Goals
Epic Games had a bold vision for Fortnite, but launching it meant overcoming some big hurdles. They needed to stand out in a crowded market dominated by games like PUBG and Call of Duty. The challenge? Convincing gamers to give Fortnite’s vibrant, cartoon-like graphics and unique building mechanics a chance. More than that, they had to educate players on why this new mechanic was a game-changer in the shooter genre—all while driving performance user acquisition goals. Epic Games needed an influencer strategy that could do it all.
- Introduce Fortnite to the gaming world
- Promote its broad platform availability—PC, Xbox, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android
- Highlight its unique gameplay features, from cooperative tower defense-shooter action to limitless creativity in Fortnite Creative
- Drive a spike in downloads while hitting performance targets across key regions
Strategies
In 2017, Epic Games turned to Pixly, making us an essential part of their user acquisition and marketing team. Our mission: turn Fortnite into a global sensation through influencer power. We built a custom, scalable strategy that quickly grew to hundreds of influencer activations each month. To get the gaming community hooked, we started with big names like NICKMERCS and TimTheTatman from shooter games like PUBG and Call of Duty, showcasing Fortnite’s fast-paced gameplay and innovative building feature. As audiences caught on, our approach expanded, pulling in influencers from other genres like Mr Beast, creating a viral ripple effect.
Players started demanding more Fortnite content, and influencers followed suit—organically creating videos that pushed Fortnite to the top of YouTube’s trending page. But we didn’t stop there. To ensure Epic Games hit its user acquisition goals, we implemented a CPM (cost-per-thousand-views) model, where influencers only got full payment if they hit view targets, maximizing both performance and return on ad spend.
Influencer Activations
Video Views
Players in the First Year
Years of Influencer Program Management
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