For traditional brands, entering the gaming world may seem scarier than it really is – but we believe there are far more opportunities than risks. However, entering this game is something that requires preparation, and before you even start creating content and activations, you need to build a solid strategy, consistent with the brand positioning and value proposition, to connect with audiences in an authentic way and not just as another product placer.

We’ve identified some ways in which brands can begin to relate to the gaming world, building bridges with communities to – lightly and unpretentiously – join the conversation:

• Playing with languages, aesthetics and references of the gamer culture: Amaro, for example, has launched a collaborative collection fully inspired by the characters of Animal Crossing. Starface is a cosmetics brand with a young and fun look and feel, inspired by the look of retro video games. Domino’s has been making several fun activations, such as featuring Pac-Man on their pizza boxes.
• Interacting and establishing dialogues with gamers, showing interest in getting to know this audience better, is also an option: famous celebrities are enjoying, for example, playing games interacting with the public or with influencers (gaining very high visibility in return, of course): Guilherme Boulos and AOC made lives playing Among Us, while Drake and Ninja’s live playing Fortnite broke audience records.  
• Connecting with gamers through iconic products: Categories like fashion, and more specifically streetwear, have easily connected with gamers including their outfits in games. They also get inspiration from games to create unique collections in real life. Nike is an example of this approach. The brand started with a feature of the Jordan Collection sneakers in NBA video games, and now is outfitting some Fortnite characters and sponsoring the Chinese League of Legends team, with physical collections inspired by the game. 

On the other hand, we believe that some initiatives, at first glance tempting, can in fact be much riskier or less impactful: 

• Major brands are entering esports body and soul, but the risk of compromising the relationship with their audience is huge. For Claudio Lima, this is explained by the fact that e-sports are an easy-to-understand product: “Everyone understands what a football sponsorship is. There’s a team, there’s a T-shirt, there’s a crowd. But brands also have to deal with passionate fans, and sometimes with closed and protective communities. You cannot get in and out whenever you want, you can’t give the impression that you’re abandoning the team.”
• Other brands are creating their own minigames, and while it’s a fun way to create engagement, it’s more interesting to be where the audience is already playing than trying to compete with their favorite games. That is, instead of trying to create their own Animal Crossing, brands earn much more by participating in Animal Crossing.