HQ Trivia And The Opportunity For Brand Sponsorship And Product Placement

HQ Trivia Game Beloved By... All

HQ is a new trivia app that has gained a ton of popularity. Every week, participants from around the nation (and possibly the world) are asked 12 questions with only 10 seconds to answer each one, and if you are smart enough to answer all of them correctly, you win a share in whatever the cash prize is that night. Or even other actual real tangible prizes - like Nike shoes.

The app launched in August 2017 with only 5,000 players tuned in. Just in a few months the app reached a record breaking 2.8 million users. HQ is free to download, and requires no catch, and is entirely based on advertiser revenue. Today with generation Z becoming more focused on their smartphone/ tablet screens, advertisers are realizing the marketing potential that comes along with it, and this happens to be a game that transcends demographic ages and focuses on those who want to be challenged and play games. In this blog, Hollywood Branded discusses the HQ trivia game and how brands can get involved through product placement and sponsorship. 

HQ was created by Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll, the same inventors of the 6 second video app Vine. While the app was in the beginning stages, they needed financial backing, and they could not pay the cash prize out of pocket. So, the two found outside investors at a venture capitalist firm.

The popularity of the app needed to grow - with verified downloads and active users - before they could start selling advertisements and sponsorships. As the cash prize started to increase, so did the number of players. Just a few months ago the app offered a cash prize of $50,000, and gained a record breaking 2 million viewers. Six contestants won and split the price, taking $8,000 each. This was groundbreaking, and created the awareness they needed. HQ currently has an average of 400,000 users daily, which is only growing.

Warner Brothers An Advertiser Partner

Other companies have noticed the popularity, and are starting to get involved. Warner Brothers was the first to take action, finalizing a deal worth $3 million. Warner Bros saw this opportunity, and used it to promote their movie “Ready Player One.” The host mentioned the movie, and told the audience when it premiered.

That’s not the only exposure the movie received. The game they played that day was loosely based off the movie, asking questions related to the movie, and questions directly about the movie. Warner Bros. also provided the jackpot prize, which was a giant prize of $250,000. This incentive attracted a ton of viewers, and press, and landed “Ready Player One” on millions of smartphone screens.

The second movie Warner Bros. promoted was Rampage. The deal had Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson as the host, and offered the winner $250,000. Again, the trivia questions were based on the movie, trying to promote the audience into buying a ticket. This cash prize, and “The Rock” drew in millions of players.  And the direct ticket purchase afterwards was definitely a KPI metric that was watched by Warner Bros. executives. 

Nike's Involvement 

Nike decided to collaborate with HQ Trivia, and have a sneaker trivia night. Nike custom made 100 pairs of HQ Air Max 270’s. Not only did they offer the shoe, but the cash prize was $100,000 on top of that. HQ’s segment that day was solely focused on Nike.

They offered questions related to Nike’s shoes, athletes, and designers.  Only four lucky contestants walked home with a pair of these ultra-rare Nike’s and $25,000.

And Nike did not just pick any random day to collaborate with HQ. They chose Nike Air Max day to promote their Air Maxes. On Air Max Day, Nike brings back from the past OG Air Maxes that are available on that day only. Personally, I did not participate on Air Max Day, but I have been searching the internet to find the other 96 pairs.

HQ's Future of Advertisement 

Nike and Warner Bros. did a great job for being the first to integrate their brands on HQ. And of course the fact that I would consider paying $500 for a pair of those HQ Air Maxes is absurd.  There was a VERY tuned-in and interested audience out there that drove new downloads, because I'm not the only one out there who would want to get my hands on those shoes so badly. 

HQ has received a tremendous amount of press and investor interest based on these styles of partnerships, and we are going to see even more brand related creative ideas in the months ahead, as they continue striving for massive growth. In the future we are going to see many more segments like the ones Warner Brothers and Nike did.

And brands should take notice!  This is extremely appealing to companies because it’s not another typical ad. These types of integration cause the viewer to be more engaged in their product. It forces them to learn about the product. HQ’s main goal is obviously to make a profit, but they want to provide game play with interwoven advertisements to users that are enjoyable. This strategy could be very effective, and allow HQ to make ongoing sponsorship partnership deals with large corporations.

Are You Ready To Play?

While the budgets required to participate in HQ Trivia might not be up your alley - what makes this game work for advertisers is that it gets engaged viewers who spend very concentrated focused minutes on the overall experience - including the brand partner.  Other content offers similar partnerships - from TV product placement like the one we did for Pilot Pen and Project Runway, to the B2B partnership we did with FLIR and Rampage or countless others we talk about in our blogs and on our case study page on our website.

And it also works with influencer marketing when your brand becomes the content the influencer is sharing. To learn more about influencer marketing, check out these six blogs we've written that dive more deeply into how you can successfully create an influencer marketing campaign:

Product placement is an excellent way to grab consumers attention on an engaged platform, which we discuss in our blog Easy Affordable Consumer Engagement Tactics as well as in our team's blog 5 Ways Brand Marketers Secure Product Placement To Increase Sales.

And check out these blogs on product placement as well:

• 4 Common Myths About Product Placement Debunked
• 10 Surprising Reasons Why Brands Do Product Placement
• 8 Ways To Use Product Placement Assets To Amplify Your Brand Into Sales
• 3 Important Steps In Planning Product Placement Strategy
• Thinking Product Placement Cost Is High (It Isn't!)

Want to get more details on how a comprehensive product placement program works?  Or do you want to know how to create a promotional partnership strategy with a movie partner?  This video will answer all of your questions as it shows the steps and processes taken by Hollywood Branded that lead to your brand increasing both consumer engagement and sales!