400+ Influencer Collabs in 8 Months

Immersive Gamebox is an entertainment brand redefining group gaming through interactive digital experiences. With 35+ venues across five countries, they offer immersive adventures for friends and families—blending storytelling, pop culture, and technology in a unique in-person format.

How do you scale an influencer program for a physical experience brand—without breaking the bank? The challenge was to increase local awareness and drive bookings in multiple cities across the US and UK, while working within a lean budget and offering on-site experiences instead of physical products.

Approach

① Challenge: Gifting an Experience, Not a Product

Unlike e-commerce brands, Immersive Gamebox couldn’t ship products to creators. Every influencer activation required:

• In-person venue visits
• Schedule coordination
• More time and effort from creators

This made onboarding harder—especially without fixed fees. Yet, the product’s inherent appeal made the solution possible: position it as a social, story-worthy group experience.

② Strategy: Always-On Gifting Campaigns

We launched a micro-influencer gifting campaign offering free 60-minute group gaming sessions (plus drinks), in exchange for content on Instagram or TikTok. With games like Squid Game, Paw Patrol, and Escape AI, the offer appealed to a wide range of audiences—from families to gamers to lifestyle creators.

Key Results

• 400+ influencer collaborations in 8 months
• 1.6M+ impressions
• $28.8K Earned Media Value (EMV)
• 300+ high-quality content pieces (Reels, Posts, Stories)
• Presence in 25 cities across the US and UK
• Reached 12M+ followers

③ Audience & Influencer Targeting

To support local activations, we segmented outreach by city and interest—using over 20 filters within the Influencer Hero platform.

Influencer Niches Engaged

• Family Creators: Shared the experience as a kid-friendly day out
• Young Adults: Positioned the experience as a fun night with friends or date activity
• Pop Culture/Gaming Influencers: Tied the content to fandoms like Squid Game, Ghostbusters, etc.
• City-Based Creators: Local lifestyle, activity, or food bloggers
• Lifestyle Influencers: Flexible creators who could integrate the venue visit into their regular content flow

Influencer Size Breakdown

• 10K–50K followers: 63%
• 50K–100K: 17%
• 100K–150K: 8%
• 150K+: 9%

Despite high rejection rates (85% initially declined gifting), we successfully negotiated with ~35% of them using A/B-tested templates, emphasizing future paid opportunities and the uniqueness of the experience.

④ Building Long-Term Relationships

We didn’t stop at a single post. Our goal was to build a flexible creator network that could be reactivated anytime for:

• Venue Openings
  Creators were tagged by location in our CRM, making it easy to re-engage them for new launches in their area. We reactivated 50+ creators for venue openings across Houston, Massachusetts, and more.
• Game Launches
  During the Escape AI launch, we invited past collaborators to a private pre-launch experience. Over 30 influencers promoted the game within its first month.
• Paid Partnerships
  For specific cities or high-priority promotions, the brand later added paid collabs. With previous performance data in hand, we were able to offer tailored rates and request usage rights for paid ads—ensuring better ROI.

Outcome

What We Delivered

• Local Awareness in 25+ cities through city-targeted campaigns
• Sustainable UGC pipeline: 300+ pieces of authentic, repurposable content
• Scalable Strategy to replicate in new cities and product launches
• High-Performing Network: 50+ creators ready for future activations
• Cost Efficiency: 90% of the program built on gifting—no fixed fees

Immersive Gamebox’s influencer program proves that even physical-venue brands can scale a creator strategy—without massive budgets. With the right segmentation, offer positioning, and tools like Influencer Hero, we turned social experiences into powerful digital exposure.

Want to build a location-specific influencer program that works? Contact NC Media for a free consultation.