Welcome back to Side Quest Sessions, our video series exploring the intricate and creative processes behind the services we bring to gaming companies as a Los Angeles creative agency. In this third installment, Sean and Joe share insights on the often overlooked yet immensely impactful world of influencer kits. In case you missed it, here is episode 2.
What exactly goes into crafting these kits? How do they contribute to the gaming community? And why have they become a cornerstone of modern video game marketing? Let’s dive in.
Influencer kits are thoughtfully designed, limited-edition packages that gaming publishers and developers use to engage their communities. These physical items are sent to influencers to generate buzz, excitement, and organic conversation around a game. They’ve become essential in a world where influencers are trusted voices in the gaming community.
As Joe explains: “The whole idea is to give back to the community and leverage them to spread excitement about the game.”
At its best, influencer marketing for video games is not just a marketing tool—it’s an experience. Unboxing videos posted by influencers allow fans to see exclusive items connected to their favorite games. From replicas of in-game items to practical, everyday-use gear, these kits bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds of gaming and gaming collectibles.
Creating video game Influencer kits isn’t just about assembling—it’s a detailed, multi-step process that requires a deep understanding of the game, its fans, and the influencers receiving the kits. Here’s how WAYPOINT brings these kits to life:
1. Understanding the Audience and Vision
The process begins with our clients sharing their vision. Publishers approach us with specific needs, often tied to game launches, expansions, or anniversaries. Armed with this brief, we dive into the game’s universe, analyzing its themes, characters, and fan culture. This research helps us ensure that every item reflects the essence of the game.
2. Ideation and Conceptualization
We brainstorm creative concepts that align with the game and resonate with its fanbase. Joe shared an example from the Elden Ring launch kit:
“We included seed bombs that grow plants, aligning with the game’s themes of growth and nature. It wasn’t just a fun item—it was a meaningful connection to the game’s lore.”
This stage is about selecting items that are functional, thematic, and exciting. Whether it’s a cosplay weapon, journal, or backpack, every item is designed to make an impact.
3. Design and Prototyping
Once ideas are approved, prototypes are created. This iterative process ensures each piece is visually stunning, durable, and practical. For example, a Dragonflight bust for World of Warcraft underwent multiple refinements to achieve the perfect balance of artistic detail and physical stability.
4. Enhancing the Unboxing Experience
The unboxing moment is critical—it’s when influencers connect with the kit and their audience. Packaging is designed to be immersive and interactive. Joe emphasized this with a story about I Expect You To Die 2:
“Influencers had to cut wires to open their kits, mimicking the game’s high stakes escape room mechanics.”
5. Production and Distribution
Video game Influencer kits are typically produced in small runs—ranging from 50 to 500 units. These limited quantities make quality control and timely delivery crucial. Whether it’s shipping a Pokemon Scarlet and Violet suitcase or a complex PUBG puzzle box, every detail is managed meticulously to ensure the kits arrive in perfect condition.
WAYPOINT has worked on a diverse range of influencer kits, each tailored to a specific game. Here are a few highlights:
Dragonflight Expansion (World of Warcraft): This kit included a leather journal, wooden coasters, and a shadow box featuring layered dragon artwork. These items were designed to bring the game’s mystical world into fans’ homes.
Elden Ring: The kit featured a plush “pot friend,” golden seed bombs, a throw blanket with key art, and a candle holder that cast a shadow of the game’s iconic tree.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Designed like a school bag, this kit included themed pennants, a notebook, and a canvas map of the game’s world, all packed in a suitcase-style box.
PUBG Puzzle Box: Inspired by military crates, this kit required influencers to solve puzzles step-by-step to reveal collectibles, creating a gamified unboxing experience.
I Expect You To Die 3: Influencers received two packages—a pair of wire snippers followed by a locked kit. They had to cut wires to open it, reflecting the game’s tension-filled escape scenarios.
As the gaming marketing landscape evolves, so do the expectations for influencer kits. Fans and influencers alike crave unique, high-quality items that stand out. Here are some trends we’re seeing:
Interactive Elements: From puzzle boxes to items that light up or move, interactivity makes kits memorable. WAYPOINT’s PUBG puzzle box and LED-lit items are prime examples.
Utilitarian Items: Fans appreciate items they can use daily, like backpacks, tumblers, and blankets. These are more than collectibles—they’re functional tributes to the games.
Sustainability: Eco-friendly designs, like the biodegradable seed bombs in the Elden Ring kit, are gaining popularity as both fans and brands prioritize sustainability.
Thematic Packaging: Packaging isn’t just a container—it’s part of the experience. For Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the suitcase-style box transported fans to the game’s universe before they even opened it.
Creating influencer kits comes with its own set of challenges. Joe and Sean, with experience providing creative services for video games, shared some practical advice for those daring enough to venture into this field:
Plan for Extras: “Always make a few spares,” Joe advises. Delicate items can get damaged during shipping, and having backups ensures influencers receive replacements quickly.
Timing Is Key: “Early planning is essential,” says Sean. Aligning kit production and delivery with marketing campaigns requires careful coordination, especially when shipping internationally.
Balance Creativity and Cost: High-quality items are crucial, but it’s equally important to stay within budget. Choosing a standout piece, like a video game replica weapon or custom jacket, can often have more impact than a box of smaller trinkets.
At its heart, an influencer kit is about fostering community engagement. By collaborating with influencers, these kits spark conversations and create shared experiences among fans. Sean sums it up perfectly:
“It’s about creating something that connects people to the game in a way that feels authentic, thoughtful, and reflective of the game itself.”
From meticulously crafted items to immersive unboxing moments, WAYPOINT’s influencer kits go beyond video game marketing—they’re celebrations of the games and their fans.
As the gaming industry continues to grow, so does the potential for innovation in influencer kits. WAYPOINT is exploring new technologies, materials, and creative concepts to keep pushing boundaries. From LED-lit collectibles to sustainable designs, the future of influencer kits and gaming collectibles is as exciting as the games they represent.
Stay tuned for the next episode of Side Quest Sessions, where we’ll explore more behind-the-scenes stories and creative insights. For updates on our latest projects, follow WAYPOINT and join us on our journey to bring gaming experiences to life.
Sean:
All right, good morning everybody, good evening, whatever time it is, wherever you are. This is SideQuest Sessions. You're here with myself, Sean from Waypoint and Joe. What's up, Joe? Today, we're going to talk about influencer kits and a little bit about influencer marketing, but more about the products we make that are used for influencers. All right, Joe, let's talk about influencer marketing and influencer kits. What exactly is that in your opinion?
Joe:
Let's dive in. Yeah, so when we're talking about influencer kits, these are really popular physical items that publishers and devs like to make for internal and external use, and the whole idea behind it is to sort of give back to the community and leverage the community to generate buzz.
Sean:
So when we talk about influencer kits, what are the kind of kits we're working on, maybe not right now because they're confidential, but that we worked on recently?
Joe:
So yeah, we've done some pretty awesome ones over the last couple of years. A few notable projects, I would say Dungeons and Dragons, we did a really great one to commemorate their 50th anniversary. We also have done holiday mailers in the past for Pokemon and for D&D as well, working with Wizards of the Coast.
And then a lot of them also happened right before game launch. So building up to the launch of Elden Ring, for example, we sent out some really cool products. In addition to that, recently we worked on one for Warcraft expansion, Dragonflight expansion, which was an opportunity to sort of look at some new assets, give people a sneak peek early and send them a special gift in the mail to get them excited.
Sean:
When we work on influencer kits, that's a bit of a vague term, so let's describe it a bit more. What do we do? What is the process for coming up with an influencer kit, conceiving of it, designing it, manufacturing it, shipping it? What does that look like?
Joe:
Yeah, so usually our clients come to us, they already have a pretty good longstanding and established partnership with their influencers, their community and this audience that they've built up over time. So they'll come to us and they'll say something like, hey, you know, we have this right around the corner. Keep it a secret.
It's coming up and we want to do something special for our fans and for our community. And the whole idea behind it is that they're going to create content that really puts this out onto the Internet and gets the conversation started behind it, right? So they'll come to us with that sort of concept and then that's when we start to get to make some proposals.
