The Tutorial - Gaming 101: Everything a Marketer Needs to Know. 

A fast-paced briefing for marketers with little or no gaming knowledge, designed to get you up to speed before the main conference begins and help you get more from every session that follows.

What you'll walk away with:

• The bigger picture: How gaming has evolved and why the industry is far broader than a handful of major titles.

• A map of the ecosystem: The key players, how the industry fits together and where brands come in.

• Gaming audiences: Why treating everyone who plays games as one audience is misleading.

• Brand opportunities: The ways brands can take part, including those that don't involve in-game advertising.

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Games keep players engaged for months or even years. What do their designers understand about motivation that marketers don't, and how much of it genuinely transfers to customer experience?

Drawing on game design and behavioural psychology, this session explores what makes engagement last, and why borrowing game mechanics so often falls flat.

• What motivates players: Autonomy, mastery and progression, and why they matter more than rewards alone.

• Engagement versus manipulation: How designers sustain interest through feedback and challenge, and where the line lies.

• Why gamification fails: Points, badges and leaderboards rarely work without the principles of good game design behind them.

• What translates: Practical examples from loyalty programmes and customer experiences.

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Few entertainment releases have generated the level of attention surrounding Grand Theft Auto VI. Its influence reaches well beyond the people who play it, into music, fashion and popular culture.

In this fireside chat, an independent cultural analyst examines how a gaming franchise becomes part of the wider cultural conversation, and asks a harder question: is GTA VI evidence of gaming's growing influence, or an exceptional case that tells us little about the wider industry?

Key discussion points:

• Beyond the game: How GTA has influenced culture far beyond its player base.

• The power of gaming IP: How established franchises build cultural significance beyond the games themselves.

• What brands can learn: What it reveals about gaming, entertainment and consumer culture, and what brands can take from it.

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Gaming reaches a substantial share of the population and carries enormous cultural influence, yet it still attracts a relatively small share of marketing budgets. Is that a missed opportunity, or are brands right to spend elsewhere?

Senior brand marketers who have invested in gaming, those who remain unconvinced and gaming industry experts put the commercial case under scrutiny, with an independent chair.

On the table:

• The investment gap: Why gaming still struggles to win a bigger share of budgets.

• Show us the returns: What evidence demonstrates gaming's effectiveness, and how it compares with other channels.

• The case against: When brands are better off investing elsewhere.

• What would change the equation? What would persuade a sceptical CMO to invest more.

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From programmatic ads in games to creator partnerships and fully immersive branded experiences, gaming offers far more than advertising space. The opportunities vary widely in cost, objectives and level of involvement.

Using real campaign examples, this practical session explains what each route involves, where it can deliver value and how to decide which suits your business.

We'll explore:

• In-game advertising: Scalable media opportunities and their limitations.

• Gaming media and creators: Advertising around gaming content, livestream sponsorships and creator partnerships.

• Gaming IP and partnerships: Working with established games, franchises and gaming properties.

• Branded gaming experiences: What it takes to create playable experiences or integrate a brand into a game.

• Choosing the right approach: How objectives, budget and production needs shape what makes commercial sense.

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As gaming advertising becomes easier to buy through familiar media channels, is the industry selling impressions at the expense of the broader value it can offer brands?

For some, scalable advertising is exactly what gaming needs to attract mainstream budgets. For others, it risks overlooking creator relationships, community engagement and experiences players choose to join. A platform or publisher, a brand marketer, a creator-side voice and an independent chair debate how gaming should position and commercialise its offer.

We'll debate:

• The case for scale: Does making gaming easier to buy unlock investment, or reduce it to another source of impressions?

• The value of participation: Can community-led campaigns and branded experiences show commercial advantages over conventional media, and when?

• What are brands really buying? What evidence should marketers demand before committing budget?

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What really happens when a brand ventures into gaming for the first time? In this candid case study, a brand marketer walks through their first significant gaming campaign: the decisions they made, the challenges they met and what the results actually told them.

We'll cover:

• The brief: What the brand wanted to achieve, why gaming was considered and how the campaign was approved.

