We Are Social levels up with dedicated gaming and esports arm

We Are Social has launched a gaming arm We Are Social Gaming. The newoffering designed to help brands craft meaningful and effective experiences in gaming and esports environments. According to the agency, its gaming offering will not operate as a separate division. 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. These individuals will work across the agency’s entire client portfolio to identify gaming opportunities for brands in all sectors and industries. 

The development of the agency's gaming proposition will be led by global chief strategy officer, Mobbie Nazir, regional lead for EU, Stefano Maggi, chief executive for Singapore, Christina Chong, and chief executive for Australia Suzie Shaw. Viewing gaming as a core offering,  the agency said the 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," added the agency. Having worked with numerous brands in the gaming and esports space, the agency has worked on gaming-focused campaigns with non-gaming brands such as Uber Eats, Vodafone and Renault as well as helping Global Pride take its annual parade onto Animal Crossing in 2020. We Are Social current gaming clients include, Activision, Riot Games, Sony, Twitch, G2, and Fnatic. 

The gaming offering will be working with brands in four key areas which include, understanding the gaming culture, enhancing gaming experiences, navigating the fragmented gaming ecosystem and maximising impact through a connected amplification approach. The brands will also have access to the agency's full-service capabilities and expertise. 

While the gaming division sounds like a good strategy in the current climate, Nazir said gaming itself is social, and not something that should sit in silo from the work that the agency does.  "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," Nazir added.

To ensure clients understand the unspoken rules of gaming communities, Nazir explained that the individuals in the team are not only well-equipped in the gaming and esports space, but they are also first-class researchers, strategists, creatives, and technologists. This way, this allows the team to create work that adds to the gaming experience, and not disrupt it. 

Meanwhile, co-founder and group CEO, Nathan McDonald said the agency's ambition is for the entire global team to be as passionate and skilled in gaming as they are in social, helping all the agency's clients, from any sector to make an impact in this fast-moving and highly engaged space. "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. This is a task we’re ready to take on and, given our heritage, we’re in a powerful position to help brands connect with the gaming community," McDonald explained. 

Separately, a study by We Are Social and Hootsuite has found that Hongkongers spent more time online in 2020, watching a lot of broadcast and streamed TV programmes and using social media to entertain themselves. In 2020, time spent on the internet daily was 7 hours 15 minutes, up from 6 hours 16 minutes in 2019 as COVID-19 related social distancing measures led to Hong Kong’s internet users devoting over a day more per month. Meanwhile, Hongkongers aged from 16 to 64 spent an average of 1 hour and 57 minutes a day on social media, making it the second most popular online activity after watching broadcast and streamed TV programmes (2 hours and 57 minutes a day).

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