Sheetz, a family-owned chain of convenience stores and restaurants, announced today that it’s expanding its venture in the world of gaming with its inaugural class of Gaming Ambassadorz.
The chain announced last year that it was rolling out new gaming-specific rewards and social media channels, in part thanks to many of its “Sheetz Freakz” being vocal gamers. At the time, they announced the Ambassadorz program, and now they’ve revealed the specific creators who’ve been chosen.
Zack Sheffield, Sheetz head of creative, told GamesBeat in an interview: “We are the ultimate one-stop shop for any kind of gamer. They fuel hard with us so they can play hard… It’s less about us trying to break into a new space, and more about listening to our audience and saying, ‘Okay, we see what you’re doing. Let’s get after it!”
The inaugural class of Sheetz Gaming Ambassadorz are these seven creators:
Each Ambassador receives a care package with exclusive gaming gear, brand products and gift cards, and will represent the brand at community events, new store openings and gaming events. They’ll unbox these packages live on their streams.
The Ambassadorz applications will reopen on a quarterly basis, with Sheffield saying that they’re looking for creators with an existing relationship with Sheetz as a brand.
Ryan Sheetz, EVP of marketing and supply chain, said in a statement: “We didn’t send a brief to central casting. We went straight to our Freakz on social and said, ‘Who wants to come make stuff with us?’ The submissions poured in. We went through them looking for one thing: authenticity. People already in gaming, already creating content, already fueled by Sheetz. For Freakz, by Freakz.”
Sheetz Gaming is getting even bigger
Sheffield says that Sheetz’s gaming brand is not just about lip service: They intend to announce more Ambassadorz in the future, and build community game nights for popular titles. “It’s going to largely depend on what our Freakz tell us they want. Wherever they want to show up, whatever they’re craving, that’s what we want to do and make for them.”
Sheetz’s previous venture into gaming included a Fortnite map called “Sheetz Run: Only Up!” with a $25,000 prize pool available for the 25 fastest players. He added that the map was a labor of love and that they “sweated the details.”
Sheffield said, “The thing that I love most is the conversation that we’re having with gaming Freakz and fans on our social channels. We can have this authentic dialogue about what they care about and like in our space, and that’s probably one of the coolest and most successful things.
“We really want to make public the relationship with gamers that we already have. They’re already relying on us. So we just want to make that more of an authentic, formalized connection,” said Sheffield.
Ryan Sheetz added, “We’re here for the Freakz. These seven creators have a seat at our table now, and the table’s only getting bigger. Sheetz Gaming is an open invitation to come play, compete, and build stuff with us.”