• From selection to launch: How partners were chosen, what it cost, how long it took and what proved difficult.

• Results and lessons: What was measured, what was delivered, what was hard to evaluate and what the team would change.

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Millions of impressions, high engagement and long time spent with a brand all look compelling on paper. But what do they actually prove? In gaming, advertising, creator partnerships and branded experiences each produce different data, and the metrics that matter for one can tell you little about another.

Drawing on real campaign examples, this masterclass shows what gaming measurement can reliably tell you, where it falls short and how to make more defensible claims. 

We'll explore:

• What the numbers tell us: Which metrics are meaningful for in-game advertising, creator partnerships and branded experiences.

• The engagement trap: When attention and time spent are valuable indicators, and when they mislead.

• Attribution versus incrementally: How to tell whether gaming changed behaviour or delivered outcomes that would have happened anyway.

• What can we actually prove? Separating demonstrated results from assumptions.

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Twitch isn't Instagram or TikTok with a gaming audience. It's a live platform where creators build relationships with communities in ways conventional social media rarely replicates. So how does it actually work, and what does a brand need to know to make the most of it?

In 30 minutes, you'll learn:

• What makes Twitch different: How the platform works, who watches and why the relationship between streamers and their audiences matters.

• Where brands fit in: The opportunities available, how to find the right creators and what makes a brand partnership credible.

• How to get started: What to consider before launching a campaign, what to ask potential partners and how to recognise success.

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Creating a branded gaming experience lets players actively engage with a brand rather than simply encounter its message. But building it is only part of the cost: attracting players and keeping the experience running add more. When does it justify the investment, and when would a simpler campaign deliver better value?

Using a real campaign, this session goes behind the creative to examine the commercial reality, from original brief and budget to audience acquisition and results. Crucially, we'll ask what the brand could have achieved by spending the same budget differently. 

We'll examine:

• The real cost: Development, player acquisition and ongoing maintenance, including costs not anticipated in the brief.

• What it achieved: Performance against objectives, and where the evidence is less conclusive.

• The alternative investment: What other approaches the same budget could have bought.

• Was it worth it? What the brand learned and when it would invest again.

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Got a gaming idea you're not sure about, a proposal that needs a second opinion or a marketing challenge gaming might help solve? Get one-to-one, practical advice from experienced gaming specialists on your brief, whether you're planning a first campaign or looking for a fresh perspective on an existing one.

Runs alongside lunch. Book your slot at registration; places are limited.

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There's no such thing as a single gaming audience. Each game and community has its own culture and attitude to brands, and understanding that difference can decide whether a campaign connects or misses.

In this interactive session, we put real campaigns under the microscope. You'll judge how players responded, then see the actual community reactions and what they reveal. The aim isn't a universal formula, but to show you what to investigate before deciding whether, where and how your brand should take part.

We'll explore:

• Not all gamers are alike: How expectations differ between communities and why demographics alone aren't enough.

• Campaigns under scrutiny: What real player reactions reveal about activations that worked and those that didn't.

• Researching a community: How to spot sensitivities and judge whether a partnership will be welcome.

• Knowing when not to take part: Recognising when your brand has little to offer a community.

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Just because a brand can reach a younger audience through gaming, should it? Age restrictions don't necessarily keep younger children out, and advertising can be embedded in games in ways that are less obvious than conventional media.

A brand marketer, a platform trust-and-safety lead, a child-safety or regulatory voice and an independent chair debate decisions that go beyond legal compliance, and whether current safeguards reflect how younger audiences really play.

We'll debate:

• Just because you can, should you? Where brands should draw their own ethical lines, even when an activity is technically permitted.

• The age assurance problem: What happens when children access games intended for older audiences, and how much responsibility advertisers bear.

• When advertising becomes play: Whether branded experiences, creator partnerships and in-game rewards raise particular concerns for players who may not recognise commercial persuasion.

• Who is responsible? What safeguards brands should demand from platforms and partners, and when to walk away from an audience or environment.

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Gaming's audience includes children and teenagers, and not always the ones a platform says it does. For any brand, getting this wrong is a reputational risk as well as a compliance one.

