Level up: How games can help brands win the audience attention game

Gaming is where Gen Z and Gen Alpha unwind and connect. Marketers must be careful not to disrupt that, brands that get in the way of gamers’ good times will get nowhere.  Instead, successful in-game campaigns fuel players fun and offer them new worlds to explore.

Here, we explore how Audible, Knorr, and Universal moved beyond simple ads via lore-driven mysteries, gameplay hacks and multi-world integrations. Their inventive marketing encouraged gamers to do more than just watch, instead it turned them into active participants.

Audible and Twitch’s Orwellian nightmare

How do you interest Gen Z in a literary classic? Audible started with a book that still resonates today – George Orwell’s dystopian thriller Nineteen Eighty-Four.

For this they hired an all-star cast that included Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo and Andrew Scott for a new, dramatic audiobook production. But to market it to younger listeners, they knew they hard to try something different.

Audible took to the live-streaming platform Twitch to amplify its message in a way that played on the novel’s themes of media control. In April 2024 it set up ‘Truth HQ’, a propaganda channel for 1984’s fictional government, Ingsoc. The launch was low-key, and no explanation was provided, generating confusion and buzz within Twitch’s chat and Discord channels.

Having set the propaganda rolling, Audible needed a team to expose it. Twitch worked with UK streamers AnnaDemetriou, Tyrone and CaptainPuffy, who have a combined audience of 1.6 million subscribers, most in the coveted 16-24 demographic. They were given three two-hour streams to crack a series of tasks and games. Challenges featured navigating building plans, avoiding surveillance cameras and dodging lasers, generating drama and engagement, with viewers invited to help solve the mission on chat.

This collaboration generated over 34,000 Twitch chat messages, and helped the streamers, or ‘hackers’ as they were dubbed for the campaign, succeed. The propaganda was interrupted and replaced with a stream of the audiobook.

The results:

• Over one million unique viewers
• 5 million minutes of partner streams were viewed
• 1984 became April’s global chart-topper on Audible and the number one audiobook in the UK

Knorr #ModTheVeg make veggies the ultimate power-up

Food brand Knorr is known for its soups, many of which are packed with vegetables.  With the routine of home cooking often not being passed down to Gen Z, the company was keen to get its convenient products on the menu for younger consumers.

Knorr knew Gen Z spends more time gaming than watching TV. The company noticed that vegetables featured in gaming often provided lower health points or bonuses than other food types.

Knorr decided to change that norm via a largescale campaign called #ModTheVeg that ran across 22 markets. It worked with agencies including Dutch gaming specialists, The Invaders, and influencers such as Jordy2D and Ninja to promote the issue and encourage gaming companies to make vegetables more valuable. Crucially the team also introduced mods – user-generated patches that change graphics or gameplay – that transformed the role of veg across different games.

Knorr introduced carrot missile launchers and vegetable parkour into Fortnite, replaced buffalo with vegetables in Red Dead Redemption and brought a radish suit of armour into Minecraft, making the campaign fun and tapping into mods community-led feel.

The campaign clocked up:

• $1.1 billion earned reach
• 95 million impressions
• Over 10,000 people played the mods
• 26,000 hours of #ModtheVeg streamer content consumed in 48 hours
• Brand association rose by 20% among gamers

Jurassic World Rebirth comes to Roblox

Thirty years ago, Jurassic Park captured audiences attention with cutting-edge CGI and dramatic action. The franchise returned in 2025 with its latest instalment Jurassic World Rebirth, but while its premise was familiar to adults, Universal didn’t want its dinosaurs to seem old fashioned to the younger generation. In an increasingly fractured media landscape, how could Jurassic Park capture the attention of Gen Z and Gen Alpha?

The answer came in the form of Roblox, whose multiple games offered the opportunity to meet young gamers on their home turf. The company linked virtual play to real-world intent (in the form of cinema bookings) by weaving Jurassic Rebirth into different formats.

Universal introduced creatures from Jurassic World into three Roblox experiences, with the beasts chosen carefully for each game. Players of fishing sim Fisch could catch a Mosasaurus, while Chained’s obstacle course was menaced by a ravenous Quetzalcoatlus and drivers in survival game A Dusty Trip faced Velociraptors and a T-Rex.

Player companions inspired by the movies, in the form of a mission specialist, palaeontologist and fixers, were also introduced to offer in-game perks. The campaign also featured virtual items including Quetzalcoatlus wings and a T-Rex head. Fans could unlock additional exclusives for their avatars by redeeming digital Roblox gift cards, which granted virtual items like a Jurassic World Rebirth-branded backpack containing a tiny dinosaur.

A 24-hour ad placement on the home page of Roblox helped drive engagement, alongside billboard videos and portal ads that took players directly to each experience.

The campaign acheived:

• 5 Million+ cumulative daily active users
• 4 Million+ total sessions
• +37% lift in ad recall among users aged 13+
• 72% average increase in daily searches for Jurassic on the platform
• +6% rise in cinema watch intent for ages 13-34

Success with engaging audiences in gaming environments means thinking beyond simple messaging, brands should build narratives, work with streamers, harness mods and construct multi-world campaigns for real, lasting engagement.

In gaming, the best campaign isn’t an advert, it’s a quest.