Moms crash gamer kids' livestreams to give healthy food advice

People frequently hear about the perils of the modern American diet, but the so-called “gamer diet” is not often brought into the limelight.

A recent campaign out of Sanofi’s probiotics brand, Enterogermina, seeks to disrupt the junk food and caffeine-heavy diets of people who spend their days playing video games and livestreaming. 

The Ready Player Mom campaign features the mothers of famous gamers “crashing” their kids’ livestreams to dole out healthy eating advice, and urge their children to make better food choices for their gut health.

“Fast food and soft drinks are the basis of the average gamer’s diet,” the campaign video states. “And that’s something that worries their parents.”

The campaign created avatars for the parents, which allowed them to dip into their kids’ gaming sessions. 

“What are you doing in my Fortnite account?” one player exclaims in the video. 

“This NPC (non-player character) looks just like my mother!” another says.

“I had to come into your Pokemon to get your attention,” one mother states.

In collaboration with Druide Gaming, Enterogermina recruited the mothers of gaming influencers like Norbu, Flakes Power, Scorpion, and Lipao. The moms crashed livestream sessions on platforms like Twitch, TikTok and YouTube.

The campaign has rolled out in Brazil, which Lipi Banerjee, global sub-category lead of probiotics at Sanofi, noted was a “key market for us.”

“We’re excited to launch this campaign here as an innovative and fun way to encourage healthy habits across all touchpoints with our consumers,” Banarjee added.

The goal of the campaign was to leverage the “virtual worlds to improve health and empower self-care for people today and for future generations,” added Marilia Zanoli, marketing director of consumer healthcare at Sanofi Brasil, in a statement.

Enterogermina has long leaned on the marketing angle of the brand considered “Mom’s trusted ally.” Its website includes Mother’s Speak posts where moms detail how they use the probiotic product for their kids.

The intersection of gaming and healthcare marketing has gotten more attention in the last year or two, with marketers increasingly becoming interested in the opportunities it presents. 

Earlier in this month, Real Chemistry’s 21Grams launched a Gamechangers of Health podcast that aims to explore the marketing opportunities in games — from including billboards in the game to designing characters who have certain medical conditions or require therapies.

Ready Player Mom is another example of a healthcare marketing effort that embraces that channel in an immersive and interactive way.

“This gaming and social activation is proof that healthcare marketing is a world full of exciting opportunities,” Felix del Valle, chief creative officer at MRM Spain, said in a statement. “With Ready Player Mom, mothers were able to meet their children right where they were in the virtual world of gaming and create a space where the Enterogermina brand could build meaningful relationships with a whole new generation.”

He added that “thanks to the element of surprise,” these mothers found a way to effectively reach young gaming audiences and address the importance of daily probiotics.

(This article first appeared on Campaign Asia)