Role
Market
- Global (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, and Mandarin)
Amplifying the Global Reach of The Games Of The Future through a Multi-Channel Marcomms Strategy.
Campaign Summary
We spearheaded the global digital and traditional media presence for The Games of the Future (GOTF) Abu Dhabi 2025 powered by ADNOC. This landmark event merged physical and digital sports (Phygital) on a massive scale. Our role involved a comprehensive 360-degree social, PR, and paid media strategy, encompassing pre-event build-up, an emirate-wide roadshow, and high-octane live coverage across 11 disciplines, including famous titles like Dota 2, Fortnite, and MLBB. By blending traditional sports enthusiasm with gaming culture, we built a truly global fandom.
Challenge
The “Phygital” concept is a relatively new frontier in sport, requiring us to bridge the gap between traditional sports fans and the gaming community.
From a PR and media relations perspective, this meant educating media and shaping a clear, compelling narrative for both sports and tech audiences, while tailoring stories across markets. On social, we managed a high volume of content across 9 platforms and 6 languages, ensuring consistency while adapting to local nuances.
01
Solution
Strategic Multi-Platform Presence
To maximise the impact of The Games of the Future Abu Dhabi 2025, we delivered a fully integrated global campaign across PR, Social and Paid, working together to drive awareness, credibility and engagement.
Across nine social platforms (Meta, TikTok, YouTube, X, Telegram, Douyin, WeChat, and Weibo) and six languages, we cultivated a localised, always-on digital ecosystem designed to ensure the world’s regions felt a direct connection to the event, build global fandom and drive real-time engagement.
In parallel, we implemented a sustained global PR programme to build awareness and understanding of phygital sport, position it as the next frontier of competition, and establish credibility across sports, esports, lifestyle and technology media.
02
Solution
Dynamic Live Coverage
Our team, comprised of 23 members, managed a massive production pipeline during the tournament, including:
On-the-ground coverage: 3-day pre-event, 5-day GOTF Roadshows, 11-day GOTF Abu Dhabi 2025, including the Phygital Sports Summit.
Influencer Integration: Real-Time management and content collaboration with global influencers, leveraging their reach to authenticate Phygital narrative.
Ad Hoc coverage: Agile, on-the-pulse coverage that captured behind-the-scenes moments, VIP coverage, and the unique atmosphere of the venues.
Highlights: Daily highlights and “Play of the Day” posts across 11 disciplines, ensuring immediate engagement for global fans unable to attend in person.
03
Solution
End-to-End Communications
As part of a strategic partnership with Marylebone Communications, we delivered a unified, 360-degree Marcomms strategy designed to introduce the “Phygital Sports” concept to the world.
We ensured that The Games Of The Future Abu Dhabi 2025 served as the ultimate global launch pad by synchronising our social media efforts with global PR initiatives: building massive awareness for this new sporting frontier and establishing a credible, consistent brand voice that resonated with both traditional sports enthusiasts and the global gaming community.
05
Phase 1
The Build-Up (Always-On Strategy)
The journey to The Games Of The Future Abu Dhabi 2025 began a year before the first whistle, shifting from a project-based mindset to a robust, always-on global presence.
Deployed a long-term content strategy featuring talking heads and international UGC creators across 9 digital platforms.
Built worldwide momentum using localised captions in 6 languages alongside global PR announcements highlighting key teams and disciplines.
Integrated a 5-day Roadshow and a 3-day pre-event activation phase to ensure the brand achieved maximum global visibility.
06
Phase 2
The Tournament (Live-Event)
During the tournament, our team delivered an integrated communications strategy spanning real-time social media coverage, on-site content production, paid media amplification, PR and media relations, and communications for the Phygital Sports Summit, ensuring consistent visibility and engagement throughout the event.
Social Media: Delivered live coverage, community management, and real-time content throughout the tournament.
PR & Media Relations: Coordinated media engagement, press activities, and coverage across regional and international outlets.
Phygital Sports Summit: Managed communications and media outreach for the summit and its thought leadership programme.
Paid Media: Amplified key content through targeted campaigns to extend reach and engagement.
Media Coverage
07
Phase 3
The Legacy (Post-Event)
Post-event efforts transitioned into asset preservation and community retention. We established a comprehensive multi-format media library of standout moments and insights to fuel ongoing, between-tournament storytelling. Ongoing collaborations with top players and teams keep the global phygital community continuously engaged across owned and earned channels.
Impact
The GOTF 2025 organic and paid social media strategies, combined with extensive global PR initiatives, successfully surpassed all targets for phygital sports engagement. By transitioning from pre-event hype to post-event asset preservation and community retention, Crowd drove massive ongoing global awareness.
Total Reach
Social Media Views
Hours Watched
New Followers Gained
Performance Lift During The Games
Total PR Coverage
Client Testimonial
The team we had for the Games of the Future stands out as our favourite agency partnership, offering a unique combination of creativity, innovation, and dedication. The team collaborates seamlessly as one, and is responsive, friendly, and tirelessly hard-working. We’d be hard-pressed to find a better partner that brings the value they do to our clients!
Dan Merkley
CEO, Phygital International
FAQs
-
What services did Crowd provide for Games of the Future 2025?
Crowd delivered a 360-degree strategy including social media management, content creation and localisation, influencer marketing, paid media advertising, event amplification, and PR coordination.
-
How did Crowd help promote phygital sports for GOTF?
Crowd bridged the gap between traditional sports fans and the global gaming community by launching a unified Marcomms strategy across 9 digital platforms and 6 languages, building global fandom and real-time engagement.
-
What were the results of the Games of the Future campaign?
The campaign achieved a total reach of 137 million, 388 million social media views, 59 million hours watched, over 819K new followers, and 8.5 billion in total PR coverage.
-
Does Crowd offer event amplification and live coverage services?
Yes. Crowd provides agile, on-the-ground content production, real-time community management, and influencer integration for large-scale international events.
-
Can Crowd manage global, multi-lingual social media campaigns?
Yes. Crowd manages highly localised campaigns across global platforms, including Meta, TikTok, YouTube, X, Telegram, WeChat, and Weibo, tailoring content to specific regional nuances and languages.