State Farm’s reality-competition series “Gamerhood” will kick off its fourth season on Aug. 1, in accordance with materials shared with Marketing Dive. This season of the streaming show features latest talent, improved production and increased opportunities for consumers to play along. It also demonstrates the newest step in State Farm’s decade-long investment in gaming.
“Our entire category used to only do logo sponsorships at the underside corner of the sport… we have mental property now,” said State Farm Head of Marketing Alyson Griffin concerning the evolution of gaming marketing. “We have individuals who know — without prompting — that State Farm does ‘that Gamerhood challenge’ yearly.”
Helping State Farm engage with gamers is the world’s top streamer, Kai Cenat, who also featured within the brand’s “Batman vs. Bateman” campaign. As with that effort — which was originally intended to be a Super Bowl business before the brand pivoted attributable to the California wildfires — letting creators create is key to the authenticity demanded by consumers.
“[Creators] don’t desire to be boxed in and be fake, and I do not think a brand is doing itself any favors should you’re boxing creators in,” Griffin explained.
For the fourth season of “Gamerhood,” which airs every Friday in August at 6 p.m. ET., which means streaming the show not only on State Farm’s Twitch and YouTube channels, but across competitors’ own streaming channels. Along with Cenat, the season will feature returning team captains Ludwig, Mark Phillips and Berleezy, plus streamers Sydeon, LuluLuvely, Cinna, JasonTheWeen and CouRage, who will compete in each video games like Marvel Rivals and physical challenges.
“Gaming is huge — it isn’t the NFL — nevertheless it’s huge, and we’d like to broaden the platform for gamers, democratize access to those gamers,” Griffin said. “[Gamers] are celebrities in their very own right, but they are not mainstream quite yet… We’re also how we are able to use our platform [to change that].”
The last season of “Gamerhood,” which notched greater than 23 million episode views in 2024, gave viewers a more intimate view of the featured gamers through the “confessional” videos popularized by reality TV. This season will lean into those tropes because of partner Smuggler, a production company with years of experience in reality and competition TV. The show was also developed alongside The Marketing Arm, with additional agency support by FleishmanHillard, Infinity Marketing Team and OMD.
As the gamers compete to profit nonprofits and charities, viewers this season can participate within the State Farm Gamerhood Fantasy League, assembling fantasy teams of “Gamerhood” competitors and competing for a likelihood to win limited-edition, custom-designed gaming chairs each week. The at-home element adds to the general sense of surprise and delight that State Farm is hoping to stoke this season.
“It’s just exciting to see this mental property evolve over time, and watch not only the gamers, their engagement together, their engagement with Jake from State Farm… I believe it’ll come through in the published,” Griffin said.
Read the total article here
