Gaming audiences don’t follow a traditional marketing funnel. They discover new titles through friends, social media, advertising, streaming, and countless other touchpoints, often entering the player journey long before a campaign reaches them. For marketers, that means rethinking everything from creative development and media planning to measurement and long-term engagement.
In this episode of Game On: Brands, Gaming, and Culture, we welcome Jessica Clemens, Director of Client Partnerships, Leading Gaming at VDX.TV, to explore why the modern player journey looks more like an interconnected network than a linear path to purchase. Jessica discusses how brands can develop creative that resonates at different stages of discovery, why individual media channels need distinct roles and KPIs, and how gaming marketers can build meaningful relationships that extend well beyond the initial download.
The conversation also explores the growing fragmentation of gaming audiences, the importance of community in driving discovery, and how publishers can remain competitive when blockbuster releases like Grand Theft Auto VI threaten to dominate the industry’s attention.
5 Key Takeaways
1. The player journey is a network, not a funnel. Gamers don’t progress neatly from awareness to consideration to conversion. They enter through different touchpoints, revisit experiences, and influence other players through their own communities.
2. Creative needs to work on day one and day one hundred. Because players encounter games at different stages of their personal journeys, marketing messages must stand on their own while contributing to a broader narrative. Sequential messaging can’t assume everyone has seen what came before.
3. Every channel needs a distinct job and meaningful KPIs. Gaming marketers should stop evaluating every channel against the same conversion metrics. Awareness, education, engagement, and acquisition each contribute differently to the player journey, and measurement should reflect those roles.
4. The download is the beginning, not the destination. Particularly for free-to-play and community-driven games, acquiring a player represents the start of a potentially long relationship. Engagement, advocacy, and word of mouth can create new discovery opportunities long after the original campaign ends.
5. Competing with blockbuster releases requires smarter targeting, not silence. With Grand Theft Auto VI approaching, publishers face an unprecedented battle for attention. Jessica argues that competing titles should concentrate on their most engaged audiences rather than disappearing from the conversation entirely.
Subscribe & Listen
