Startup Bangers! Snacks is adding hundreds of new retail doors each week – a breakneck pace that might give some entrepreneurs pause, but which Founder Phillip Tran says he is confident that he can support, thanks in part to millions of video gamers who already know his caffeinated chips from more than 200 Roblox games.
Tran describes Roblox as an online platform that allows users to create and play games, and as a leading destination for the next generation of shoppers: Gen Z and younger Millennials who make up a slice of the 3.3 billion people who play video games worldwide.
For Bangers! Snacks, the platform is more than a destination for fun – it is a place for business, where it can connect its brand with about 250 million people actively playing games featuring its products.
The young company has integrated its brand onto custom billboards in games as well as “skins” – virtual accessories, such as t-shirts, skateboards or swords, that players can use to customize characters or their avatar.
Bangers! Snacks has also created custom worlds that feature its branding and products. For example, players can navigate obstacle courses with Bangers! branding or their characters can eat grab a bag of Bangers! caffeinated chips as they run past displays in the game. When the avatars eat the chips, they get a “power up” – similar to what they might feel if they ate the energizing snack in real life.
Bangers! offers ‘efficiency’ with caffeinated snacks
Unlike other chips, Bangers! stands out from the competition by offering consumers sustenance and energy in the form of caffeine at the same time.
“How Bangers! started was, I was a student at Staford, and one of the biggest trends that I noticed was that whenever a student walked into a bodega, they would always grab a bag of salty snacks and they would always grab either a coffee or an energy drink,” Tran recalled.
He said he noticed this same trend when he worked on Wall Street after graduation.
“Young professionals always carry two products with them: They always have something to snack on, but at the same time, they needed some sort of functional product to either keep them awake or get them through their day,” he explained.
“I really wanted to find an efficiency by combining both products into one,” he said.
Bangers! flagship product combines the equivalent amount of caffeine as in two coffees into one bag of potato chips, which comes in familiar flavors, like barbecue, and more adventurous options, like Paradise. Each flavor comes in two SKUs: regular and “energy” boosted with caffeine. The combination means consumers can enjoy the brand’s selection when they want an extra energy boost or when they want a regular snack.
To keep consumers engaged, Tran said the company plans to debut regular limited-time offerings of new flavors, and eventually other types of snacks beyond chips.
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Bridging the virtual and real worlds
A “really big selling point” for Bangers! is the ability to connect its virtual snacks in video games with products in the real world, which Tran says Bangers! does by directing players to find its chips in any of the more than 2,500 and growing stores where they are sold.
“We have been directing people to go to Chevron” Extra Mile, where the brand launched “with a bang” on July 4 nationwide, as well as the other retailers and independent stores that stock its products, Tran said.
“We are working with probably five or six big retailers across the country, and will probably have another dozen or more in the next quarter so. But in addition to this, we have bars, we have hospitals, we have vending machines, college campuses all across the country,” he said.
Bangers! marketing on Roblox helps it support its real-life retail partners by driving velocities with demand that almost outpaces supply – a “good problem” that Tran said shows the brand is ready to level up production as well as distribution.
How to level up
Want to learn more about how Bangers! Snacks and other packaged food and beverage brands can use videogames to reach a new consumer base and drive sales both in stores and in games? Then tune into FoodNavigator-USA’s upcoming free webinar, Fueling fun: Connecting with esports enthusiasts and everyday gamers FTW on Oct. 15 at 11:30 CT.
In the 60-minute event, attendees will hear more from Tran about how he is using videogames to build his business as well as from an expert from the Unity-powered UGC gaming platform Spatial about how to leverage games as a marketing tool and marketplace.
Other case studies presented include meal kit company Home Chef’s successful collaboration with the world-building game Minecraft and better-for-you startup Final Boss Sour, which uses video game aesthetics throughout its branding.
In addition, attendees will hear advertising advice from professional and everyday gamers, and market insights from Beverage Daily and Newzoo.
Register today to attend the free webinar on Oct. 15 at 11:30 CT or catch it on demand after it airs: https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Events/fueling-fun-connecting-with-esports-enthusiasts-and-everyday-gamers-ftw/
