Twitchcon 2023: How To Engage A Gaming Audience

TwitchCon is a bi-annual celebration of everything Twitch. For the attendees, it’s an epic weekend filled with awesome live performances, esports showdowns, official streamer meet-and-greet sessions, and artists showcasing their creations.

And with thousands of members of the gaming community in attendance – from the streamers, games, chatters, mods, cosplayers, communities, and more – it’s also a great space for brands to connect with a highly sought after demographic.

Ahead of TwitchCon Paris on 8th to 9th July, we caught up with NYX Global Brand President, Yann Joffredo, to explore how the makeup brand connected with a new audience at TwitchCon 2022, its plans for this year, and to share some tips for any organisations thinking about testing the water.

How would you describe TwitchCon?

TwitchCon goes beyond gaming and livestreaming. It unites brands and consumers across a variety of industries to build connection and create unique experiences. As a brand rooted in entertainment, creativity and self-expression for all, we are thrilled to bring our expertise in beauty to this diverse space.

When did you first become aware of the event and what was the journey to running an activation there?

We’ve been interested in the semi-annual convention since NYX Professional Makeup first started building a brand presence on Twitch. Knowing that we have such large presence internationally, we knew that it was crucial to activate in both the Europe and North America events. We worked closely with our global teams to ensure our debut presence at TwitchCon in 2022 was relatable and exciting to all consumers attending.

What has been your overall experience of TwitchCon?

We were thrilled to interact and introduce ourselves to new and existing communities IRL. Instilling our brand presence within this space proved to resonate within these audiences as there was an overwhelming interest not only to wait to test out our pigment-packed formulas, but also to experience our inclusive and creative-centric nature.

Do you have a favourite moment from TwitchCon 2022?

It was so gratifying to see how many consumers were enticed to come to our booth and test our product. We were excited to see so many people walking around the convention with a custom look created by our Pro-Artist teams as well as within countless livestreams throughout both weekends!

What experience did NYX create last year?

In order to ‘play’ into the gaming elements of TwitchCon, NYX Professional Makeup created a space for consumers to ‘level-up’ their makeup during the convention with a signature graphic liner look. To capture their glam and to encourage social sharing, we also had an interactive photo moment, which was inspired by the classic Rubik’s cube. To bring visitors into the gaming world virtually, we also worked with a Digital Artist to create unique avatars of the attendees to post across their social channels.

In order to infuse even more entertainment, we hosted a digital scavenger hunt throughout the San Diego space, where participants had the opportunity to win a spot on our PR list for the remainder of the year. At TwitchCon Amsterdam, our booth had a body painting artist for audiences to watch how SFX artistry process comes to life.

Outside of our booth we provided product for the iconic Drag Queen performances and partnered with award-winning Twitch partner and Drag performer, Deere, on a masterclass where she demonstrated how to achieve a Drag look using NYX Professional Makeup.

From a brand perspective, what made the event so worthwhile that NYX is returning this year?

We want to continue to build and foster new relationships with communities who are as interested in self-expression and entertainment as we are. Gaming and streaming continues to be an untapped network of creators and consumers who are looking to break into the beauty world therefore, it’s exciting to engage with attendees outside of our typical audience. We are looking forward to returning this year to support and create an even bigger impact within these groups.

What can we expect from the NYX booth this time around?

The NYX Professional Makeup booth this year will highlight our community in a way we’ve never done before! We stand with all communities and we’re excited to surprise our audience with an exclusive experience bringing all genders, races and ages together in a judgement-free zone, where we’ll be advocating for positivity and turning up the volume on self-expression.

Any tips for organizations who might be considering engaging with the event – what do you think tends to go down well with attendees?

From our experience, attendees are most interested in engaging with brands that exhibit their products or services in an interactive way. Any opportunity to allow attendees to experience your brand up close will draw in a crowd.

You’re the first cosmetics brand to partner with an esports team, why does NYX see the gaming space as an area for growth?

We are always looking for new opportunities to support creators and makeup enthusiasts. We have built many of our relationships by giving rising creators a platform to share their voice and grow their audiences. With gaming and streaming continuing to be on the rise, there is an untapped network of streamers who are interested in sharing beyond their typical content with their audiences to deepen their connections. It is important to us to provide our support to these creators which will ultimately transcend our brand presence into new audiences.

What advice would you give a non-endemic brand trying to connect with the gaming community?

It is important to show up authentically as yourselves rather than to try to conform to what you may think consumers are used to seeing. We found that sticking to our brand DNA of authenticity and creativity and providing our own unique pro-artistry expertise attracted the attendees who were interested in experiencing something new and different.

It is important to show up authentically as yourselves rather than to try to conform to what you may think consumers are used to seeing.