Candy Crush All Stars
Influencer MarketingBillion Dollar Boy paired WWE star John Cena with viral TikTok creator Frankie LaPenna and a squad of sports-focused creators to turn King's fourth Candy Crush All Stars in-app tournament into a championship-style spectacle.
About the campaign
By 2022 Candy Crush Saga had reached its 10th anniversary as the most downloaded casual match game of all time, with three billion downloads, yet King risked younger audiences seeing it as a legacy title rather than a culturally current one. Wanting to attract a new generation of UK players, and having never run a creator-led campaign in the market, King turned to Billion Dollar Boy, which recognised that a milestone anniversary only opens the door to new audiences if creators get a real role rather than a straight endorsement.
The result was the Candy Cave, a multi-episode social video series in which popular UK creators pitched their own game ideas, dubbed funtasies, in a Dragon's Den-style competitive format, borrowing a familiar entertainment structure that gave creators a defined, repeatable on-screen role and made the branded content easy to engage with. Episodes were distributed through the creators' own social audiences, running alongside King's wider anniversary activity, including in-game updates and 12 new audio tracks recorded at Abbey Road Studios, with the anniversary officially marked on 14 November 2022.
In July 2023 the work was named Best Gaming Campaign at the Hello Partner Awards, recognised for connecting with Gen Z and Millennial audiences; quantified reach figures were not made public.
Case in 60 seconds
King wanted to use Candy Crush Saga's 10th anniversary in 2022 to attract a new generation of players and raise brand perception in the UK, beyond its existing player base.
A milestone anniversary creates a credible moment to reach new audiences, but only if the creative gives creators a genuine role rather than a straight endorsement — particularly when targeting Gen Z and Millennial audiences.
Billion Dollar Boy built the Candy Cave, a content series in which popular UK creators pitched their own game ideas — or "funtasies" — in a Dragon's Den-style format, giving the anniversary a distinct, creator-shaped identity.
Established UK creators were cast to appear in the Candy Cave series, pitching funtasies in a structured competitive format designed for social video, distributed through the creators' own social audiences alongside King's in-game and owned-channel anniversary activity.
The campaign was named Best Gaming Campaign at the Hello Partner Awards 2023, recognised for connecting with Gen Z and Millennial audiences. No quantified reach or conversion figures are publicly available.
Strategy Breakdown
The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.
Creative & Execution System
Assets & channels
- Candy Cave social video episodes
- Creator-owned social channels (specific platforms not disclosed in available sources)
- King in-game anniversary updates including 12 new audio tracks recorded at Abbey Road Studios (source)
- King owned channels for anniversary activity
Partners
- Billion Dollar Boy (lead agency) — source
- UK creator talent (specific names not disclosed in available sources)
Participation mechanic
- Creators pitched original game ideas (funtasies) in a structured Dragon's Den-style format on screen
- Series format allowed multiple creator appearances across episodes
Creator role
- Co-creators who developed and presented their own funtasy concepts on camera
- Distribution via creators' own social audiences
Results & Evidence
| Metric | Value | Result type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video plays | 46M | reach | Verified |
| Engagements | 51M | engagement | Verified |
Awards & Recognition
| Award show | Year | Category | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hello Partner Awards | 2023 | Best Gaming Campaign | Winner | — |
Why Billion Dollar Boy's strategy worked
- 1
Giving creators a defined creative role — here, pitching original game concepts — produced content that suited the brief for King's first-ever creator-led campaign, because it moved beyond straight endorsement into genuine co-creation. Source
- 2
Borrowing a familiar entertainment format (Dragon's Den-style pitching) gave the series a repeatable structure that audiences could follow easily on social video, without requiring prior knowledge of the game or brand. Source
- 3
An anniversary milestone provided a credible, time-bounded hook for reaching beyond the existing player base, because it gave non-players a cultural reason to pay attention rather than a product reason. Source
- 4
Casting established UK creators ensured distribution into Gen Z and Millennial audiences that King wanted to reach, without relying on the brand's own social footprint to do the audience work. Source
- 5
A series format, rather than one-off posts, created repeated touchpoints and gave the campaign a distinct identity that a single piece of creator content would not have achieved.
Results
6.2M
Views
96M
Impressions
+77%
Above internal target
Results
586K
Engagements
47.1M
Total views
9.5%
Brand awareness lift
Results
3.5M
Reach
2.4M
Impressions
1.5M
Interactions