So we'll say, hey, like this is the type of thing that you're releasing or this is what fans are most excited about with this expansion or with this new game. And we'll think about, OK, what kind of physical items, goodies, useful items, surprise gadgets or just creative sort of display figures. It can be anything really, but we'll put together some concepts for them and start thinking about how this could look.
And I guess one important thing to consider there is a lot of these are unboxing videos. So we want it to be an exciting experience and for there to be multiple touch points throughout, from the moment they get the package in the mail, they're sharing that with their fans. So that has to be exciting all the way down into while they're taking out the items and exploring what's inside.
Sean:
So we've come up with a few ideas. We know we're going to send them to influencers. We know that they're going to hopefully produce an unboxing video. Can you tell us a bit about how many of those do we usually make in a typical influencer kit?
Joe:
Sure. Yeah. So these tend to be short run.
There are usually different tiers for different levels of community influencers. So I recall for one Pokemon project, we ended up doing maybe 10 or 15 of a really exclusive special item. It was this giant acrylic full card set with a laser engraved plaque that had the influencer's name and everything. And then I would say normally like the quantities are, you know, maybe 50, 100, up to about four or five hundred before. Yeah, that's usually the territory we're working in.
Sean:
Okay. What kind of stuff goes in an influencer kit? You rambled off a few examples, but what are the typical items or the more common items you see in there?
Joe:
Yeah. So a lot of times, like I would say it's swag. You know, there are some common things like key chains and enamel pins and things that everyone loves.
They're just a nod to the game and the franchise. But we like to do crazier things to like maybe a lamp that's shaped like something for the game or maybe a giant throw blanket for your couch that has like some really incredible insignia or artwork on it. I think also just sort of utilitarian items. We like to do metal tumblers. We like to do sort of tactical gear sometimes if the game, if it makes sense for the game.
Sometimes something as crazy as like a cosplay weapon could be included, which is really awesome. Or like a replica of a helmet or an in-game item. Those are really fun to do.
And then backpacks. Yeah, it can be all sorts of stuff. We tend to lean a little more utilitarian, try to avoid things that are just clutter and junk and put like a lot of thought into it, even if that means one big, awesome item and less of the small nicknames.
Sean:
Yeah, I've been hearing customers say more and more that they want something more of a premium item and they don't want any of those knickknacks, really. They're looking for something more of a central item that really stands out and grabs everybody's attention. What's the coolest one you've ever done?
Joe:
I really like some of the bags we've made. I think one of the crazier ones for Elden Ring was the seed bombs that we did. So basically we sent out these little paper seedlings that when you activate them with water and put them in dirt, you can grow your own plants.
Sean:
One of the neatest ones I remember doing was for I Expect You To Die 3, or just I Expect You To Die, I'm not sure. We ended up doing something with a bit of interactivity where we had to cut wires as if you're defusing a bomb. And the influencers were sent the kits in two series, if you will.
So first they were sent a pair of snippers and not sure what to do about all that. And then after they received the main influencer kit, in order to get it open, they had to cut some wires. Everybody thought that was pretty neat.
I remember a while ago we did a backpack for Metal Gear Solid and it had 3D plush embroidery on it. It was black on black and it wasn't anything too complex, but that one got a lot of praise because it's something that, like you said earlier, that's utilitarian, something that we can use, that influencers can use and that gets around and it's an appreciated item.
Joe:
Yeah. And that's something that we take a lot of cues from our e-commerce department on as well. Just thinking about what's stylish, what's fashionable when you're making apparel and gear like that, you have to think about that side of things.
Sean:
All right. So hopefully hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people are watching. The influencer receives this in the mail and proceeds to do an unboxing video. And what really is the point or what is the expectation on the customer side?
Joe:
So, yeah, there's kind of this whole concept within influencer marketing. And I'm no expert on this, but from our experience, this is what we picked up on is that there are sort of micro influencers and small communities and then macro influencers, larger ones that probably everyone knows from Twitch or YouTube or TikTok or Instagram. And so the idea is that you're reaching fans at all of those touch points.
