Esports & Gaming
brands to find and engage relevant audiences with the added ability for the audience to transact within the TikTok ecosystem.
Who is backing AgencyGMR? From the success and support of the wider BGFG group, AgencyGMR is supported by a mixture of self-funding and angel investor support. Founded by brothers Andrew and Craig Kirkaldy, and Will Blears,
the team established the business and grew the network of sites. Trough existing connections within the wider consumer electronics space, BGFG received substantial investment including the backing from Bill Holroyd - one of the original investors in
AO.com. As a result of this growth within the network and establishing
ourselves as a key industry player, we’ve been fortunate enough to work with client briefs for Intel, AMD, ASUS, Acer, Razer, Secretlab and more.
What is the aim of AgencyGMR? As an agency we’re constantly striving to find unique creative solutions to produce commercially viable content. Coupling this with strategic insight into the market and the data from our own network, this allows us to create informed marketing strategies that differ from traditional agencies. With the digital publishing arm of the business, we’re able to remain
agile and stay ahead of trends. Tis allows us to react quickly to client objectives and optimise content based on trends in the market and areas of interest we’ve identified across our network of sites. Coupling this with the experience and skills of our team, this is an incredibly valuable tool for brands to utilise.
Tell us more about content creation and the current trends and demands of the esports and gaming industry and what brands are looking for? It’s no secret the market is incredibly rich with amazing content across the gaming and esports sector. Where brands are really seeing success is when they marry up their campaigns into full brand experiences, merging all the key marketing disciplines to showcase the brand across a number of platforms and placements. While strong branded content will always hold value in it’s bold
and striking impact, brands shouldn’t turn away from the power of authentic creator-led content. Audiences place a large amount of trust and value in the authenticity and authority of creators to advocate for brands. Supporting big branded visuals with user-generated, authentic content creates a much richer and valuable campaign experience. While video content is nothing new to the market, the shiſt towards
short-form is one that brands are also realising the potential of. From experience with our own channels and client briefs, captivating users in a 15-30 second TikTok video is an incredibly powerful tool for surging viral reach and exposing the brands to large audiences in a quick and effective way. Capitalising on short-form platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels is essential for accessing new buying audiences and the next generation of consumers.
What of AgencyGMR’s partnership with SODA (School of Digital Arts) at Manchester Metropolitan University, and HOST Salford? As a local Manchester business, we’re proud to have a number of
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strategic partnerships in place with institutions like MMU, SODA and HOST across their apprenticeship, work experience and advisory programmes. Tere’s a thriving creative community that Manchester has developed over the years, and we want to see more focus brought back to the North and the key players in cities above the M25. By hosting workshops within our space as well as advising within these institutions, we can give something back to the local community and help develop the skills of the future workforce. Institutions like MMU have an incredibly diverse talent pool, and
by offering work experience opportunities and workshops within our space, we can provide insight into the sector and how young people can get into exciting creative careers. We’ve also noticed that it’s not always obvious the huge range of jobs available in the gaming and esports sector. We’re passionate about helping to support the growth of the gaming and esports industry while funneling in the diverse talent pool Manchester has to offer, helping create opportunities for young people.
In your opinion what is the current state of the esports and gaming industry? With the effects of the global pandemic, gaming and esports have played a huge part in connecting people across the world. Te industry has seen a considerable boom in the past two years, with more and more people turning to gaming as a means of escapism. During the pandemic, 62% of adults said they’d played video games as a means of passing the time during lockdown, showing the widespread appeal gaming now has. As the industry becomes more accessible, so does the diversity. Gaming is now a mainstream hobby, with attitudes shiſting away from the traditional stigma as gaming being ‘just for boys’. While stock shortages have played an impact on people accessing
next-gen hardware, the demand is still substantial with gamers persistently staying on top of the latest industry developments and watching hours of content creators across platforms. It’s also been really interesting to see some of the business dynamics unfolding in the public eye with a number of high-profile acquisitions and mergers from industry titans. It’s a really exciting time to be in the industry and we can’t wait to see what happens in 2022 and beyond!
Manchester Metropolitan University March 2022 | 39
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