4As Decisions 2022: Dispelling Myths and Revealing Truths About Gaming for Brands

Sarah Stringer Executive Vice President Head of US Media Partnerships at dentsu and founding team member of Dentsu Gaming introduced and moderated the session by directly addressing the elephant in the room quotGaming is increasingly a really exciting subject matter for the media community but has been one that has been a bit intimidating for a number of brands to get intoquot she saidKevin Joyce Executive Vice President Global Media at LiquidArcade an agency whose client list is primarily videogame publishers sees the preconceptions and hesitancy based on the perception that gaming is niche as games have not been as freely accessible as television or video programming Additionally the unique language of gaming with its acronyms and gamerspeak can be intimidatingJamin Warren CEO of Twofivesix and former Wall Street Journal journalist admitted that part of the issue stems in his opinion from large media companies that have a great influence on what is considered quotculturequot not taking gaming as seriously as they do other forms of entertainment He gives credit to The Washington Post for starting a gaming section Editor39s note It39s notable that the gaming section is a subsection of Technology and not EntertainmentAdam Harris is the Global Head of the Twitch Brand Partnership Studio Dispelling the belief that gamers are teen boys Harris pointed to the research that says quot79 of people above the age 13 in the US game In terms of Twitch which was founded on gaming we39re predominantly 70 1634quot Additionally according to Harris Twitch39s female audience has grown 22 in the past year He also pointed out that if you look at the industry39s revenue of 180B in 2021 that is also an indicator of a much broader audience than teenage boys quotTeenage boys don39t have that level of purchasing powerquot he said noting that the brands with which Twitch has worked in the past year including Charmin Porsche Burberry and Magnum Ice Cream are examples of companies that quotare not brands which you39d associate with strictly teenage boy audiencesquotWill Thompson works for Giant Spoon which counts HP39s gaming computer Omen as one of its clients explained that you have to look at the entire gaming ecosystem including social quotGaming is not a monolithic spacequot he said quotMuch like the music industry there are infinite genres and you need to understand each individual game the audience and their behaviorsquot This echoed the advice given by ActivisionBlizzard CMO Fernando Machado39s keynote the previous dayThompson laid out a list of strategies that brands can take to be associated with gaming quotYou can create content around the game integrate with it or you can sponsor streamers on Twitch or do integrations on Twitch that can reach a certain audience around a certain gamequot he assertedStringer pointed out that mobile gaming gets overlooked especially given its share of gaming time but also said she recognized that some of the ad experience can feel spammy so it39s important to work with the experts at your agency to determine which properties provide more premium experiences that will enhance and not detract from your brandHarris recommended that brands go with a quotcrawl walk runquot strategy quotStart small with whatever your values align withquot he advised quotStart with streamer activation Build up your confidence and experience within the spacequot He suggested that brands ask themselves quotIf you the brand were a gamer what games would you identify with Are you a multiplayer brand Do you want to embrace everyone or go very specificquotIn terms of streamer activation Harris sees streamers as unique and better positioned to be a truly authentic and motivated pitch entity for brands quotIt39s an amazing thing that we have a place where people can make a living playing video gamesquot he said quotBrands are a critical part of that to support them to make that living These creators have built up huge communities which means that brands need to make sure their values are aligned with those of the community and the creators Secondly a brand needs to provide value a reason for them to be in that gaming spacequot With the insight that some creators can live stream for up to seven hours at a time and recognizing there are opportunities when those streamers take a biobreak Twitch created a highly competitive minigame sponsored by Charmin for the community to do while their preferred streamer was taking that break This gave high engagement to the brand and value to the community and it kept the community engaged with the streamer so they wouldn39t lose audienceRounding out the panel the way she started it Stringer tackled the issue of brand safety concerns in games and its related ecosystems Warren of TwoFixSix strongly encouraged brands to fully vet content creators In terms of videogame violence he appeared to minimize concerns quotI do believe that the concerns around videogame violence are mostly generational in the same way that jazz during the Twenties was denigratedquot he said quotYou know the concerns of hot jazz or rock and roll I think videogames have been in the same place but most of those concerns are overblown and just a function of a generational shift of how we think about gaming and culturequotJoyce recommended scenario planning as a good approach for assessing brand safety risk quotWhat happens if somebody says this or does thisquot he asked quotAre we pulling out immediately or say something There39s going to be a vocal part of the audience that will react to how you react You just have to be aware of itquotBetween the two gaming panels at 4As Decision 2022 there were consistent themes of audience and values alignment a twoway value exchange in addition to authenticity and metrics leaning towards engagement and social sentiment over pure reach and scale What is clear from both panels is that brands are opening to gaming as a medium more than ever as audiences dramatically grow As opposed to other media types where ad inventory is contracting and being viewed with everincreasing skepticism gaming is growing global multilayered and at least currently is being viewed by players with a level of authenticity that seems to have escaped other channelsClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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4As Decisions 2022: Dispelling Myths and Revealing Truths About Gaming for Brands

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