{"id":8677,"date":"2021-05-19T01:44:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T04:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cba-design.com\/latam\/?p=8677"},"modified":"2021-05-19T12:12:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T15:12:00","slug":"insights-games-and-brands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cba-design.com\/latam\/en\/insights-games-and-brands\/","title":{"rendered":"When brands must play the game"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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People have never played so much as nowadays. The fast-paced growth of the gaming industry triggered by the need to stay at home during the pandemic is making games win an increasingly diverse and wider audience.\u00a0The figures are dizzying:<\/a>\u00a0in 2019, the market had a turnover of 1.5 billion US dollars in Brazil and 152 billion worldwide, leveraging more investments than cinema and sports. In 2020, electronic games were\u00a0the most discussed topic on Twitter,<\/a>\u00a0with 2 billion tweets. What does this universe represent for brands and how can they\u00a0play the game?<\/span><\/p>

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The mobile phone is the gateway<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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There is no doubt that games represent today for young people what music used to represent in the 90s: cultural identity and the feeling of belonging to a community.\u00a0Games are intrinsically linked to young culture,<\/a>\u00a0today more than ever. But if your idea of a typical gamer is an antisocial teen geek, think twice. From Candy Crush to Fortnite, the profiles and ways to play are numerous, with games that fit everyone’s time and pocket, matching different lifestyles, personalities and interests.<\/p>

According to the\u00a0Pesquisa Game Brasil 2021<\/a>\u00a0survey, 72% of Brazilians say they play electronic games, and most of them have played more online games since the beginning of the pandemic. The casual gamer is best represented by a woman between 25 and 35 years old, while the hardcore is usually a man between 16 and 24 years old. The survey also pointed out that almost half of the players are from the middle, lower and poor social classes. For all of them, the mobile phone is the choice of preference. This explains the success of games like Free Fire, available on mobile and with more than 100 million downloads. On the other hand, consoles are declining, much due to the exorbitant prices charged in Brazil. For Claudio Lima, CEO at Druid Creative Gaming,<\/b> \u201cthe mobile has turned the key to the gaming market in Brazil. Playing was for upper-class individuals, it demanded a console or PC, and that was very expensive. Now, anyone can play. Kids today dream of becoming Free Fire players instead of becoming\u00a0soccer players.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

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It's not just about playing,
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In addition to playing, millions also watch other players, professional and non-professional, through streaming platforms that are growing non-stop \u2013 Twitch, for example, has more than 15 million daily active users.\u00a0A global survey in 2020<\/a>\u00a0pointed out that gamers between the ages of 18-25 spend an average of 4 hours a week watching other people online. This phenomenon is creating new types of influencers who play matches with their audience, sometimes hundreds in the same day, creating authentic bonds and a true closeness. The Brazilian gamer\u00a0Cellbit<\/a>, for example, has been recording videos for Twitch and YouTube since 2012, counting with more than 6 million followers, with a total of 300 million\u00a0views.<\/span><\/p>

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Metaverses are the future
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The gaming industry is shaping the future of entertainment, with varied and complex productions, immersive technologies and universes full of possibilities, besides impacting the streaming industry.\u00a0<\/p>

Immersive Games like Beyond Two Souls or Cyberpunk benefit from high-budget investments worthy of the biggest Hollywood productions, with the participation of the best writers, actors and artists. The result is the creation of incredible narratives, characters and soundtracks.<\/a>\u00a0New immersive technologies such as virtual reality engage the player intensely and fully, while augmented reality blurs the boundaries between real and virtual. And of course, in these universes, players have the possibility to do many other things: their avatars can watch music shows and spend their money in different ways, simulating the real world. Roblox, a very popular platform that allows users to create their own worlds and mini-games, aims to \u201dunite the world by building a\u00a0metaverse<\/a>\u00a0(a virtual world that digitally replicates the real one), where millions can meet up in games, conferences, or in collaborative jobs within a virtual economy that has its\u00a0own currency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

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Agencies and divisions
specialized in games<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Many non-endemic brands, that is, those that traditionally have no market links with the segment, are entering this world, creating new market dynamics and generating new demands \u2013 internally and from their partners.\u00a0Unilever has created an esports center<\/a>\u00a0to better meet the needs of its brands; Publicis Play, launched this year in the UK, brings together a pool of experts from the group to provide creative, media and production support to its customers. In Brazil,\u00a0Druid<\/a>\u00a0started operations at the beginning of the year and seeks to creatively connect games and brands, through a Business to\u00a0Gamer model.<\/span><\/p>

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How to play the game?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For traditional brands, entering the gaming world may seem scarier than it really is \u2013 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.<\/p>

We’ve identified some ways in which brands can begin to relate to the gaming world, building bridges with communities to \u2013 lightly and unpretentiously \u2013 join the conversation:<\/p>