The USC Games Expo’s first-ever foray into the virtual world was a roaring success! More than 80,000 unique viewers tuned in during the Twitch livestream, with nearly 5,000 concurrent viewers at any given time. Considering this year’s Expo was forced to transition into a digital event last-minute, we could not have asked for a better turnout.

When we first heard of the Expo’s new virtual format, we knew it’d be a challenge engaging media, but jumped at the opportunity to be one of the first gaming-related events to reveal its digital presence. In a race against powerhouses such as E3 and PAX, whom we knew would be making announcements about their respective events in the coming days, we pushed a captivating reveal to our media contacts that messaged USC Games’ continued status as an innovator in the videogame industry. This led to us securing an interview with VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi, the well-known gaming journalist, and Danny Bilson, the director of the USC Games program, along with solid news coverage from Forbes and Gamasutra to support.

We maintained media interest throughout the campaign by piecing together different media alerts focusing on new information about the Expo. For example, USC flexed its industry muscles and managed to get tons of high-profile celebrities to participate during the show. From Mark Hamill (yes, really) to Judd Apatow (SUPERBAD!!), the star-power was evident. However, it was Geoff Keighley’s participation as a host that really added legitimacy to the Expo and gave us the fuel that we needed to secure even more build-up coverage and pre-Expo awareness.

Knowing influencers are just as important as journalists today, we pitched and garnered interest from several popular gaming personalities including Andrea Rene of What’s Good Games and the highly influential Greg Miller of Kinda Funny.

The major benefit of a digital event is that anyone can tune in – from anywhere in the world. Physical barriers disappear when all you need to do to participate is turn on a Twitch stream. We took advantage of this by securing several event calendar placements with consumer-focused outlets such as LA Weekly and Do LA, as well as Gamesindustry.biz to attract more industry viewers. We also hyped up USC Games’ generous offering of over 50 free student game demos to those looking for a quick, easy and cheap (nothing beats free!) way to stay entertained during the pandemic. You can download them for free at www.uscgamesexpo.com/games – and we are already loving quite a few of them!

Keeping with the theme of “free, free, free,” we also connected our elite gaming headset client EPOS with USC to giveaway several high-end gaming headsets during the stream and heavily promote that on social media. When the giveaway started during the Expo livestream, we watched viewership explode as people poured in for a chance to win a headset. Many of them stuck around after the giveaway ended too, showing the power of giveaways when the goal is attracting more consumer attention.

During the event, we organized and managed several interviews between Danny Bilson and the student game developers with members of the media. From TechRaptor to prominent freelancers, media loved getting a real look at the hard work USC Games and its students put into the Expo and came prepared with tons of excellent questions.

Not all the work we had done was media-facing though, as we pitched in with our advice on how the event should be managed, marketed, and messaged. Through dozens of lengthy Zoom calls with massive teams, we collaborated closely with USC Games to ensure our expertise was heard and applied.

Looking back, we’re in absolute awe of how the USC Games Expo culminated into a such an inarguably successful virtual event. We feel it stands as a testament to the school’s ability to adapt, the gaming industry’s sustained strength during a worldwide emergency, and the importance of a well-timed PR campaign. Seeing students get the chance to present their incredible projects to a massive audience is the golden cherry on top.

Here’s a look at some of the top hits we secured during this year’s lead-up to the Expo: