We believe the fundamental unit of marketing attention is being disrupted, not just the core marketing channel; this is the future of marketing and media planning.
Whether you’re building an in-app pop-up store, creating in-game branded challenges, or taking a more traditional approach, there are still plenty of decisions to be made. Do you want your campaign to reach players on console, PC, or mobile devices, or a mix of them? Do you want to embed yourself in the existing fabric of a game or build something new? The thing most marketers miss is that gaming isn’t a monolith: You have to tailor your brand’s voice to the platforms, titles, and communities you’re targeting, or it isn’t going to work. A Fortnite player, Roblox player, Animal Crossing player, and EAFC 24 player all communicate differently—not to mention the difference in demographics between those and the myriad other games.
It’s a risk, especially for slow-moving traditional brands, to throw away what’s worked and pivot into something unfamiliar. Often, the focus is on the dollars at stake, which, combined with a lack of understanding of gaming from decision-makers, can make a primetime TV spot or a social media campaign seem more worthy of investment. Surely some members of the Next Gen engage with linear advertising, right?
Well, yes, if you count turning to a second screen or scrolling to the next video as engagement. When it’s possible to skip an ad, the average user will—a tendency that’s even more pronounced among digital natives who are already splitting their attention between multiple apps and conversation platforms at once.
For those among you who are still squeamish, the research indicates gaming content as another always-on opportunity that complements experiential strategies. More than 50% of the Next Gen consume gaming-related content at least twice a week, often for multiple hours at a time. This combination of innovation through immersive world-building and a hybrid of the tried-and-true method might resonate more with your senior leadership team and help them eventually see the value of Method A compared to Method B.
So, even digital media offers a way to sort of stick with what you know. But when your creative is on the ball their character is throwing, facilitates a freebie for a game they love, or has a real-world impact alongside in-app entertainment? That’s what moves the needle, today and even more so in the future.