Warner Bros. Discovery’s branded content studio Courageous is helping game app Candy Crush promote its annual All Stars Tournament with custom videos featuring on-air talent.
A food-themed video will begin to appear on Food Network’s new season of Tournament of Champions on Sunday.
A sports-themed video began appearing earlier this week alongside the NBA on TNT Postgame Show on TNT.
The branded content will also stream on Max and Bleacher Report.
Candy Crush is running more traditional spots on WBD networks and on other channels.
Courageous shot the branded content at TNT’s Inside the NBA studio, with NBA On TNT’s Jamal Crawford and Food Network’s Jocelyn Delk Adams as hosts.
“The tournament-focused messaging of this new Candy Crush partnership presented the opportunity for us to tap into culturally relevant programming and events across the WBD portfolio to create a seamless ad experience for our viewers,” said Marybeth Strobel, executive VP, ad sales at Warner Bros. Discovery. “By identifying synergies that fit our partners’ advertising and marketing goals, we are able to keep our audiences engaged and deliver the most impact for brands.”
In the food spot, Adams judges as three contestants make confections featuring the purple candy stars that are appearing during the game. The player with the most stars gets to play in the live tournament final, which has a prize pool of $1 million.
In the sports spot, two contestants dive into a pool full of candy-colored balls looking for the purple star-shaped prizes.
Each video features a QR code enabling viewers to download and play the game.
“All Stars is one of the biggest events in the Candy Crush Saga calendar, and we’re thrilled to be working with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring joy and excitement to our audiences,” said Luken Aragon, VP, Candy Crush Saga Marketing. “Candy Crush Saga is played by hundreds of millions of people across the world, who like WBD’s fans, are looking for playful moments of escapism.”
The campaign was created in collaboration with The Content Collective, OMD Worldwide content marketing division, on behalf of King.com Ltd.
