State Farm is following the general rule behind sequels – make them bigger and brasher – as it brings back its Gamerhood challenge for another season.
The Gamerhood Challenge 2, which brings professional and notable gamers, streamers and content creators in a soundstage neighborhood to compete against each other for a monetary prize (to be awarded to a charity of the winning participant’s choice). The Gamerhood Challenge 2 premieres on Thursday, June 1 on Twitch and YouTube.
Like last year, the series will pit participants against each other in word-based and trivia games as they reside in a neighborhood in which mishaps are around every corner. Players who win certain challenges will receive “insurance” against those mishaps, giving them an advantage in the game (a metaphor State Farm hopes will translate into real life for younger consumers, who are only just beginning to think about insurance.
“It’s integrated into the ‘story’ of the show, rather than stopping the action and running a commercial,” said Alyson Griffin, State Farm’s vice president of marketing. “This year’s mishaps with be a little more outrageous to get in the way of the gamers.”
New this year is the program’s availability on YouTube, along with an interactive component, through which fans can compete for a chance to win prizes. There will also be live-streamed components and social content to promote the series.”We have also added confessionals to make it a little more reality show-esque,” Griffin said.
The gamers will compete as teams of two, and the prevailing team will then move on to a challenge against the brand’s spokescharacter, Jake, who will bring along special guests, in backyard games such as Lawn Jenga. Teams will include Ludwig and Typical Gamer (playing for Feeding America), Ninja and Jessica Blevins (Habitat for Humanity), BlacKKrystel and Krystalogy (American Red Cross) and Berleezy and IMDontai (Junior Achievement).
State Farm will contribute $100,000 to the winning team’s chosen charity, while the others will each receive $10,000. “There are no losers here,” Griffin said.
State Farm has been a notable fixture in the gaming space for a decade, Griffin noted. In addition to the first iteration of the Gamerhood Challenge, the brand has built a presence in the metaverse and inserted spokescharacter Jake as a non-playable character in the NBA 2K franchise.
“This base of gamers knows us and has interacted with us,” Griffin said of the strategy. “It’s part of making an investment in Millennials and Gen Z.”