So you get a very niche specific channel that only covers first person shooters, for example, and maybe they only have a thousand fans. But if you put all those together, along with your huge influencers that you have a great partnership with as a publisher or as a developer, then you can activate the community on all fronts and sort of it trickles down through all the channels and gets to the right people who may be fans of your game.
Sean:
All right. So talking about choosing the right people, we circle back to the ideation process. How do we go about choosing the right items based on the target audience, the audience being influencers in our case? How do we choose what would be an appropriate item to go in the kit?
Joe:
Yeah. So I think like a lot of that has to do with the type of game and the sort of consumer patterns of those types of fans. You know, like you can kind of do some research and get a feel for what they're responding to, whether that's like on Reddit or in the YouTube comments, like what's getting them excited.
And sometimes it's based around the character from a game. Sometimes it's based around something new that's been announced that's coming to this next chapter or this expansion. And so like we try to play on that because we know, hey, that's going to drive fan engagement.
But also like you were talking about just things around your house that you would actually display and use. And this is part of like our everyday job, right, is understanding fans and fans of games specifically. So I think, yeah, it could really be anything, but we definitely make it like thematic to whatever the title is.
Sean:
You mentioned earlier that we don't, we're not really experts in the whole influencer marketing category. And that's true. Let's explain what that means, because our speciality is really designing the kits, manufacturing them and getting them to the right place, hopefully on time.
And so there's another aspect that we rarely do or rarely confronted with, which is choosing the influencers, communicating with them or even dealing with an influencer marketing agency. That's not really something that we do.
Joe:
Right. Exactly. Yeah. Usually our clients come to us with an existing kind of list they have of people that they have pre-existing relationships with. But we have had the opportunity to work with some really great partners and other agencies in this realm. And they're the people really responsible for receiving a brief from us.
We say, hey, we want to target gamers in this sector who are fans of this type of game based on the project we're working on. And then they'll sort of look at the markets, whether that's LATAM or Europe or US or Canada, anywhere, and find out what the fan bases look like, what the sort of regular viewership looks like for those channels and come back with a list. And then if it's a match, then we can move forward.
But we have to sort of feel out and communicate with those influencers. And that would be the role of an influencer agency or the client itself.
Sean:
All right. So I'm going to look on my phone here and check out our website and let's talk about some of the past influencer projects we've worked on and if you can remember the items that were in there and we'll show them on screen so everybody can see what we're talking about. The first one that's on our site is for Blizzard, Dragonflight Influencer Kit. What do you think about that?
Joe:
Yeah. So that was a really fun one leading up to their one of their most recent expansions. And that one included several cool items. We did a bust of one of the statues from the game, which was great. 3D printed and painted. We did a Dragonflight leather journal. We did some custom coasters. So we did do some coasters. They're laser engraved, I think.
Sean:
Yeah. And wooden coasters look pretty good. I have them here in my place. There's also this parallax frame.
Joe:
Yes. The shadow box. So we took a piece of key art and we split that into several layers and then each layer of the artwork gets its own sort of depth in the frame to create like a 3D effect. So there's a kind of a dragon cut out on an epic landscape background. And that was a framed art piece that was included.
Sean:
Elden Ring Influencer Kit. The one with the plushie. Remember that one?
Joe:
Yep. So we did a plushie of the pot friend, the beloved Elden Ring character. That was one of the items in there.
We did the seed bombs, which I talked about, colorful paper bombs that allow you to grow your own plants. We also did a giant throw blanket for that with the Elden Ring key art. A nice golden box with some debossed effect on the top, which was very cool.
Sean:
What about the candle?
Joe:
Oh, yeah. We did a candle holder with like a it's like a tea light holder that cast the shadow of the tree on the wall.
Sean:
Yeah. You got a great memory. Let's keep going. I've got Scarlet and Violet Influencer Kit for Pokemon.
Joe:
OK, so, yeah, this one I really liked for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release. We themed this one sort of after like the school trainer theme. And so we had like a school bag style backpack. We had some pennants representing Scarlet and Violet that you could hang on your wall. I think there was also a Scarlet and Violet notebook in there and a few other items.
