Partnership——Group 3

Group 3

Aleem
Fengning
Aeri
Songgela

1.What is the partnership about?

Genshin Impact（原神游戏） and KFC

Participate in the activity and purchase the specified package to receive the game linkage pack and peripheral rewards.

2.What are the strengths or weakness from both sides. How are they compatible with each other?

For Genshin Impact（原神游戏）

Strengths：

Huge User Base: Game companies often have millions of active players globally, offering a massive audience for brands.

Engaged Community: Players are highly engaged and interactive, making in-game events or branded items very effective for brand exposure.

Immersive Experience: Games provide an immersive environment where branded content (skins, items, etc.) can seamlessly integrate into the gameplay.

Frequent Updates: Game companies constantly release updates, providing many opportunities for introducing new collaborations.

Brand Loyalty: Successful games often build strong loyalty with players, ensuring sustained engagement with any collaboration.

Weakness:

Limited Integration: Some brand collaborations may feel forced or irrelevant within the game, breaking immersion for players.

Brand Overlap: Partnering with the wrong game (or too many games) can lead to brand fatigue, where players or consumers feel overwhelmed by constant partnerships.
Short-term Focus: Brands may view game collaborations as short-term campaigns rather than long-term relationships, which can result in lower engagement after the initial hype.

For KFC

Strengths：

Strong Brand Recognition: Major brands like KFC or Pepsi already have widespread recognition, which adds value to the collaboration and draws player attention.

Established Marketing Channels: Brands have well-established traditional and digital marketing channels (social media, physical stores), helping to promote the game partnership to a broader audience.

Cross-Industry Appeal: These brands often appeal to a demographic similar to the gaming audience (youth, tech-savvy, social), ensuring relevance.

Real-World Interaction: Physical products (like food, merchandise) provide tangible incentives for gamers to engage in both the virtual and real worlds, creating a bridge between the game and daily life.

Weaknesses:

Limited Integration: Some brand collaborations may feel forced or irrelevant within the game, breaking immersion for players.
Brand Overlap: Partnering with the wrong game (or too many games) can lead to brand fatigue, where players or consumers feel overwhelmed by constant partnerships.
Short-term Focus: Brands may view game collaborations as short-term campaigns rather than long-term relationships, which can result in lower engagement after the initial hype.

3.What are the new values created?

Shared Demographics: Many gamers are young, tech-savvy, and have significant purchasing power—exactly the demographic brands like Pepsi, KFC, or Land Rover want to reach.

Mutual Benefit: Brands gain access to highly engaged, active users in a new space (the virtual world), while game companies attract real-world attention and possibly new players from the brand's existing customer base.

Interactive Advertising: In-game advertising through skins, items, or limited events offers more interaction than traditional ads. This creates a more memorable experience for the player and deeper engagement for the brand.

Cross-promotion Potential: Brands can promote games through their real-world outlets (e.g., themed food items at KFC) while game companies promote brands through in-game content—driving traffic in both directions.

Event-Driven Marketing: Both sides thrive on events—game companies through in-game updates and campaigns, and brands through seasonal or product launches. They can coordinate these for mutual amplification.

Meme culture that unites traditional fast food users with the ACG community

4.What could be the risk for both/either side(s)? 

Increased cost : The marketing effect is uncertain, the profit may be less. In order to provide a unique dining experience and limited merchandise, the partnership may require additional costs, including decoration, merchandise development, etc., which may increase operating costs ‌. 

‌Management challenges : Collaboration can bring management challenges. Improper management of offline activities may lead to a decline in customer experience. For example, kfc has a large number of offline customers, who may be attracted by this marketing will bring bad experience to the original users ‌.

The practical operation of some KFC store staff could not be standardized, which made the experience of some players participating in the activity worse.

The involvement of scalpers has affected the perception of the activity in the outside world to some extent.