Pine Hosting is a Minecraft server hosting provider focused on fast, reliable performance for competitive players. In March, we partnered with Pine on a one month hybrid influencer campaign designed to drive both brand awareness and direct conversions.

The objective was clear: reach high intent Minecraft audiences while proving Pine's value as a superior hosting alternative.

We built the campaign around longform YouTube integrations, using 60 second native placements across all creators. Longform was chosen deliberately. While short form excels at passive awareness, it struggles to convert. Pine needed room to explain real product value, not surface level exposure.

A key part of the strategy was vertical selection. Instead of targeting oversaturated SMP and survival creators, we focused on PvP and Hypixel creators. This audience is competitive, highly engaged, and largely under-targeted by hosting companies. Despite common assumptions, Hypixel players still run private servers for practice, testing mechanics, and playing with friends. This made them a strong and overlooked conversion audience.

Messaging centered on authenticity. We avoided rigid scripts and encouraged creators to integrate Pine naturally into their content. This allowed each promotion to feel native while still communicating the same core value proposition.

To differentiate Pine in a crowded hosting market, we anchored messaging around its One Click Server Migrator. This feature removed one of the biggest friction points in the category and gave viewers a clear reason to switch.

The campaign activated five Minecraft creators within the PvP and Hypixel ecosystem. These creators were selected based on audience quality, historical performance, and alignment with competitive Minecraft content.

We used flexible longform placements rather than fixed timestamps, allowing integrations to flow naturally within each video. This minimized retention loss and improved viewer trust.

Creators were encouraged to demonstrate Pine through gameplay context rather than standalone ad reads, which increased credibility and relevance.

The campaign delivered approximately 5.35 million views and 112,000 engagements across five influencer activations. Average CPM landed at $2.08, well below typical gaming sponsorship benchmarks.

We structured deals using aggressive performance caps rather than flat fees. Pine only paid once a predefined CPM threshold was reached, with no additional cost for overperformance. This resulted in approximately 1,685,000 free views, equivalent to over $7,000 in additional media value at no extra spend.

One creator alone delivered over https://hebbkx1anhila5yf.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/tripoinfluencersimg-GJdNZrT4Bg5P7Mst0eQJsf7NnS62wg.png, significantly exceeding their capped target and driving the lowest CPM in the campaign. Comment sentiment around Pine was limited but overwhelmingly positive when mentioned, reinforcing trust without distracting from core content.

Overall, this campaign proved the value of smart vertical selection, performance based pricing, and creator led storytelling. Pine Hosting gained meaningful visibility within a high intent niche while maintaining strong cost efficiency and conversion potential.