YMCA's Esports Summer Camps

Spreading awareness of esports & tech summer camps in 5 new markets across the East Coast through free and low-budget marketing channels.

Project Overview

Client

YMCA

Location

East Coast, US

PROJECT LENGTH

3 Years

targetS

Services

Paid Ads

Web Development

SEO

Graphic Design

Metro Esports is an esports lounge operator partnered with YMCAs to build, operate, and market programs and facilities.

ACQUIRE NEW CUSTOMERS

The challenge:

The YMCA was struggling to reach an audience outside of their member-base to register for their new esports and tech camps. We had to establish Metro Esports in the local community as an innovator in summer camps.

The APPROACH:

Trust Through Physical Mailers

Establish intimacy in markets where esports camps were unfamiliar using mailers. Emphasizing structure, supervision, and learning outcomes. Using a physical format helped anchor trust and make the programs feel local, established, and credible.

Design landing pages for parents

Landing pages were structured to answer parental concerns before promoting excitement. Headlines and copy focused on safety, skill development, supervision, and value, with esports framed as an education pathway rather than passive gaming.

Create ads with familiar language

Paid social ads on Facebook, Instagram, and partners used parent-friendly language to reduce skepticism around esports. Copy such as "mom-approved", "structured learning," and "supervised gameplay" was paired with clean visuals to balance credibility with excitement.

Capturing intent at decision time

Paid search campaigns focused on high-intent queries related to sumemr camps, childcare, and tech education rather than esports alone. This allowed the camps to intercept parents actively researching summer options and introduce esports as a legitimate alternative.