Q.
What are the PR challenges for the year ahead and how will you be preparing to overcome them?
Julia Herd, Five in a Boat: There are multiple challenges in 2023, the main one sadly being budgetary related. With an unstable and unpredictable economy, investment is either on hold or super slow, client budgets are retracting and that is having a direct impact on business growth and recruitment. This means that we will need to look at alternative revenue streams and routes to success until the industry stabilises. Fortunately there are always opportunities if you look hard enough so, whilst on the one hand we are feeling the squeeze, on the other hand we are looking forward to pulling together as a team and rising to the challenge.
Dean Barrett, Bastion: The competition will be stiffer in 2023 and we can’t ignore the macro-economic climate that is impacting every household, so everyone is going to have to work harder to achieve traction and momentum. There’s no easy solution for that, you just need a brilliant team that’s focused on producing great work, week in, week out.
Mike Hendrixen, Vertigo 6: Because of the high inflation numbers there will most likely be budget cuts in 2023, but we think these cuts should and will most likely be made in media buy and in ATL campaigns. Like Bill Gates once said: “If I was down to my last dollar, I would spend it on public relations”. Investing in PR during inflation will help a company maintain its reputation, communicate effectively with consumers and community, build trust, and stay competitive. With the vanishing of the third party cookie we expect that owned media like publisher’s websites, newsletters, content marketing etc will become increasingly important.
Alex Verrey, Embracer Freemode: We live in volatile times where global and economic factors outside our control dictate supply chains, development resources, consumer spending and so much more. It’s never been more important to maximise client value, finding ways to innovate and breakout in an increasingly crowded market.
Dieter Marchsreiter, Marchsreiter Communications: The number of games- covering journalists will still shrink while the influencer sector in Europe is not really growing anymore. We see an opportunity of web content creators cooperating with mainstream media.
Natalie Bahbout, Swipe Right: The role of PR will continue to evolve dramatically, which is a constant challenge as traditional media shrinks, but in the games industry specifically this presents opportunities. More than ever, community is king, and PRs need to know how to navigate not just mainstream social media, but reddit, Discord, Twitch, all of these platforms that are essential for the games industry, but also places non endemic brands really want to be seen. Community management consultation has become more and more integral to what we do and we anticipate this continuing in 2023. As social media, virality, and personality led content creation increasingly dominate the headspace of consumers, the part brands and PRs can play is more complicated. Whilst the traditional PR playbook still has immense value, it’s vital that our team can coordinate a Reddit AMA and sense check a meme, as well as create a crisis comms strategy or media train a CEO.
Stefano Petrullo, Renaissance: The industry is always evolving and we see more and more formulaic stuff happening as well as companies doing stuff purely “because it worked with someone else”. There’s nothing wrong with that in theory. However, being complacent and just sticking to what worked before is what will kill our businesses. This is not about organising a PR stunt to make us look cool but, rather, finding the right content creator to deliver something different than a Let’s Play video that resonates with a client’s audience, or identifying a particular journalist who loves games about cats to run a feature about it, for example. Staying proactive and passionate about what you do is the BIGGEST challenge everyone will face in 2023.
“Staying proactive and passionate about what you do is the BIGGEST challenge everyone will face in 2023.”
Stefano Petrullo Renaissance
44 | MCV/DEVELOP January 2023
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