Case Study: breaking into the E-Sports market at ChinaJoy 2019

Pico Play worked with online retailer JD to create a huge booth at the ChinaJoy 2019 entertainment conference, which had 364,000 visitors in four days.

Objectives

For most brands who want to tap into the gaming market, catching the attention of the thousands of digital entertainment consumers at ChinaJoy – the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference – is crucial.

Pico was tasked with creating a massive booth for e-commerce company JD at ChinaJoy 2019. The booth aimed to activate the brand’s presence in the e-sports sector, and position JD as the preferred platform for computers and digital devices among attendees at ChinaJoy.

This edition of ChinaJoy saw some of the greatest names in the entertainment industry as exhibitors. The team had to help JD stand out from the noise and create buzz around the event space.

The booth aimed to highlight the brand’s growing and diverse e-sports presence and its mission to provide quality products and excellent content and service.
Pico’s approach was player-oriented, aiming to give booth visitors a direct experience of the client’s offerings.

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Solution

The booth’s design and interactive activities were all geared toward supporting JD’s core objective and empowering their marketing strategy.

Themed as ‘a limitless gaming experience’, the installation was built with dramatic lighting and geometric patterns lending a blazing dynamism to its red colour scheme.

The booth was officially opened with a ‘live battle’ between well-known e-gaming hosts. Within the booth’s confines, visitors were mesmerised by an array of interactive games including VR rhythm lightsabre, reaction time, sandbag-throwing and puzzle-solving activities with a variety of prizes.

These challenges and the booth’s VR elements proved especially effective in both boosting visitor participation and underlining the client’s attractive products.

Visitor numbers were also boosted by a stamp-collecting challenge: visitors to the booth and those of several JD partner brands were rewarded with a stamp at each location. Those who completed the full tour were entered into a prize draw.

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Verdict

ChinaJoy 2019 had 364,000 visitors in four days and, as a result of its success at the conference, JD’s WeChat account gained nearly 10,000 new followers.

Zhang Hanlin, public relations event manager for JD Group, said: “I have worked with many agencies before, but I have had a particularly great and memorable time with Pico. I hope we can work with them again in the future.”

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