At the same time, leagues, esports teams, and video games companies, in general, make considerable efforts to help endemic and nonendemic companies reach the space and make money in the gaming industry, the worst-performing metric, by far, is ROI. Whether the problem is the lack of measurement, or the reluctance from certain companies to share their metrics, Cam Kelly, our guest today, believes it needs to be addressed and solved ASAP.

Cameron Kelly is the VP of Marketing & Brand at Maestro. During his career, Cam developed an acute understanding of marketing and the gaming industry and how they interact. Before joining Maestro, Cam served as a CMO at Complexity Gaming and Senior Marketing Strategist at OnePlus. 

In this episode, Cam kindly shared bits of his vast experience and knowledge of marketing in the gaming industry. We delve into the superficial approach to gaming, the lack of interest from young generations for the “less sexy” jobs, and how we can get young people interested in developing skills rather than getting likes and social media fame. We talk about the lack of metrics that affects the entire industry, which doesn’t allow us to keep doing what is working, or pivot when something is not. 

We also go through the dangers of playing “the convenience game,” how endemics and nonendemics can get access to the skeptical gamers’ universe, the merge of the digital and physical space in marketing, and much more.   

Resources:

Visit Maestro website: https://www.maestro.io/

Connect with Cam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-kelly-81656031/

or follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/col_csk

Full Episode Breakdown:

2:01 – John and Cam talk about the tours at Complexity Gaming and how those were life-changing experiences to many of the students going through them. 

7:05 – John and Cam discuss the “lack of metrics measurement” and its role in making monetization harder than it should. 

12:59 – “Companies need to start operating as a platform itself.” Cam goes through this concept and explains what companies should adopt that strategy.

15:02 – John and Cam talk about loyalty programs and the need for teams to focus on legacy creation.

19:35 – John and Cam discuss the superficiality and the cosmetic approach to the gaming industry. 

23:43 – Cam shares his experiences dealing with the industry’s “behind-the-camera” workers and the importance of encouraging kids to get involved and interested in those roles.

27:13 – Cam talks about his first job at PR and his aspiration to change the world from there. He also delves into his experiences at unpaid internships.

 30:01 – John and Cam talk about the Toyota Overwatch League deal, the first full season auto sponsorship activation, and how people responded to it.

35:26 – Marketers seeing familiar sponsorable marketing assets. John and Cam discuss why traditional sports marketing strategies fail miserably in esports.  

39:40 – Younger generations see value in digital goods. John and Cam how brands should approach this unique kind of consumers. 

45:27 – The dangers of playing “the convenience game.” John and Cam discuss the alternatives for brands instead of being convenient.

49:13 – Cam talks about how they deal with data and metrics sharing at Maestro.

55:03 – “Some guys think they get shoes because they are cool.” John and Cam talk about the worst-performing metric in esports, ROI.

59:13 – The analogy of the cave and esports. Cam talks about why so many people need to “leave the cave” for the industry to grow.

1:02:59 – Have a purposeful grinding, and live for the grind. Cam shares his final thoughts.