Socially-led creative agency We Are Social has today announced the launch of We Are Social Gaming, a new offering designed to help brands craft meaningful and effective experiences in gaming and esports environments.
We Are Social Gaming will not operate as a separate division to We Are Social. Instead, it will revolve around a growing global squad, which includes more than 20 of the agency’s most skilled gaming and esports experts from multiple disciplines, who will work across the agency’s entire client portfolio to identify gaming opportunities for brands in all sectors and industries. Global chief strategy officer Mobbie Nazir, Singapore chief executive Christina Chong, regional lead for the EU area Stefano Maggi, and Australia chief executive Suzie Shaw lead the development of the agency’s gaming proposition.
Gaming expertise will continue to be embedded across We Are Social’s 950-strong team, through learning and development and strategic hires. The agency sees gaming as a core offering for its business that sits within social media, not apart from it.
We Are Social Gaming will work with brands in four key areas: understanding gaming culture; enhancing gaming experiences; navigating the fragmented gaming ecosystem; and maximising impact through a connected amplification approach. Brands will have access to We Are Social’s full-service capabilities and expertise, including research & insight, cultural tracking, creative, production, influencer marketing and paid media, with creative gaming solutions across multiple sectors, including sports and esports, lifestyle, financial services, fashion and music.
We Are Social already has extensive experience working with brands in the gaming and esports space. Its current clients include Activision, Riot Games, Sony, Twitch, G2 and Fnatic, and it has worked with non-gaming brands such as Uber Eats, Vodafone and Renault on gaming-focused campaigns over the last few years. It also helped Global Pride take its annual parade onto Animal Crossing in 2020.
The opportunity to leverage games and the gaming world to build brands is significant, with global scale and diverse demographics. According to We Are Social’s Digital 2021 report, 85 percent of the world’s internet users play games. One in three gamers around the world say that they play video games on a daily basis and 84 percent play video games at least once per week. Gaming levels are close to 90 per cent for both male and female internet users aged 16-34.
Mobbie Nazir, global chief strategy officer at We Are Social said: “In the current climate it’s easy to see why a gaming division sounds like a good strategy. But we believe gaming is social, not something that should sit in silo from the work we already do. Gaming has become a core part of our business offering over the last few years and, with the launch of this practice, we’ll be able to help even more brands take a socially-led approach to their gaming strategies. Our squad are not only highly experienced and engaged in the gaming and esports space, they are first class researchers, strategists, creatives and technologists. They will be able to work with our entire team to help clients understand the often unspoken rules of gaming communities, allowing them to create work that adds to the gaming experience, not disrupts it.”
Suzie Shaw (main photo), CEO at We Are Social Australia, commented: “Online games have helped people stay connected throughout the pandemic, and have become increasingly mainstream, to the point that 3 in 4 Australian internet users now play games for at least one hour per day. We believe that gaming is the next big cultural frontier for brands and offers endless creative possibilities, but its fragmented landscape makes it very complex to navigate – much like social. We help brands identify the opportunity, decode gaming culture and connect with this community in meaningful ways.”
