Brands In Play
Welcome to Brands in Play - The podcast where we explore immersive marketing and the people who are leading it.
Episodes
91 episodes
How Virgin Music Builds Artist Fandom Through Gaming & Immersive Experiences
Artists are starting to face a lot of the same questions brands are.Where are your fans spending their time? How do you show up there without forcing it? And what can you give them value that goes beyond just another piece of content?
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GTA 6 Sets the Rules, Pikachu Goes to Space | Ep. 90
Rockstar has started drawing the boundaries around its creator ecosystem, including restrictions on advertising, product placement and sponsored content inside mods specifically. Nic and Matt get into why Rockstar might be keeping such a tight ...
Gaming Marketing Needs to Get Boring | IAB & GamesBeat Insider Recap
Matt spent the week in New York at the IAB PlayFronts and GamesBeat ‘Brands & Games’ event, and one idea kept coming up: gaming marketing needs to get more boring. Not boring creatively. Boring in the way media teams understand it. Clear ob...
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IKEA Found The Perfect Way Into Skyrim, Netflix and Sega Partnership | Ep. 88
In Episode 88 of Brands In Play IKEA put a walking, talking KALLAX shelf inside Skyrim and somehow it makes perfect sense.Nic Hill and Matt Daly get into how Candy Crush is using Shania Twain and Zedd and the very different ways Fortnit...
Roblox Is Betting on Better Games and Smarter Discovery | Roblox Chief Growth Officer | RDC 26
“The algorithm doesn’t make or break a game. The game makes or breaks the game.”At RDC, Nic Hill sat down with John Ciancutti, Chief Growth Officer at Roblox, for a conversation about one of the hardest problems on the platform: helping...
McDonald’s Butcher Shop, WWE x Clash of Clans & e.l.f. AI | Ep. 86
Episode 86 of Brands In Play covers another busy week of brands experimenting with gaming, IRL experiences and new ways to reach audiences.McDonald’s opens an immersive butcher shop in London to challenge perceptions around its food. WW...
In-Game Advertising Made Easier for Brands with Canva & Livewire
You already use Canva to make ads. What if you could run them inside games from the same place?In Episode 85 of Brands In Play, Livewire’s Indy Khabra explains how its Canva integration lets marketers choose an audience, set a budget an...
7-Eleven in Forza, Red Bull in EA Sports FC & Pikachu!
Episode 84 of Brands In Play features Red Bull’s Wings Cup, bringing EA Sports FC players into real-world football challenges. 7-Eleven teams up with Forza Horizon 6, while The Doux puts textured hair and self-expression at the center of its Ro...
Turning Black Mirror Into a Real-World Experience
Episode 83 of Brands In Play features Joshua Rubin, writer of the Black Mirror Experience, on turning the series into a world you can walk into.Joshua joins Matt Daly to explain how the team preserved Black Mirror’s unsettling tone, mad...
Subway, McDonald’s, Adidas & the Rise of IRL Brand Worlds
Episode 82 of Brands In Play features Nic Hill and Matt Daly covering a busy week of brands telling stories through gaming and IRL experiences, along with major interactive platform updates. Subway is giving ARC Raiders players in-game loot wit...
Roblox Invades Fortnite, Netflix Pulls Back and Battlefield Gets Top Gun
In Episode 81: Mattel is building a game studio, Netflix is closing two, Sony launches a glossy PS5 campaign and the comments turn it into a protest over physical game discs. A viral hit born on Roblox gets officially licensed into Fortnite. Th...
Every Brand Already Has a Gaming Audience | Joshua Pool | Xbox Media Solutions
Episode 80 of Brands In Play features Josh Pool, Partner Manager and Entertainment Lead at Xbox Media Solutions. Ever wonder how Xbox helps brands activate? Josh talks Nic Hill through Xbox’s work with advertisers, from Hershey’s and KitKat to ...
How Brands Enter AAA Games Without Losing Gamers
Episode 79 of Brands In Play with Nic Hill and new guest co-host Matt Daly features David Sheldon-Hicks, CEO and co-founder of creative studio Territory Studio.David takes us inside Territory’s work across Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, ...
Live Nation Built an Always-On Music Festival in Roblox | Anubhav Mehrotra & Ryan Dow
Episode 78 of Brands In Play, hosted by Nic Hill and Ely Santos, features Anubhav Mehrotra of Live Nation and Ryan Dow of Livewire, who break down the strategy behind Music Festival Tycoon on Roblox.The persistent game lets players buil...
Why Gaming Is the New Comic Book | Monica Austin
Episode 77 of Brands In Play features a special rebroadcast from our friends at This Could Work https://www.youtube.com/@saylor_agencyHost Will Trowbridge sits down with Monica Austin, SVP and CMO at Blizzard Entertainment, to explore h...
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Discord Is Changing Gaming Communities and Brand Participation | Adam Bauer
Episode 76 of Brands In Play explores why Discord is becoming bigger than gaming.Nic Hill and Brandon Iverson are joined by Adam Bauer, Vice President of Advertising Solutions at Discord, to discuss how the platform is connecting commun...
Brands Are Turning the Sky Into a Billboard
The billboard is no longer stuck to the ground.In Episode 75 of Brands In Play, Nic Hill sits down with Kevin Prince, Co-Founder of Heads In the Sky and SkyAd, to explore how drone technology is turning the night sky into a new canvas f...
THE FUTURE OF BRAND EXPERIENCES
Episode 74 of Brands In Play features hosts Nic Hill and Ely Santos as they break down the biggest stories shaping gaming, immersive media, and brand innovation before Nic sits down with Rory Byrne, Founder of the creative innovation studio Loc...
HipHopGamer Shares New GTA 6 Insights & Why Every Brand Should Care
This week on Brands In Play, we're joined by gaming journalist, creator, and cultural connector Gerard "HipHopGamer" Williams for one of our most energetic conversations yet.We unpack why every company should have a gaming division, why...
RIOT GAMES AND CHIPOTLE CHANGE THE GAME
This week on Brands In Play, Nic Hill and Ely Santos sit down with Chris Mann, SVP of RevXP at sports marketing agency rEvolution. Chris takes us behind the scenes of major branded activations with Chipotle and more, explaining why authenticity...
SNAP JUST FIRED THE STARTING GUN
This week on Brands In Play, Nic and Ely sit down with Doddz, the AR artist and founder of Dime. From Disney, Nike, Amazon and beyond, Doddz breaks down how brands can use augmented reality to create experiences that feel like moments of magic....
Participation Beats Brand Placement
Episode 70 is live!This week, Nic Hill and Ely Santos sit down with John Benyamine, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Moonrock, one of the top game marketing agencies. John has worked on everything from Comic-Con a...
Entertainment Is the New Media Plan
This week on Brands In Play, we’ve got a packed house! First up, Ely Santos (Founder of Vibe Glass and host of the Metavertising Podcast) is joining us as our guest co-host for the whole month of June.Then, Nic sits down with Will Trowb...
Your CFO Doesn't Care About Impressions
This week on Episode 68 of Brands In Play, Morgan Pomish sits down with Derek Dabrowski, SVP, Head of Cold Brand Marketing at Keurig Dr Pepper.After nine seasons of Dr Pepper’s micro drama series Fansville, Derek explains why most marke...
GTA 6 Could Become The Next Creator Platform
This week on Brands In Play, Nic Hill and Morgan Pomish are joined by Alexander Lee, Lead News Writer at GamesBeat, to unpack one of the biggest questions in gaming right now:Could GTA 6 become the next major creator platform?Fro...
