Like most of you my day starts by going through work emails. It also involves peeking at Google news alerts about new and exciting things happening in our industry. Usually, it’s a bunch of the same, metaverse this, metaverse that. Exciting, because frankly the metaverse is full of so many possibilities that it has many of us in the ad industry dreaming about all the cool things we can do in web3. But today, there was a few articles that stood out.
I started seeing many marketing and advertising news outlets pivot on their excitement over the metaverse. It was as if they all came to a unified realization: The metaverse of tomorrow is being paved by the games of today. In other words, advertisers thinking about and contemplating on the exciting opportunities that web3 will bring need to focus on the large opportunity that is right Infront of them. That opportunity being in-game advertising.
The articles had me smiling with validation because focusing on the in-game advertising opportunities of today is something that we at APEX Gaming Network have been saying throughout the last two years.
As a leader in connecting brands with gamers by advertising across premium gaming inventory, we know that the in-game ad opportunities in the metaverse of tomorrow are being paved by the opportunities available today, and the brands that have been doing so are the ones creating equity and affinity with gamers from all ages, genders, and backgrounds. The reality is that marketing to gamers in Canada can simply no longer be ignored as it provides an opportunity for marketers to reach millions of Canadian gamers and more importantly; it provides an opportunity for gamers to interact with both their favourite in-game characters and the real-world brands they love inside the 3D environments they spend many hours in.
In November 2022 we partnered with the IAB Canada along with two of our gaming partners, Adverty and Livad, to host a webinar that spoke to the points that many are realizing today: The future is all about gamified digital experiences and gaming is NOW becoming the future home of all media and nonmedia experiences.
The great thing is that it is not too late to start advertising in-game. The other great thing is that there are a variety of ways and opportunities to do this. For brands that are thinking about the opportunities of tomorrow in the metaverse, I strongly encourage you to take a moment to look at the opportunities of today. Whether its gamification, virtual out of home advertising, rewarded video, or menu screen takeovers. Modern in-game advertising opportunities will help get you on the path to connecting with an untapped resource of consumers when it matters the most: now.
Carlos Guevara is the Marketing Director at APEX Mobile Media (AGN parent company) and previous host of the podcast "In Search of Good Data." He has also helped various organizations in the private and non-profit sector to become more customer-centric with the use of enriched data and modern marketing and advertising technology and strategies.