brands – Emma Lo Russo

Digivizer has launched a new venture — called goto.game — to tap the global esports and online games market.

Goto.game is a new media hub and ecosystem 100% focused to deliver value for gamers, influencers, esports and brands. This is directly born out of our seven years of analysing the digital footprint of people across social and search platforms, and providing strategies and services to some of world’s biggest brands.

As with a fire, a new business needs three things: fuel, a spark, and oxygen.

For goto.game, the fuel was the gap in the market, to provide a meaningful ecosystem that brings gamers, influencers esports teams and brands together.

The spark was the realization that gamers, influencer and brands were all being short-changed. Our data let us understand and engage with the influencers, the gamers and the players in the market, what they sought, and how they interacted. We’ve been doing this, on behalf of clients and as Digivizer ourselves.

And we have proven two things: it must be authentic and it must be real.

The oxygen was the desire among gamers, influencers, their fans and brands to work together in new ways. Gamers and esports teams want to connect with commercial sponsors, without compromising their values and how they would authentically stream, play and engage. Brands want to understand how to work effectively in what for many remains unfamiliar territory. And fans want to enjoy their gaming without feeling “sold do” by anyone.

The result is goto.game — a gaming destination run by gamers for gamers.

But fires and new business ventures need one more thing: intent. You have to want to light the fire, and you have to decide to commit all to a new business.

With the data and the validation of the new market to support us, we’ve made that commitment, and lit the fire!

So: why esports and gaming? The gaming space is not new to Digivizer. We’ve provided social and digital insights and services in this market for clients that include Lenovo and Intel over the past three years. We’ve engaged some of the biggest influencers and esports teams in the APAC region, generating highly successful activations, streams, content and sponsorships, providing gaming and non-gaming brands with opportunities to be involved in the lucrative esports market.

And we have hired dedicated gamers to head the new company.

According to digital and online games research company Newzoo, the market is worth AU$131 billion globally, AU$65 billion across APAC, and AU$1.5 billion in Australia and New Zealand alone. There are more than 1.1 billion gamers in the APAC region and 12 million in Australia alone, according to Newzoo.

Our own analysis of the market, and our work at events such as PAX, RTX and this year’s Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) esports event in Sydney, makes it clear that there is a huge opportunity to fill a gap in the market. Over 7 million live views of IEM and 92 million in-content views for a single event represent audiences almost double those of mainstream TV viewing numbers, including the major traditional sporting AFL and NRL grandfinals.

And we have seen this market grow, in size and in the number of engaged fans who influence each other.

Respect (and data) at the centre of everything

Our strategy for goto.game is to bring these three groups — gamers and influencers, their fans and brands — together in a new ecosystem that treats everyone with equal respect, adds expertise and value at every point in the engagement, and uses real-time data to understand what’s working and where to go next.

For fans, influencers and brands, this is about creating a win-win-win, with content and contexts that matter to them. We have been thrilled by the overwhelming support we have received from the wider gaming influencers and esports teams across the APAC region, and from partnerships with the major social and streaming platforms.

Goto.game will be headed by Digivizer’s gaming team specialists Phid Oldfield and Jack Hudson, highly credible gamers and streamers in their own right, supported by a team of gamers including their content and advertising specialists.

Some of the goto.game team. From left to right?—?Jack Huddo, Fran Meliton, Emma Lo Russo, Phid McAwesome — Some of the goto.game team. From left to right—Jack Huddo, Fran Meliton, Emma Lo Russo, Phid McAwesome

Goto.game is already talking to top-tier gamers and esports teams, and I’d like to thank launch clients AKRacing (which is launching a new specialist gamers’ chair on the goto.game web site), Intel, and Legion by Lenovo.

Finally: how do Digivizer and goto.game connect? With real-time data and insights. Our technology, six years in the development and refining, powers and sits underneath both businesses.

To strike that first match becomes an easier decision when you have the best-possible information about what might happen next!

This article is also published on LinkedIn.

Marketing has always been about achieving the best results by getting the right message to the right person at the right time using the right channel. That mantra remains as true as ever, but the techniques, long-accepted and built on the now-crumbling foundations of broadcasting messages at anonymous audiences in sufficient numbers that some of these messages eventually stick, are increasingly redundant.

What’s changed is the consumers. They are to be found on their mobile devices, managing their everyday work and personal life commitments, making choice about who to like or engage with, and to turn to, every waking minute. Overwhelming consumers with mass-market branded messages is increasingly ineffective, often prevented by ad-blocking technology, becoming expensive quickly, and still often misses the individual and their context.

The consumers are in control. And the secret to engaging with them lies with the true creators and storytellers.

Last night Digivizer supported Thom Whilton and Lisa Teh, natural storytellers, entrepreneurs and creators with whom we’ve had a long partnership, at the launch of their new book Australian Style: The Who’s Who of Fashion.

The book builds on Thom and Lisa’s on-line content and editing success, and celebrates Australia’s fashion industry innovators, leaders who create Australia’s leading designs, and those who tell their genuine stories to the industry and to consumers.

I joined a panel alongside Daniel Watts, managing director of Thames and Hudson Australia, Janice Breen Burns, former fashion editor of The Age, Lisa Teh, and blogger and influencer Lana Wilkinson as moderator. Despite our different backgrounds and careers, early consensus appeared: a brand telling its own story no longer holds the same equity and interest for consumers. Consumers want a new and different story to be told by someone they trust, one that is entertaining and informative, and that aligns to their passions and values.

Thom Whilton & Lisa Teh, co-authors of Australian Style: The Who’s Who of Fashion

The evidence is in the data. Digivizer’s analytics show that those brands that work with great creators and storytellers gain greater consumer engagement, loyalty, interest and sales. They outperform those trying to control the branded messaging and solutions.

Brands must understand that to win, they must deliver the best experiences and provide great reasons for individuals to engage with them. One of the best ways to do this is to work with the people consumers already turn to for information and inspiration: the creators, the innovators and the storytellers who have already earned and built engaged communities of like-minded individuals sharing common interests, passions and values.

Consumers are savvy. They know who is being authentic and what is contrived, and they spot undeclared paid-for influence or comment. Even ahead of increasing regulation around declaring paid-for comment, brands should look to earn consumers’ respect for what they really help create, rather than look to trick or mislead. This comes through investment, inspiration and collaboration of these exciting possibilities via this new generation of creators and storytellers.

The process of engaging with individuals starts with great stories, but consumers quickly vote with their thumbs on their mobile devices. As they do, they leave clues about their intentions, connections, needs and preferences, many with the expectation that brands will act on these clues and engage with something of interest and relevance.

The opportunity sits in the precision of being able to act on these real-time actionable insights intersecting with the actual conversations and content engagement taking place on the social web.

The choice for brands seems clear: embrace the new role that supports, commissions and inspires the storytellers and creators to deliver genuine and inspiring collaborations that in turn fuels real Australian and global innovation.

Brands need to invest in, not compete with, the creators and storytellers.

This article is also published on LinkedIn.
Australian Style: The Who’s Who of Fashion was launched Wednesday 8 March in Melbourne, as part of the 2017 Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival IDEAS program. Follow the social conversation at #australianstylebook #vamff. Digivizer was the primary sponsor of the event.