by Tanya Gazdik
Source: www.mediapost.com, July 2024
Honda is continuing its long-standing relationship with the gaming community as the first exclusive automotive partner of Twitch Rivals, the popular tournament series.
The year-round partnership furthers the automaker’s presence in gaming and esports including Twitch’s growing young adult audience.
The activation includes a multi-episode “Chat’s Civic Mods” interactive segment, launching July 18 on Twitch, featuring the new 2025 Civic hybrid sedan.
In each of the episodes, the Twitch Rivals fan community will have the opportunity to digitally customize a new 2025 Civic hybrid sedan through chat polls – timed to the vehicle’s recent arrival at Honda dealerships.
The final Twitch Rivals crowdsourced, custom-designed Civic hybrid sedan design will be unveiled at TwitchCon 2024 in San Diego Sept. 20-22. The customized Civic hybrid will then be given away to a Twitch Community member as part of TwitchCon weekend.
“Honda joining Twitch Rivals as the first-ever and exclusive automotive partner is an important next step in our growing relationship with the gaming community that kicked off more than 10 years ago,” says Megan Amic, manager, media strategy, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., in a release.
The partnership allows Honda to support creators and connect with the passionate Twitch Rivals community to deliver memorable and personalized moments, says Lou Garate, Amazon Ads Head of Properties.
Additional key elements of the partnership include a collection of custom, in-stream Honda integrations throughout the season.
The Twitch Rivals community will experience Honda’s “Charged Up Chat” highlighting top comments from the Twitch community, Channel Skins featuring Honda vehicle messaging and in-stream Chatbot interaction where fans can learn more about Honda.
Honda youth initiatives, including gaming and esports, have helped to make the Honda Civic a success, according to the automaker.
Honda entered the video gaming space over a decade ago and, since then, has partnered with some of the most storied video gaming franchises, including Forza, Guitar Hero Live and Hearthstone Team Brawl.
In 2019, Honda significantly grew its gaming footprint by establishing a presence in esports with Team Liquid (now Team Liquid Honda in the LCS) and jumpstarting a growing relationship with Twitch with 70% of its Twitch community between the ages of 18-34, as part of Honda’s gaming strategy.
Paired closely with Honda gaming initiatives, the 11th-generation Civic serves as a gateway to the Honda brand and America’s most popular vehicle with Gen Z buyers, first-time new car buyers as well as multicultural customers.
