Gaming

How Fashion Wove a Successful Blueprint for In-Game Advertising

Published

3 years ago

May 27, 2021

George Miller

How Fashion Wove a Successful Blueprint for In-Game Advertising

Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Lisa Hau, COO of Bidstack

With 60 percent of retail transactions now taking place online (compared to around 10 percent as recently as last year) the “retail apocalypse” that many skeptics never thought possible is now a reality. This is not just an e-commerce wave — people are choosing to shop differently now and all signs indicate this behaviour shift is permanent.

This is fundamentally changing how luxury, retailers and CPG brands reach consumers. Out-of-home advertising is being replaced with “shoppable media” advertising via social media, display, and more, with media spends expected to increase exponentially.

But for creative and innovative retail brands that want to stand out, there is an option that connects them with new and existing generations of engaged consumers — in-game advertising. Despite the impact of the pandemic on many industries, the gaming industry has reversed declining trajectories and came out as one of the strongest industries in 2020. With the introduction of two next-generation consoles as well as major M&A consolidation activity involving Bethesda and Codemasters (US$8.5B in M&A spend), in-game advertising is fast emerging as a lucrative medium for brands to adopt. Of the in-game advertising early adopters, one sector, in particular, has captured the essence of doing it well and provided a blueprint for others: fashion.

Luxury brands such as Burberry and Gucci have recognized the cultural significance and the mass appeal of gaming, and have embarked on multichannel gaming campaigns that have gamers spending frequently on physical and digital products, indulging in branded experiences within games, and clamoring after the products on display from the industry’s most-watched influencers.

Adidas partnered with Tyler Blevins, better known online as Ninja, who has nearly 21 million followers across social media platforms, and 22.3 million YouTube subscribers that tune in to watch him play. While he is at the top of the gaming influencer food chain, Twitch, which clocks monthly users at 140 million, has a bevy of game-playing stars likely to partner with brands that want to celebrate and invest in creators and their audiences. The second screen audience has proven their loyalty results in a purchasing power retail product brands can’t afford to lose out on over the next several years. Dressing, feeding, and accessorizing these powerful online players is a multi-layered marketing approach, which fashion has already shown is a powerful sales and branding strategy.

Influencers are just one piece of the multichannel experience fashion has practically perfected within in-game advertising. Louis Vuitton was at the forefront of real-world and in-game campaigns when they signed a two-year deal with the popular online game League of Legends (LoL), where they created in-game skins for player avatars, as well as a ready-to-wear collection and trophy travel case for the LoL Championship in Paris. Vuitton didn’t stop there; their Final Fantasy 13 heroine was so popular that she became a full-time digital model for the brand, bringing the advertising investment in the campaign full circle and fostering long-term relationships with the game’s most loyal audiences.

Further illustrating the increasingly symbiotic relationship between fashion and gaming, Balenciaga released its Fall 2021 collection in the form of an original video game – “Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow.” Allowing the player to walk through the game filled with characters in Balenciaga wear, the environment is almost Cyberpunk 2077-esque – opening the world of fashion to gamers, and the world of gaming to fashionistas. British luxury fashion house, Burberry, has also adopted an interactive approach by showcasing its Spring 2021 collection by partnering with Twitch. The engagement led to 40,000 concurrent viewers, providing the brand access to a gaming demographic that is heavily invested in fashion, both virtually and in real-life.

Fashion has also encouraged gender parity in gaming, which has traditionally been a masculine pursuit up until now. The Far East represents an interesting case study, where women account for 71 percent of China’s luxury spending. What is interesting is females also comprise 58 percent of the country’s total gaming population – a whopping 280 million gamers. With the Chinese female millennial spending an average of US$5,000 annually on luxury goods and a serviceable available market (SAM) of US$1.4 trillion, it comes as no surprise to see fashion brands prioritising gaming as a way to capture market share.

In-game advertising has a surprisingly low barrier-to-entry. For example, brands are incorporated into the environments of certain games that mimic real-world advertising slots such as billboards, race car skins, or football jersey “sponsorships.” Bidstack’s work with Burberry in Ubisoft’s AAA free-to-play battle royale game Hyper Scape is a high impact illustration of how the open world genre lends itself to in-game advertising.