Sean:
Any flags?
Joe:
I think I talked about the patches. Did you get the patches?
Sean:
Patches. Yeah. And the map was a giant map.
Joe:
Yep. And then there was a cool like I forget the material, but it was like canvas style, thicker, interesting map of the environment.
Sean:
And the packaging is quite neat.
Joe:
It looks like a suitcase. Yeah, it was supposed to look like a suitcase that was shipped around to many of the different regions in the Pokemon world. And yeah, we cranked out a bunch of those in our over in our warehouse and shipped them all out. It was awesome to see them all stacked up together.
Sean:
Isshin Influencer Kit.
Joe:
So for that one, I think the main component was a Hauri, which is like a I think a Japanese piece of apparel. It's like almost like a robe.
Sean:
Not to say kimono.
Joe:
Yeah.
Sean:
Yeah. Yeah.
Joe:
And yeah, so that was pretty cool. Blue and white, like the one the character wears in the game. Nice. I've got the one with the Dungeon Master screen.
So for Dungeons and Dragons, I think this was for their holiday mailer. So if you're familiar with tabletop gaming and the game of Dungeons and Dragons, the Dungeon Master, the storyteller, uses a screen in front of them to sort of like hide all the inner workings of their story and what's going on from the rest of the players. Is that right, Sean?
Sean:
That's right.
Joe:
OK, cool. Great. So so we had the opportunity to do some woodworking here, which was really fun. And with metal rivets and like we went the whole nine yards and lacquered the wood and stained finish and everything. I had a really great print on it that was sort of like white and gold to fit the theme of this holiday mailer.
And yeah, they were really hefty and awesome. They folded out and you could use it as a DM screen. And they also had a laser engraved metal like golden badge on them on the front with the influencer's name.
Sean:
And something we didn't talk about is one of the things you can put in your influencer kit is existing inventory you might have done with another licensee or yourself. And so in this case, they provided a toy. It was a die that transforms like a transformer. A diceling it's called.
Joe:
Yeah, a diceling. There you go. Into a kind of a dragon. That's pretty neat. Yeah. And those coasters, just to touch back on that really quick, they had die holders in them. So you have your drink and you have your die right next to you.
Sean:
Very good. Next one I have here is for Pokemon and it's the advent calendar.
Joe:
Yes. OK, I love this project. So this one was for the holidays, I'm pretty sure, since it was an advent calendar. And what we did was we created an advent calendar using booster packs. So it was for a Pokemon trading card game. And we like sort of had to come up with a custom die line for this to make a giant version of an advent calendar.
And each of the slots held a booster pack. So they were all numbered. And then as you get through the days of the month, you get you open it, you open the booster and hopefully get some good pulls.
Sean:
Excellent. Next one here is for Yu-Gi-Oh!, which is for Konami. And there was a crystal ball that lit up.
Joe:
So, yeah, this one for the packaging, we ended up doing the video box, which is really cool. Like right when you open the box, the trailer starts playing, which is great. And then inside it was a blue eyes, white dragon sort of crystal ball that had the 3D figure laser cut inside of this round crystal orb. And then that had a base that goes on it and it lights up.
Sean:
I'm a kid of the 80s. So how about the Cosmonius High Influencer Kit with the jean jacket?
Joe:
Yep. So for that one, really fun game for our friends at Alchemy Labs, I believe. It's about this cosmic high school where sort of things, wild things happen. And it's a VR game. And so for this one, we did a pretty cool jean jacket that sort of looked like 80s style with some distressing and like cool, almost like paint style graphic and logo on the back.
Sean:
OK, another great one I've got here is the RAD Tournament Prize Pack for Bandai Namco for the game RAD. Yeah. I remember being heavily involved personally in that one with regards to the glowing in the dark amiibo style figurine.
Joe:
You are a great help. So we appreciate you for that one. But yeah, really, really cool game that has to do with mutations. And so the theme of this was another sort of 80s themed retro throwback style and aesthetic for the whole kit. And I remember we did like, I forget what the kind of skateboard it's called, but it's like the surfboard style skateboard with printed graphic. We did a tin lunchbox, very classic.
