Sour Patch Kids taps Twitch streamers for flavor competition

Dive Brief:

Sour Patch Kids is returning to Twitch for a campaign that pairs the Mondelēz candy brand with four creators on the livestreaming platform, per details shared with Marketing Dive. Media agency Spark Foundry worked on the effort.
Each Twitch creator will be the face of a candy flavor and host a two-hour solo livestream to announce their flavor, debut custom packaging that bears their likeness and rally viewers to vote for their flavor online. The series culminates in a "Squad Stream" where all four will compete in a game of Rocket League.
Twitch continues to boost creators and tie-up with brands with its Sour Patch Kids integration. Along with activating around gaming, the campaign allows the candy brand to collect valuable first-party data as consumers enter a sweepstakes by voting in the contest and buying limited-edition boxes of the candy.

Dive Insight:

Sour Patch Kids is returning to Twitch to promote its new not-so-sour fruit flavors — peach, watermelon, grape and strawberry — with the help of popular creators who are billed as "Rocket League MVPs.” Athena, GernaderJake, JonSandman and Rizzo will be featured in livestreams and limited-edition boxes of the candy, demonstrating how Twitch talent has risen to the type of brand ambassadorships formerly reserved for athletes, artists and celebrities. Their sponsored broadcasts will additionally amplify “rewards opportunities” for viewers, according to the press materials.

The campaign comes as marketers continue to find new ways to connect with audiences in gaming and esports, a trend that goes hand-in-hand with the growing popularity of Twitch livestreaming. The focus on creators is in line with the platform's work to attract and retain top personalities. Earlier this year, the Amazon-owned platform debuted an Ads Incentive Program which aims to make ad revenue for creators more predictable, along with other capabilities that help brands connect with Twitch viewers.

Sour Patch Kids first worked with Twitch last year, launching a limited-edition box that featured creator TimTheTatman. The collaboration sold thousands of boxes in the debut stream. On June 15, the new custom packaging goes on sale via a custom landing page and the brand’s livestreams will kick off, with additional events planned through June and July.

To entice consumers to vote for their favorite creator-flavor pairing and purchase creator-customized packaging, Sour Patch Kids is running a sweepstakes for a chance to win a $10,000 grand prize. Both the voting minisite and direct-to-consumer site give the Mondelēz brand a chance to collect first-party data that is becoming more valuable to marketers amid the tightening of privacy regulations and the eventual deprecation of third-party cookies.