Streaming on the Bud Light Canada Twitch channel, “GAME OVER with Bud Light” was a one-hour, live show, which aired weekly for five weeks, celebrating the best kill highlights, takedowns and decimations. It was an opportunity for gamers, fans and streaming stars to put their controllers down, grab a Bud Light and enjoy a curated collection of the most entertaining gaming content each week.

The show featured three hosts, who are all pros and well respected in their individual specialties. GiantWaffle, Bil “Jump” Carter and Michele Morrow helmed the ship during the five shows. Gamers were invited to submit their most spectacularly devastating “game over” moments to the show for a chance to win a trip to TwitchCon.

Bud Light was looking to unlock consumption opportunities in eSports and gaming culture. Knowing that beer is not endemic in eSports (gamers don’t drink when playing in order to keep their minds and reflexes sharp), the brand needed to carve out a space that would allow it to connect with the eSports audience in an authentic way. Enter the “game over” moment – a time for all gamers to sit back, be entertained and enjoy a Bud Light.

To own the “game over” moment, Bud Light needed to dial up the entertainment value for the community. In an effort to make eSports more social and fun, Bud Light focused on the fandom and culture that celebrate the best moments in gameplay by creating authentic eSports content.

“GAME OVER with Bud Light” live-streamed on Twitch, the number-one destination for online gaming and streaming, through Bud Light’s channel. The show was categorized into segments, such as “NOOB’D,” where a pro is taken down by a noobie (new player), and “Next Level Manoeuvres,” which provides an analysis of the techniques required to pull off epic game-ending plays.

To launch the first episode, Bud Light created promo videos featuring one of the show’s hosts, well-known Twitch streamer GiantWaffle. Bud Light released a series of gaming-inspired YouTube bumper and digital display units and took over the Twitch home page for three days leading up to the first episode.

In subsequent weeks, Bud Light pulled the most entertaining clips from the previous episodes to create promo videos, enticing audiences to visit the Bud Light Canada Twitch channel to view previous episodes or to tune in to the next week’s live episode.

To engage the gaming audience and reinforce interactivity between the brand and the community, Bud Light asked gamers to submit their best “game over” moments through a UGC submission landing page for a chance to win a trip to TwitchCon.

“GAME OVER with Bud Light” exceeded expectations with over 1,500,000 minutes of content watched, over 150,000 unique viewers with an average view time of 7 to 12 minutes per episode and 159,900 people reached on Bud Light’s event page. All told, “GAME OVER with Bud Light” generated over 33,800,000 impressions and exceeded Canadian Twitch benchmarks by over 5%, providing Bud Light with a powerful platform in the eSports community. The campaign also drove a 12-point increase in affinity for Bud Light, giving the brand a boost on brand perception among a new audience. By celebrating that inevitable moment when the player hangs up their controller and grabs a Bud Light, the brand was able to pave its way into the complex landscape of eSports.