Marketers curve to leverage gaming

The Indian media industry is standing at the cusp of exciting change. While the increase in access to mediums like TV and Digital is increasing the addressable audience, fragmentation is making it challenging to reach these audiences in an engaging manner.

At the same time, the possibility that digital holds for rich engagement with consumers is exciting for marketers. Digital is rapidly changing the way in which consumers buy and interact with brands. To me, the next big opportunitythat marketers should be excited about is gaming.

Gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry globally and has more than 300mn users in India. Gaming is immersive and deeply personal experience for all gamers. Marketers should get over the stereotype of an 18 year old gamer sitting in a basement in front of 4 screens or a gaming console. Anyone with an internet connection and a mobile phone is a potential gamer and most of them are already on it! Covid accelerated the adoption of gaming and I am sure everyone has a Ludo story or two to share.

The starting point

To make use of this opportunity, marketers should first immerse themselves in the world of gaming by spending some time every day and play a game or two. This is not only a great way to understand the power of gaming, but also understand the psyche of the consumer when s/he is playing a game. The next step to be successful in it will be to make creatives which are fit for platform. Better still, if you can find a way to activate your brand within thenyou will get better returns. There are enough and more examples globally where marketers have run promo packs, in-game integrations and co-branded TVCs with gaming titles with great success.

Creating deep engagement with the gaming community

The gaming eco-system is not just restricted to people playing games on their phones or casual gamers. E-sports is now a proper sport in itself with on-ground competitions, sold out stadiums for screaming fans and bespoke merchandise. The best way to understand e-sports is to compare it to another sport like cricket but replace the bat and ball with gaming consoles. The rest is same with competing teams, captains, fitness coaches and even high-performancesports psychologists! In large parts of Asia, people pay top dollar to go to stadiums and cheer for their favourite team or watch them play on various live stream channels either on TV or on Digital. This whole eco-system is similar to any other organised sporting league and opportunities for marketers are endless starting from team sponsorships to influencer content with streamers.

Being real and authentic

While gaming is a new opportunity, marketers should still focus on creating an authentic experience for their brand within the gaming eco-system. One of the best case studies that I have see globally is for the mayonnaise brand Hellmann’s with the popular game Animal Crossing. The brand believes that any food is too good to be wasted and people should enjoy good, honest food for the simple pleasure it is without worry or waste. Hellmann's Canada created a virtual island in the hit video game "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" to urge gamers to convert digital food waste into charitable donations for real people in need. Players had to send a direct message to the @HellmannsCanada account on Twitter to get a personalized code that offered access to Hellmann's Island.

Once inside Hellmann's Island, players could drop off digital turnips that have spoiled after purchase at the spoiled turnip depot. For every turnip delivered to this virtual depot Hellman’s donate one real meal to the needy people. The brand donated 25000 such meals through our integration with Animal Crossing Canada.

To sum it up, the opportunity in gaming is massive in India and gaming is already a part of our consumer’s life. The possibilities are endless and we should all work towards creating an exciting yet brand safe environment where we delight our consumers! Let the games begin 😊

Tejas Apte
General Manager - media, South Asia
Unilever