Get Immersive With Gaming to Engage the Next Generation

The generation we call the “Next Gen” is approaching content in a fundamentally different way from past demographics; it’s seen as a notoriously difficult group to capture for any meaningful period. But the one thing that keeps them where they are, that grabs their attention for longer than most sports broadcasts or primetime TV shows is gaming.

If you’re trying to connect with the Next Gen, you need to not only be integrating with gaming, but also finding ways to make your brand as interactive, immersive, and playable as the titles they dive into each day. No matter how compelling your commercial, how creative your mid-roll content is, or how authentic your affiliate programs are, if your message doesn’t have an experiential component, you’re missing out on the most vital group of consumers on the planet.

Anecdotally, most know that Gen Alpha and Gen Z are native to not just gaming, but watching game-focused content, communicating with friends on multiple gaming-friendly digital platforms, and centering their lives around a PC, console, or mobile device rather than traditional sports or TV programming. But the research-backed reason to throw away your marketing playbook? 55% of the Next Gen are more likely to buy a brand they see in a game, with millennials (40%) less engaged but still presenting strong opportunities for the savvy brand manager.

Livewire surveyed more than 1,800 Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and millennial gamers across the U.K., U.S., and Australia and found that gaming is not just a lifestyle for these generations but the best way to engage with them. As digital adopters, millennials have a significant presence in digital worlds and, similarly to younger, digitally native generations, have picked up on gaming and virtual entertainment as a consumption habit.

That said, most marketers have a plan for millennial engagement. The Next Gen is the question mark.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the research into the gaming habits of Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and millennials:

• At least 63% of the Next Gen play games 4-5 days a week, and every member of those demographics has grown up with in-game advertising as the norm.
• Around 65% of the Next Gen said they find branded experiences to be both enjoyable and valuable.
• Interactivity and playable experiences, from in-game skins to worlds developed with an activation in mind, are an expectation for both the Next Gen and millennial consumers.

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.

From the Game Developers Conference to IAB PlayFronts to other trade conferences all over the world, the hot topic right next to artificial intelligence is how to unlock the monetization potential of the Next Gen. The answer for most brands, no matter if they’re endemic to gaming or first-time players in the space, is to take their multiplatform strategy to the next level and include a medium where consumers can choose how to interact with your products.

With Gen Z commanding more than $450 billion in spending power, and Gen Alpha just a few years away from being a purchasing powerhouse, it’s time to rethink how you picture playability. This demographic is foundationally different from the generations that came before it, and that means how brands talk and engage with them has to be completely different too. If you haven’t yet, it’s time to get in the game—and if you have, make sure you’re leveling up. Competition on the virtual playing field will only get fiercer.