League of Legends is one of the most popular PC games in the world and has been around for 11 years. Gamers think they know the game intimately having seen everything from elder dragons to k-pop ninjas.

So, in 2020, when Riot Games wanted to release a mobile version of League called Wild Rift, we needed to find a way to reignite the imagination of fans about the world of the game. At the same time, we needed to intrigue mobile gamers who were unfamiliar with League and intimidated by its legacy.

Our main objective was to get gamers talking about Wild Rift - from influencers and creators with massive reach, to individual players.

To launch League of Legends: Wild Rift, we gave gamers a literal taste of the game by bringing a virtual fruit from the game into the real world. This was an experience unlike anything gamers had seen in 11 years of League of Legends. To launch a game, we launched a fruit.

We gave Honeyfruit an otherworldly taste that was impossible to describe. Everyone had something to say about the fruit, fueling intrigue and speculation as more and more people wanted to taste it for themselves. This was an edible hype drop - everyone wanted to taste the magic for themselves. They wanted to immerse themselves in a whole new way of experiencing the game.

This caused an outpouring of taste tests, reaction videos and reviews on social media, from both influencers and creators and ordinary fans. Since everyone got a different experience, everyone had something different to say.

Thai gamers are strongly social, wanting to be part of the game that ‘everyone’s playing right now’. So, we needed to get the Thai gaming world talking about the game, as this would have a strongly positive impact on the likelihood that new players would try the game.

To do this, we made Honeyfruit our ‘sneaker drop’ - a unique opportunity to get our Thai players hyped and talking about Wild Rift. It was perfect for this for two reasons. First, it was exclusive - Honeyfruit’s flavour had never been revealed. Second, as a power-up, Honeyfruit was an easy entry-point non-fans would understand.

Our media approach was key to this as well. We distributed Honeyfruit to gaming creators across the region to ensure everyone was talking about it in the lead up to our campaign. Creators did taste tests and reviews which fueled fan excitement to try it themselves.

To ensure that Honeyfruit’s taste was otherworldly, we worked with a world-class chef. We gave him the mission of bringing a virtual fruit, a power-up from the game, to life.

Using molecular gastronomy, he captured the magical taste of Honeyfruit by seeding it with microbeads of flavour that made it taste different depending on how you bit into it. It was a constantly shifting mixture of sweet, spicy or fizzy.

But it wasn’t just about the fruit. Atmosphere mattered too. Honeyfruit was served out of a Honeyfruit Cart, a vehicle that looked like it rolled out of the world of League. The cart’s staff were dressed in fantasy gear and the decor of the cart was designed to evoke a mystical fantastical world. Easter eggs and lore details from the game were scattered everywhere, giving gamers endless photo opportunities that also drew them into the world of the game.

Honeyfruit earned 6.1 million social and media impressions within 2 weeks. Gamers created memes, unboxing videos, reactions videos, taste tests, comedic sketches and rap songs about Honeyfruit. We also enjoyed an incredible turnout at our on-ground event. We distributed 10,500 Honeyfruits to thousands of eager fans who queued up for hours for a taste.

As a result, Honeyfruit successfully beat sentiment benchmarks by 13x. This meant that our ratio of likes to dislikes was 13x better than the average game launch.

In addition, we also created highly popular event wrap-up videos that amplified the reach of our campaign far beyond the event itself. This was key because when gamers around the world saw Thai fans reacting to the taste, their desire to know more only fanned intrigue. Finally, the success of Honeyfruit contributed to WIld Rift’s rise to the top of the app store in the region.