• by Fern Siegel , Yesterday

Sandisk is giving gaming an added boost, creating characters and immersive experience for its communities.

The company has taken a new approach to a gaming campaign, developed by creative agency Callen for Twitch, social and digital. OP, an anonymous masked gamer, competes against top Twitch streamers across some of gaming’s biggest titles.

The matches occur in a series of weekly livestream challenges.

The campaign begins Sept. 2, when OP takes over the SANDISK Optimus Twitch channel for the first of eight weekly livestreams. OP will be playing against TenZ, Doublelift and Aramori from the Sentinels, a Sandisk partner. 

The character also meets audiences where they already are, plays within their spaces, and contributes to their culture.

“When we embarked on this project, we realized that a traditional campaign wasn’t going to cut it if we wanted to earn the trust of gamers,” said Craig Allen, Callen CCO.  Building that level of trust also meant surrounding the character with the right partners, so we carefully selected top collaborators who brought high levels of credibility and authenticity to touchpoints.”

Created for Sandisk’s new Optimus line of gaming SSDs, OP transforms the “overpowered” term into the “OP” character. Hidden behind a mask and modulated voice, OP is built to move between titles and take on top players.

“At Sandisk, we believe humans and technology can make magic together,” said Heidi Arkinstall, vice president, global consumer brand and digital marketing at Sandisk.

Callen's creative roster also includes Nickelodeon, Ibotta and Vistaprint.