However, fashion offers some of the most compelling use cases of how complex and pleasing the visual creativity of integrating a product into a gaming experience can be as reflected in the success of DREST, which has reimagined the shopping experience. One of the biggest appeals of video games to gamers is the endless possibility to customise, and fashion brands were quite possibly the best to capitalise on the appetite of gamers to differentiate themselves, none other than in-game itself.

Fashion brands took a leap on this new medium, but did so by deeply understanding the relationship between players and games, respecting the escapism of the gaming experience, and seizing the opportunity to build creative activations for players, including their professional gaming heroes. Fashion has shown that the world of retail products and the experience of gaming can have a symbiotic relationship that deeply entertains and benefits the end consumer, as well as the brand itself.

About Lisa Hau:
Lisa joined Bidstack in May 2020 with 15 years experience most recently at WPP a FTSE 100 where she led investor relations and Jefferies where she was an equity analyst heading up coverage for European Media and Internet. Lisa oversees the day to day operations for Bidstack and works closely with the management team on strategy, corporate and business development. Lisa graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2006 and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

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Gaming

Midjiwan opens Stockholm’s first co-working space for game developers

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Midjiwan, the award-winning independent studio behind The Battle of Polytopia, today announces the opening of Game Town, Stockholm’s first coworking space for game developers.

In addition to being a new home for Midjiwan, Game Town will also serve as a base for Toppluva AB, the makers of Grand Mountain Adventure; Warm Kitten AB, the developers behind Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack; Gro Play AB, a studio creating educational games; and Dataspelsbranschen, Sweden’s trade association for video game companies. More game development companies are expected to join over the next few months.

The Swedish games industry, including subsidiaries abroad, generated SEK 86.5 billion (USD $7.9 billion) in 2022, according to a Dataspelsbranschen report. Gaming is a strong growth industry, accounting for over 4 percent of Sweden’s total service exports. Game Town will become a creative, innovative, and social meeting place, further solidifying Stockholm as a key games industry hub with industry meetups, mixers, and game showcases hosted for indie and AAA developers.

Södermalm, the Stockholm island where Game Town is located, has one of the highest concentrations of game developers. The nearby areas constitute a cluster for companies within game development, housing among others Paradox, DICE, Fatshark, and Epic Games.

Christian Lövstedt, General Manager at Midjiwan, commented:

“Game Town will become a professional and playful environment for smaller game studios that want to work and develop among other developers. We’re looking to create a community of people who share our same passion for gaming and game development. Game Town will bring together indie developers and freelancers to create an open and welcoming place for the entire industry to gather.”

Per Strömbäck, Chairman of Dataspelsbranschen.

“Within a kilometer radius of Södermalm, there are at least 3,000 game developers, making it perhaps the most densely populated place for game developers in the world. Here, games are created for billions of players worldwide. Perhaps there is something in the Earth’s magnetic field that makes local games particularly good? Game Town will be located right in the middle of this hub, so it is only right that our own office should be right here.”

Gaming

Metaverse Studio Karta Reaches Huge Milestone with New Game Beat Builder

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Alan Campbell

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Karta pushes the boundaries of music game innovation with Built Builder on Fortnite – reaching 100k players

Beat Builder is Fortnite’s first-ever build-based rhythm game
Karta partners with NoCopyrightSounds for the game’s music library
Two new big songs just added: Royalty by Egzod & Maestro Chives and Invincible by Deaf Kev

Karta, an award-winning metaverse studio pioneering the world of in-game experiential marketing, continues to push the boundaries of music game innovation as its latest project, Beat Builder, reaches 100,000 players.

Beat Builder is an interactive music rhythm game where players put down walls, ramps, floors and cones to the beat of the music. Centred on building a core Fortnite gameplay feature used in its very popular Battle Royal, Beat Builder is the first-ever build-based rhythm game on the platform. As well as being a music-filled experience played for fun, the game is also used as a practice tool for players to improve their game-playing skills on Fortnite.

