5-hour Energy

Interactive / Platform Ideas

Flavor Wars / Fortnite

A UEFN Fortnite experience that launched 5-hour ENERGY Gamer Shots by turning flavor into gameplay. Flavor Wars used flavor teams, in-game power-ups, streamer captains, community competition, IRL sampling, and creator activation to make the product playable instead of merely visible.

Role •

Executive Creative Director

Year •

2024

UEFN

Custom Fortnite map

3 flavors

Playable team identities

12 rounds

Streamer-led competition

$10K

Community prize

The Problem

5-hour ENERGY needed to introduce Gamer Shots inside a category where attention is earned through participation, not passive messaging.

Gaming audiences do not need another logo placement. They need a reason for the brand to belong inside the experience. The challenge was to connect the product to behavior players already value: focus, energy, competition, team identity, and in-game advantage.

The work had to avoid feeling like an ad placed near gaming culture. It needed to operate inside the logic of Fortnite itself, while staying brand-safe, legally cleared, and understandable to players, streamers, and consumers.

The Idea

Make the product playable.

Flavor Wars turned 5-hour ENERGY Gamer Shots into a game mechanic. Instead of treating flavors as product variants on a shelf, the campaign turned Apple Bash, Pineapple Charge, and Rocket Raspberry into teams, zones, and power-ups inside a custom Fortnite experience.

That gave the product a role in the game: flavor became identity, energy became advantage, and the launch became a competition players could join.

The Execution

The platform extended beyond the map through TwitchCon-adjacent sampling and Overkill Gaming creator content, including a PC giveaway and custom liquid-cooled PC build.

UEFN map

A custom Unreal Editor for Fortnite map divided play into three flavor zones: Apple Bash, Pineapple Charge, and Rocket Raspberry.

Community tournament

Players could join through Fortnite search or map code, with a $10K prize creating a clear participation incentive.

Product-as-power-up

In-game 5-hour ENERGY power-ups gave the brand a functional role inside the experience, connecting product behavior to competitive advantage.

Creator and IRL activation

The platform extended beyond the map through TwitchCon-adjacent sampling and Overkill Gaming creator content, including a PC giveaway and custom liquid-cooled PC build.

Streamer-led competition

CouRage, LEGIQN, and Sparkles_QT led teams through 12 rounds of Zone Wars, turning the launch into a live community event.

UEFN map

A custom Unreal Editor for Fortnite map divided play into three flavor zones: Apple Bash, Pineapple Charge, and Rocket Raspberry.

Streamer-led competition

CouRage, LEGIQN, and Sparkles_QT led teams through 12 rounds of Zone Wars, turning the launch into a live community event.

Creator and IRL activation

The platform extended beyond the map through TwitchCon-adjacent sampling and Overkill Gaming creator content, including a PC giveaway and custom liquid-cooled PC build.

Product-as-power-up

In-game 5-hour ENERGY power-ups gave the brand a functional role inside the experience, connecting product behavior to competitive advantage.

Community tournament

Players could join through Fortnite search or map code, with a $10K prize creating a clear participation incentive.

UEFN map

A custom Unreal Editor for Fortnite map divided play into three flavor zones: Apple Bash, Pineapple Charge, and Rocket Raspberry.

Product-as-power-up

In-game 5-hour ENERGY power-ups gave the brand a functional role inside the experience, connecting product behavior to competitive advantage.

Streamer-led competition

CouRage, LEGIQN, and Sparkles_QT led teams through 12 rounds of Zone Wars, turning the launch into a live community event.

Community tournament

Players could join through Fortnite search or map code, with a $10K prize creating a clear participation incentive.

Creator and IRL activation

The platform extended beyond the map through TwitchCon-adjacent sampling and Overkill Gaming creator content, including a PC giveaway and custom liquid-cooled PC build.

Systems In Use

The idea had to work as gameplay, creator content, live competition, product launch, and legally cleared brand activation at the same time.

