot of GamesMaster.

Idea

Take on the consoles

When you think of gaming brands, you think of Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo. We spotted an opportunity to add Meta Quest to that list. But the stakes were high. One wrong step and our credibility would be in tatters. But if we do win them over, Meta Quest can position itself as the next generation of gaming.

Without further ado, we sponsored GamesMaster and seamlessly wrote Meta Quest into each episode. First, with a Beat Saber record attempt. Next, a gamer grudge match in a “haunted” church with a hellish forfeit. Then, we created hundreds of social assets to go with it, from homepage takeovers to a suite of idents voiced by the GamesMaster himself.

Impact

Gamers couldn’t
get enough.

• 152M views making it C4’s most successful partnership of the year.

• 185 press articles (£1.57m equivalent value).

• 73% of viewers felt better about Meta Quest.

• Awareness +35% and purchase intent +21%.

• Selected by Campaign as a best-in-class example of branded content.