To create the game’s eclectic music library, Karta has partnered with NoCopyrightSounds, a copyright-free record label and music platform. Focusing on drumstep, phonk and trap electronic music for now, with artists such as Twisted, if found, XTOM and Lost Sky, players interact with the stems of each song that have their own visual world to match the vibe. Karta aims to develop the game further, updating it with a plethora of new music and genres such as metal, K-pop and rock. The long-term aim of Beat Builder is to integrate artists into Fortnite to share their music with fans, with the game becoming a recognised platform for exploring new artists and music.

Reaching 100,000 players is a significant milestone for a new metaverse game with Beat Builder continuing to grow in popularity since its launch recently. To mark the milestone, Karta has updated the game with two of NCS biggest songs; Royalty by Egzod & Maestro Chives and Invincible by Deaf Kev and is already planning further extensions, partnerships and new seasons.

“We’re thrilled that Beat Builder has gotten off to such a great start,” the Chief Executive Officer for Karta, Erik Londre, said. “We wanted to create a rhythm game that felt 100% Fortnite native, where the music is connected to the platform’s core building gameplay. A rhythm game that makes you a better gamer is an idea that excites us a lot.”

“Beat Builder truly encapsulates what Karta is all about; innovative and forward-thinking design that combines incredible music with interactive gaming in one entertaining place,” the Chief Growth Officer for Karta, Tony Barnes, said. “Music’s presence in the metaverse is evolving and we think Beat Builder has the potential to become its own platform for artists and brands to authentically connect to a Fortnite audience through gameplay and new music. We can’t wait to develop it and see how it grows.”

Since launching in 2021, Karta has worked with brands such as Amazon Music, McDonald’s and Hugo Boss. As well as working with Spotify on its iconic global campaign, Spotify Wrapped, to gamify the listening habits of Spotify users and bring this into the metaverse. Through these partnerships, Karta is reshaping entertainment experiences in the metaverse and creating meaningful connections between brands and their audiences. In the past year, the London-based studio has also worked with global artists like Nicki Minaj for her Gag City experience in Roblox, K-pop giant Blackpink with its hugely popular Blackpink the Palace and Twice with its Twice Square, which has become the most successful persistent music experience on Roblox.

“We’re very happy to provide the music for Beat Builder, a brilliant new game that gives players the chance to interact with the music like never before,” the Brand Manager for NCS, Charlotte Lee, said. “It has the potential to become a go-to platform for music gaming and we’re proud to support it.”

Beat Builder is available now to explore on Fortnite. For more information, go to www. Karta. game.

eSports

Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov is a New Virtus.pro Player

Published

4 days ago

April 15, 2024

Alan Campbell

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov (pictured), one of the most decorated and famous players in CS2, a Major champion and winner of the Intel Grand Slam, is moving to Virtus.pro.

“The arrival of star players always generates excitement within the club and among its fans,” the Chief Executive Officer for Virtus.pro, Nikolai Petrossian, said. “Denis is a well-known figure in the world of eSports with an impressive list of major victories and exceptional skill. Few players won both at Major and Intel Grand Slam events.

“Our CS2 roster is strong thanks to teamwork, a clearly defined playstyle and the individual talents of our players. Transferring players with outstanding skills to improve specific areas is a common practice in sports. I am confident that Denis joining will give a powerful boost to the team in the upcoming challenges in Dallas, London and beyond.

“Denis will replace Nikolay ‘mir’ Bityukov in the VP lineup. Nikolay has been a loyal and valuable member of our team and we express our gratitude for his contributions. Nikolay ‘mir’ Bityukov is open to offers from other teams.”

“Virtus.pro is a top team,” Sharipov said. “The core of the roster has won a Major not a while ago and all the players are in their prime and ready for victories right now. We share the same ambitions and goals. Besides, I’m also excited about the idea of playing with Jame as he’s one of the most unique IGLs in the game. Can’t wait to adapt to my new team and start doing what I came here for, winning trophies.”

Sharipov has dozens of victories at elite tournaments, including: