Two major forms of entertainment—music and gaming—brought together in the momentous combination of a music festival and mobile gaming. Thanks to U-Live and Gameloft for brands this became a reality, resulting in the triumph that was the second edition of the Junction 2 virtual festival.
A “MADE IN VIVENDI” INITIATIVE
GAMELOFT X U-LIVE
The second edition of the Junction 2 virtual festival on January 9th brought together some of the world’s greatest house and techno artists on three digital stages, with images broadcast straight from Berlin, Detroit and London, offering six hours of DJ sets to fans connected to the event’s livestream.
No fewer than 3 million people from a hundred or so countries connected to this event, the second in its virtual form, proving that it is now possible to throw a festival via streaming in a way that is wholly complementary to its real-life version, which could not be held last year.
This mega-concert was organized by U-Live (Vivendi Village) through LWE, London’s biggest electronic music promoter. It was streamed across many platforms, including Beatport, the preeminent techno music platform, as well as many social networks and several radio stations.
After working together last July on the first edition of this virtual festival, it became clear to U-Live and Gameloft that their target audience was in part one and the same. Together, both companies decided to take this adventure further. For Sally Davies, “the worlds of gaming and music have long collaborated but the past year has greatly enriched and accelerated the opportunity within that crossover. Our close relationship with Gameloft for Brands enables us to respond rapidly to global lifestyle trends, serving highly relevant, and meaningful culture experience that connect brands and consumers in real time”.
The market leader in the creation of gaming experiences for brands, Gameloft for brands boosted the event’s communication and its audience through in-game experiences in its arcade racing games Asphalt 8: Airborne and Asphalt 9: Legends, whose players are a highly engaged public and perfectly in tune to the festival universe.
The Gameloft for brands marketing activation took place over a month, in three phases:
- Integration in Asphalt 8 and 9 of two tracks by DJ Pig&Dan. Native advertising campaign within Asphalt games inviting players to add the event to their calendar.
- Events organized within Asphalt games for players to engage with Junction 2: Connections.
- Promotion and hosting of the festival livestream within Asphalt games.
A partnership was also developed with Pioneer DJ, which saw billboards with its brand image used in the Asphalt 8 and 9 games spaces to promote Junction 2: Connections.
By joining forces, U-Live and Gameloft succeeded in combining their highly engaged audience of electro fans with millions of players of the Asphalt games for a captivating digital experience.
The Gameloft for brands activation attracted 546,000 unique participants, generated 1.8 million clicks to the festival platform, and saw more than 20,000 hours of music integrated into the game!
The game’s highly engaged players particularly appreciated this experience for its offer of complementary content that fits into the game naturally, with no “aggressive promotion” effect.
This is both the challenge and the DNA of Gameloft for brands, leader in gamified brand content: to create engagement through brand story and quality content fully integrated within games.
For Alexandre Tan, VP Advertising & Brand Partnerships at Gameloft, “the creation of meaningful connections between people and brands through “gamification” is a key part of brand marketing going forward. With mobile games still appearing in the top 3 of the most “consumed” apps, brands have to increase their presence in this asset to reach widespread and strongly committed audiences.”