In this practical briefing, a specialist sets out what first-time gaming advertisers need to know before they plan a campaign.

You'll learn:

• Who is really playing: How age and audience can differ from what platforms report.

• The rules that apply: The advertising codes, platform policies and creator disclosure requirements that apply.

• Red flags: The signs that a campaign, partner or environment is a risk.

• What to ask partners: The questions to put to platforms, creators and agencies before you commit.

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A successful gaming campaign doesn't necessarily lead to a second. Why does gaming so often stay a campaign-by-campaign decision, and what separates brands that keep experimenting from those that build a lasting strategy?

A brand that has moved beyond isolated activations traces how its approach evolved: what prompted the first investment, which decisions worked, what didn't and how those lessons shaped the next stage. A longer-term strategy doesn't have to mean a permanent presence. For some brands, selective investment is the smarter choice.

We'll explore:

• From first campaign to strategy: How gaming found a clearer role in the brand's wider marketing.

• What changed between campaigns: Which assumptions proved wrong and what the brand stopped doing.

• Building internal commitment: How support grew beyond a single champion.

• Deciding where to go next: How the brand chose to scale, change direction or become more selective.

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Would you recommend gaming as part of your brand's marketing strategy, and could you convince your marketing director it's the right investment? In this hands-on workshop, you'll work with fellow marketers on a realistic brand brief, weighing gaming's opportunities against the realities of budget, objectives and audience expectations, with guidance from industry experts.

You'll be challenged to:

• Make the case: Decide whether gaming is right for the brand and its audience.

• Choose your approach: Evaluate the opportunities and pick the strategy that fits the brief and budget.

• Define success: Decide how you'd measure results and which risks to address.

• Defend your decision: Present your recommendation and hear how experts would approach the same challenge.

You'll leave with a practical framework for evaluating gaming opportunities and making recommendations you can confidently defend.

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Your brand has invested in gaming for two years. Campaigns have delivered strong reach and engagement, but their commercial contribution is unclear. Senior management is questioning the budget, your gaming partners are giving conflicting advice and the next investment decision is looming. Do you continue, change the strategy or walk away?

In this interactive workshop, small groups act as a senior marketing team reviewing an underperforming programme, deciding whether the problem lies in the strategy, the execution or the evidence used to judge it.

The challenge:

• Diagnose the real problem: Is the strategy failing, or has success been measured against the wrong objectives?

• Interrogate the recommendations: Challenge partners' commercial assumptions and spot where their interests differ from the brand's.

• Make the investment decision: With a fixed budget, reinvest, redirect or exit.

• Defend your strategy: Present to a panel of brand and gaming marketing specialists who will test your assumptions.

Designed for marketers responsible for established gaming investment programmes.

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Playable experiences are moving beyond traditional games, new technologies are opening creative possibilities and the relationship between players, creators and platforms keeps evolving. Which developments are genuinely worth marketers' attention?

Three leading voices from across gaming each spotlight one development they believe could reshape how brands connect with audiences, backed by a real example, emerging innovation or live demonstration rather than prediction. The audience challenges their claims and votes on which has the greatest potential.

We'll explore:

• What's changing now: Three emerging developments, supported by real examples.

• New creative possibilities: How technology and player behaviour are opening up what wasn't previously practical.

• The implications for brands: What each could mean for strategy, partnerships and audience engagement.

• What's worth watching: What's ready to explore today, what's still experimental and what to watch over the next few years.

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Three streamers. Three brand briefs. Would they take the deal, turn it down or send the brand back to the drawing board?

In this lively, unscripted session, experienced gaming creators give their verdict on real-world marketing proposals. They'll reveal what makes a partnership worth their time, what their communities will tolerate and why even a generous budget can't rescue a bad idea.

Expect:

• Unfiltered reactions to brand briefs.

• Honest insights into what creators and their audiences actually want.

• Practical lessons on pitching partnerships that stand a chance of succeeding.

The twist: The audience votes before the streamers reveal their decisions. Who understands gaming creators best?

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