Jo Redfern 🔜 CMC on LinkedIn: It’s two weeks since YouTube creator group Beta Squad played AMP… (2024)

Will we see Sidemen or MrBeast in cinemas? Will people pay to watch an Esports final live-streamed on the silver screen? Did you know that Maya the Bee has recently enjoyed a cinema run in Poland? This week we talk to Rebecca Evans who leads content placement in cinemas as part of a marketing strategy. She explains how Generation Media is seeing the rise of more niche and diverse programming from gaming to Bollywood in cinemas as they begin to acknowledge changing demands of their users and we hypothesise what the future might look like for kids and family cinema.Give your brain a little workout and have a listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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Rocket League is turning 9 and is getting some new adidas gear as a gift. This has been my favorite game to watch over the years that my kids have been playing; customising the cars is a ton of fun and the music selection is so good that it has often led to the discovery of new artists that became favorites. It has a steady, loyal following on Twitch, 6 million hours watched in the last 30 days according to sullygnome but the community is strong and adidas certainly seems to believe it’s a way to connect with gamer football fans. HBD Rocket League 🥳

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The top reasons why people game 👇🏻. Notice how low ‘Competition’ is. For younger groups it’s not all about winning, so there’s white space for brands and IP owners to explore other ways to engage audience, fans, users. According to Fandom's 4th ‘Inside Gaming’ report, games are “increasingly seen as a form of personal expression, exploring one's identity and providing empowerment and confidence in one's real life.” Around 60% of gamers claim that self-expression via gameplay is more important to them than ever.The report highlights a gap between players’ in-game identities versus their real-life personas, with 80% of respondents feeling their gaming identity differs from their real-life identity.However, half of respondents claim they’d prefer to be MORE like their in-game personality IRL and 72% would feel favorably towards brands or IP that help them achieve this.This is especially true of 18-34s, specifically African American & Hispanic, as well as women and non-binary audiences.So what might this mean for brand and IP owners in terms of opportunities to connect with people?✅ Emphasize self-expressionWe know how important this is to young people. 32% of gamers want their physical APPEARANCE to be more like their in-game appearance.For example, there’s an opportunity for fashion & beauty brands to explore dedicated product extensions for gamers looking to explore this self-expression. ✅ Align with gamers’ IRL aspirations.Brands and IP owners will better connect with gamers if they find ways to bring players’ gaming and real-life personas together.For example, the study found that almost half of gamers wanted their IRL SKILLS to be as strong as their gaming skills. This shows an opportunity for brands and IP owners to provide gamers with products that bring into real life the same sense of accomplishment and belonging they get while playing.

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Is the new Sour Patch Kids experience on Roblox a blueprint for sports to garner new fans from Gen Z & A? It may seem silly but an immersive experience where collaborative play is encouraged, FOMO and UGC are big drivers of engagement and the rules of physics don’t apply, offers a creative opportunity for sports to think more conceptually about how to engage potential future fans.With visits to branded experiences hitting 1.8 billion in 2023, equalling 11 billion minutes (and that’s not counting thousands of unofficial sports experiences) sport brands that aren’t yet tapping in to social gaming are leaving future enthusiasts, their interest, their loyalty and their $ on the table when these demos come of age.But let's be honest, big brands like FIFA and NBA are struggling to keep players engaged. They’re still largely employing the ‘command and control’ method of brand activation that I talk about and which demonstrably leaves kids and teens underwhelmed…But here's the thing, innovative creators - platform natives rather than corporate brand managers - are already crushing it on Roblox. They’re pulling in millions of players with uniquely fun experiences. So what do THEY do that sport needs to replicate? Back to Sour Patch Kids for a mo:• UGC drops, these are non-negotiable at the moment. There are 11 items to unlock by completing challenges, playing mini-games or secured from crate drops. ADIDAS is also leaning heavily into UGC, they’re testing and learning and it will put them ahead. (Thanks Stephen Dypiangco, MFA for the inspo there)• Users can buy packs containing mini Sour Patch Kids that follow you around, each with a boost like speed, jump height, or bonuses. These are purchased using in-game currency earned from playing the mini-games (and part of the reason Sour Patch Kids is 13+, there are strict rules around this) but like SORARE or trading card games, it’s super fun and teens love it. • Mini-games and challenges also allow users to drill down into appealing elements of the brand, in Sour Patch’s case its flavours, but in sports it could be ball control, trick shots, target practice, skill mastery.Partnering with creators that know what works on Roblox will unlock huge opportunities to tempt younger users, but be too controlling or contrived and you’ll go the way of FIFA World that is struggling to bring in more than 50 concurrent users when non-branded, fan-made Super League Soccer has over 11k playing at time of writing. It really does start here. Thanks also James Purell for your ace review of SPK.

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Settling in to watch Ultraman: Rising on Netflix and excited to be welcoming Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment and long time collaborator on the Ultraman franchise with Tsuburaya Productions to the Kids Media Club podcast later this summer. Jeff’s pedigree in transmedia storytelling is legendary and aside from being a passionate Ultraman fan he has a deep understanding of how to expand a franchise’s storyworld and characters across platforms and formats in a way that simultaneously deepens engagement amongst existing fans whilst optimising accessibility for new ones. Can’t wait! Emily Horgan Andrew W.

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Poop-parkour!! Ngl I was laughing out loud playing ‘Don’t poop yourself at school!’ on Roblox and spent a good 30 mins running around the halls with my sarcastic talking backpack teasing me about how my bowels were about to burst. What stands out to me about this obby is how well the narrative, character design and humour has been woven through the gameplay. It has been well-crafted with a witty commentary and funny cutscene each time your toilet ambitions are thwarted. This is more than an obby - this is playing a cartoon - and it shows the clear potential to go much further with narrative on the platform.…and it’s has 💩. A solid basis for many a kids favorite story 🤭To my kids media colleagues that have ever endured me going on about intertwining narratives across video and social gaming, please go and play and tell me you don’t see how this could work for Bluey and more. Now is the time to be embracing this way of telling stories with your characters. If anyone needs me this weekend I’ll be poop-parkouring.Congrats Zachary Letter and team

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This was a career highlight for me, winning the MIPJUNIOR Pitch with the wonderful "The Adventures of Team POM" - by Isabel Roxas and currently in development at Wind Sun Sky Entertainment. This year the call is for preschool IP and I encourage application if you have an idea worthy of the spotlight. And it's a whole lot of fun pitching infront of an entire theatre of peers!

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A 12 minute bite-sized episode of the Kids Media Club podcast this week (thanks to Andrew who was editing between Annecy meetings) and we revisit chats with guests who know a thing or two about creating big brands. Emily and I selected a few key insights on brand-building from guests Laura Clunie, Nina Hahn and Dennis Crushell.It’s the end of the week, treat your ears! 🎧

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As IP owners it's not enough to say that you're 'building a community' if you won't reorient the way you manage the brand's relationship with its users. Here's a peek at a deck I'm refreshing for a talk, and alongside I also wanted to share some wise words from Kory Marchisotto - CMO of e.l.f. beauty - of which I've been a customer for 15 years but which is lately rewriting the rulebook on Roblox, in their campaigns, and in their approach to engaging their fans - and we are fans... Per Kory's post (link in comments) "I have two strong beliefs:- I believe that the distance between community and C-suite in any organization is a forward looking indicator of brand health.- I believe that the distance between insight and action in any organization is a forward looking indicator of brand health."Smart.

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