New report marks the launch of Gameloft for brands.

A couple of weeks ago, Paris-based videogame publisher Gameloft, owned by media conglomerate Vivendi, unveiled Gameloft for brands, a new identity that unifies all of its Gameloft Advertising Solutions services.

The launch was marked with the release of an in-depth report on gamers and what they expect from brands. “Gamers & Brands” draws on findings from three studies involving over 80,000 gamers and 1,800 brands in collaboration with Vivendi businesses, and aims to help organizations create meaningful connections with this influential audience.

While the proportion of MENA millennial users is higher in the region than in the report’s global findings, “we are seeing the same shift in the gender split. More and more females associate themselves with gaming. This is a worldwide trend we can see very visibly in our region,” says Rabah Ghanem, Head of Sales MENA at Gameloft. Some of these key insights should therefore be eye-openers for brands looking to connect with this increasingly large segment of customers and to navigate their specific expectations.

• Gaming, as an industry, is now so big it can’t be ignored.

• Many people are gamers, and they play a lot.

• The gaming community bridges gender and age gaps.

• Gamers care.

• Gamers look for helpful, inspiring or rewarding content, and many are disappointed.

As Maria Garrido, SVP Brand Marketing at Vivendi, explained in a release, “Gamers have a more positive and engaging relationship than the general population with brands – 56% say they trust companies and brands. As this cohort is more connected to popular culture, there is a tremendous opportunity for brands to engage gamers, both within the gaming space and as influencers, to carry the brand message to a larger audience.”

In addition, “Brands [in MENA] are showing a growing interest in high-creativity mobile advertising activations. As a mobile games publisher and an advertising network, we notice strong traction for our native and gamified formats. Such activations offer a dialogue between the brand and players based on interactive features, making the advertising experience fun, lively, and, above all, engaging – the very same goals pursued by our core audience when playing our games. As the number of digital natives grows, such a trend is only bound to expand further,” says Ghanem, who adds that “The appearance of the brand and its products is not considered intrusive by digital natives. This is explained by the maturity of this audience towards advertising. We did a survey where 66% of the users agrees that “An ad that offers me an interaction with the product is more likely to make me interested in the advertised product or service.’ Audiences in the region now crave interaction [and] brands now realize the importance of gaming. We have done quite a few gamified campaigns in the region that consistently achieve great results.”

In light of these findings, and keeping in mind that Gameloft has a monthly audience of 250 million active players, 300 million impressions, and an average playtime of 27 minutes per day per user, the launch of Gameloft for brands makes sense to help organizations understand and embrace this audience via gamified, engaging and high-visibility solutions. To date, Gameloft for brands has delivered more than 10,000 campaigns for large organizations such as Air France, Coca-Cola, Ferrari, Procter & Gamble, in over 40 countries around the world, including in the GCC.

“We started in 2015 as a game publisher, building our own advertising network and ad technology with a premium media offering. We have since expanded beyond advertising, to become a leading player in the creation of game-based experiences for partners. We have helped thousands of brands better engage with their customers thanks to gaming, and our work has been honored with over 50 awards from prestigious marketing organizations. During the past few months, we have seen more and more people turn to gaming, whether to relax, learn, have fun, or keep in touch with friends, proving our strategy as a company to be more relevant than ever: help brands connect with their audiences thanks to gaming and gamification,” says Ghanem.

“As the local advertising market’s appetite for gaming grew, so has our offering. Today, our ethos is all about creating meaningful connections between people and brands through gaming experiences – from standalone-gamified apps, branded content, e-sports competitions, to advertising media campaigns reaching gamers on our network of Gameloft-owned apps. We even help brands to solve business challenges by using the power of gamification to achieve their goals in non-gaming contexts. We have worked with quite a diverse range of clients from many different verticals, from FMCG to luxury automotive brands. We have helped government bodies in the region achieve their goals in promoting inbound tourism by providing uniquely crafted gaming experiences. We have also used the power of gamification in the region’s shopping festivals to increase footfall to retail outlets. Local banking partners also rely on us to create gaming content which they use within their digital platforms to engage and inspire their audience,” he explains.

In other words, it’s definitely time for brands to step up their game.