Dive Brief:
- Edgewell Personal Care brand Schick Hydro is supporting the independent video game developer community through a new fan-selected award category rolling out at The Game Awards 2017 on Dec. 7, per a press release. "The Best Debut Indie Game — Presented by Schick Hydro" looks to honor some of the smaller but more innovative players in the industry.
- To help promote the initiative, Schick Hydro is giving away new indie games to fans and has formed a partnership with an educational platform dedicated to games, Playcrafting. It will also build a branded arcade experience at The Game Awards for attendees to play around with.
- Nominees for the best debut indie game include: "CupHead," developed by Studio MDHR; "Golf Story" by Sidebar Games; Team Cherry's "Hollow Knight"; "Mr. Shifty," developed by Team Shifty and "Slime Rancher" by Monomi Park. Starting Dec. 7, people can enter to win complimentary access to one of the titles via digital game keys at www.IndieGameSweeps.com.
Dive Insight:
Schick Hydro is the latest brand to recognize that the gaming space is only growing more lucrative and presents an opportunity to get in front of the type of young, male consumer that fits squarely into its target demographic for razors and other grooming products. Industry intelligence firm Newzoo estimates revenue for the gaming industry will hit $109 billion this year, according to VentureBeat, with a demographic makeup that leans toward the millennial set and is 59% male and 41% female.
As gaming continues to command more of consumers' spend and related areas like e-sports, or professional gaming, draw huge viewerships online and even on TV, it won't be surprising to see more CPGs and other retail brands follow Shick's suit. The brand is taking the integration beyond simply slapping its name on the awards show by partnering with Playcrafting and setting up out-of-home activations for fans to enjoy around the event.
The razor space, in particular, has become sharply competitive in the past few years as disruptors like Dollar Shave Club — which was last year bought by Unilever — and Harry's steal market share from stalwarts such as Schick or Procter & Gamble's Gillette brand. The competition actually appeared to make a dent in P&G's most recent earnings, where poor performance in the razor category was seen as dragging the CPG down.