GameChanger has rolled out its new “GranCave” initiative featuring Donna Kelce as pitchwoman.
But the ad campaign and contest — previewed for Buying Sandlot and other media outlets earlier in May at an event in Brooklyn — is much more than smart marketing with America’s Favorite Grandma attached.
It is also indicative of how grandparents have become a critical persona group for GC’s business.
“I think we’re the first youth sports platform that grandparents have fallen in love with,” GC President Sameer Ahuja told Buying Sandlot. “The reason we figured this out was our feedback channels — app store reviews or the direct feedback you can send in. For years the most emotional feedback — and sometimes it was constructive, where we could get better — was from grandparents. They would self-identify.
“After a while we said, ‘We are hearing from a lot of these people.’ And we started to try and figure out from the data how many we have, and we have a lot of them. Many of them are in a different place from their grandkids. They emerged as a persona for us. I think we stand apart in that regard because we’re consumer-focused and more and more of that consumer is the grandparent.”
83% of GC-streamed games have out-of-state viewers
Average game has viewers in 3 states
Grandparents make up significant share of live viewing audience, Ahuja said
GC kept grandparents in mind as a result with its recent overhaul — higher-quality video, easy in-app experience and navigation, screen mirroring, notifications.
“There’s all this work that’s happened to get the content, but that’s for others to do," Ahuja said. "We want it to be one click, you go in the app as a grandparent. … The streaming piece is the next best thing to being there.”
As for the contest: Families can nominate grandparents to win a custom GranCave setup package through May 31; GC will also award 365 free premium subscriptions.
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