And then what you were helping us out with was the figurine. So we had the idea to do like a full action figure style figurine, like with the packaging and everything from those 80s and 90s, like action figures you'd get as a kid.
And so, yeah, we 3D printed all the figures and then we airbrushed them with a glow in the dark powder slash paint that made them like radioactive. And then we ended up taking that and making our own backers with like printed game info on the back, really cool artwork, and then putting a plastic blister on the front to make like that, that like figurine style packaging.
Sean:
Yeah.
Joe:
The glow in the dark is crystals and they clog the airbrush.
Sean:
Yeah. All right, Joe, let's wrap this one up with some advice for people who are daring enough to make influencer kits. And I say daring because not a lot of people want to make 50 or 100 or 150 of something.
A lot of the factories, especially overseas, don't want to deal with those small quantities. And so it's a bit of a daunting thing to make these influencer kits, buzz kits, press kits, whatever you want to call them. And I wanted us to give some advice to anybody out there who's interested.
And so one of the things I thought of is to be careful when you're making your quantities to make a few extras because they're such custom items, they're often delicate and they get shipped in the mail and it doesn't matter which carrier you use or how well you pack them, sometimes they're going to get broken and it's good to have a few extras on hand. Do you agree?
Joe:
Yeah, that's definitely a good call. Always great to have extras and we do take great care in packing. It can happen. So it's nice to be able to send a replacement right away to whoever you're sending it to.
Sean:
Timing wise, sometimes these kits correspond to a stream or some kind of marketing beat and for them to arrive late is a big issue for our customers. Sometimes, not all the times, but it's often the case where timing is pretty important. And so how do you make sure we get stuff there on time?
Joe:
Yeah, so the earlier we get the project brief, the better, of course. So that certainly helps. But yeah, just finishing production early, making sure you're pushing for the proper approvals and able to start production in time.
And like you said, being early is really the key so that you have enough buffer for shipping. And through the years, you sort of learn about how long something's going to take. But especially since a lot of the ones we're doing are shipping internationally all over the world to some really remote and crazy places, those places have less predictable sort of customs and process for getting them through to the final destination.
Sean:
One that we forgot to mention, which was one of my favorites, is the one we did for PUBG just recently. And that was a complex one because it had a whole system of puzzles. In order to assemble it, you had to know a code or there was a padlock or that kind of thing. Talk about that one a bit.
Joe:
Yeah. So we were inspired by a couple of really big puzzle box YouTubers. And we've seen a bunch of awesome handcrafted puzzle boxes where you get maybe one or two clues just right off the bat.
Maybe it's on the outside of the box or something. And you slowly make your way into the box, unlocking different points throughout the process. So we put together this awesome hand-painted military crate.
It was like an ammo crate that had a vintage lock on it and everything. And within there, there was an ammo box and a bunch of other stuff that was locked up. And you had to go step by step, opening boxes, following like a specific code.
And the whole thing had like a shipping manifest that sort of told you the order in which to go. And once you got in there, you unveiled a figurine.
Sean:
And so one of the tips that I wanted to throw out there was to provide instruction.
Joe:
What?
Sean:
There's a nice challenge and it's fun to have a puzzle to solve. But for some people, it might be more challenging than for others. And so it's OK to provide instructions for those influencers to make sure they go through the unboxing video in a way that's appealing to the viewer.
Joe:
Yeah, right. You don't want to be holding up the stream or holding up the unboxing or create too much of a challenge. For that particular one, we had an open in case of emergency envelope in case someone needed to use it and help them progress through. Unlike a bit of a cheat code. Yeah, exactly.
Sean:
Pretty good. Joe, nice talking to you as usual. That's our third Side Quest Sessions and there's more to come. Thanks for your time and your expertise.
Joe:
Yeah. Thank you, Sean.
Sean:
See you guys soon. If you guys think this is a cool video, subscribe to our video or give us some feedback down below so we can keep making things better.
Joe:
See you, everybody.