Gameplay trailer

The trailer showed the map, energy, and competitive premise quickly, giving players a fast read on how the brand entered the Fortnite experience.

Flavor teams

Apple Bash, Pineapple Charge, and Rocket Raspberry became team identities, making the product lineup easier to understand and easier to compete around.

Streamer montage

Creator-led content helped the campaign feel closer to gaming culture by putting the competition in the hands of recognizable Fortnite personalities.

Power-up mechanic

Branded in-game power-ups connected 5-hour ENERGY to the competitive behavior of the mode instead of using the product as passive scenery.

Overkill Gaming build

The custom PC activation extended the idea beyond Fortnite into creator hardware culture, using Gamer Shots as part of the physical build story.

Flavor teams

Apple Bash, Pineapple Charge, and Rocket Raspberry became team identities, making the product lineup easier to understand and easier to compete around.

Power-up mechanic

Branded in-game power-ups connected 5-hour ENERGY to the competitive behavior of the mode instead of using the product as passive scenery.

Streamer montage

Creator-led content helped the campaign feel closer to gaming culture by putting the competition in the hands of recognizable Fortnite personalities.

Overkill Gaming build

The custom PC activation extended the idea beyond Fortnite into creator hardware culture, using Gamer Shots as part of the physical build story.

Constraints Navigated

The idea had to work as gameplay, creator content, live competition, product launch, and legally cleared brand activation at the same time.

Platform nativeness

The experience had to feel like it belonged inside Fortnite behavior, not like a brand message pasted onto a game environment.

Brand safety

The work had to operate inside a competitive gaming environment while preserving a controlled brand presentation for an energy-shot product.

Legal and claims guardrails

The product-as-power-up mechanic needed clear rules, player-facing language, and claims discipline so the brand benefit stayed compliant and controlled.

Launch readiness

Map mechanics, creative assets, approvals, vendor coordination, QA, and live-event timing had to come together around a fixed launch window.

Creator coordination

Streamer captains, influencer content, tournament timing, and activation assets had to stay aligned across multiple partners and public-facing channels.

Platform nativeness

The experience had to feel like it belonged inside Fortnite behavior, not like a brand message pasted onto a game environment.

Creator coordination

Streamer captains, influencer content, tournament timing, and activation assets had to stay aligned across multiple partners and public-facing channels.

Launch readiness

Map mechanics, creative assets, approvals, vendor coordination, QA, and live-event timing had to come together around a fixed launch window.

Legal and claims guardrails

The product-as-power-up mechanic needed clear rules, player-facing language, and claims discipline so the brand benefit stayed compliant and controlled.

Brand safety

The work had to operate inside a competitive gaming environment while preserving a controlled brand presentation for an energy-shot product.

Platform nativeness

The experience had to feel like it belonged inside Fortnite behavior, not like a brand message pasted onto a game environment.

Legal and claims guardrails

The product-as-power-up mechanic needed clear rules, player-facing language, and claims discipline so the brand benefit stayed compliant and controlled.

Creator coordination

Streamer captains, influencer content, tournament timing, and activation assets had to stay aligned across multiple partners and public-facing channels.

Brand safety

The work had to operate inside a competitive gaming environment while preserving a controlled brand presentation for an energy-shot product.

Launch readiness

Map mechanics, creative assets, approvals, vendor coordination, QA, and live-event timing had to come together around a fixed launch window.

What It Demonstrates Now

This case shows how brand strategy changes when communication becomes participatory.

The strongest part is not that 5-hour ENERGY appeared in Fortnite. It is that the product was translated into the logic of the platform: teams, zones, power-ups, streamers, competition, and participation.

That matters now because brands increasingly need systems that can move across environments without becoming generic. Flavor Wars demonstrates the ability to turn a product benefit into platform behavior while managing creative, legal, partner, and production constraints.

Featured coverage

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