The Omnicom Advertising Collective a portfolio of integrated marketing agencies within Omnicom Group announced a dedicated gaming offering called LevelUp OAC. The Marketing Arm and GSD&M will lead the new gaming unit. The responsibilities will be divided between the two agencies where The Marketing Arm has over a decade of experience in gaming brand strategy, content creation, influencer engagement, and experiential activation. GSD&M offers in-game advertising solutions as well as in-house game experience design and augmented and virtual reality capabilities. These agencies are also part of a unit called Omnicom Advertising Collective, which is a collection of creative shops organized by the holding company. The Collective is in charge of launching the gaming practice.
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With the offering, brands looking to enter the space will have access to creative and media expertise, such as in-game media planning and buying, experiential marketing, and influencer marketing. James Fenton, CEO of the Omnicom Advertising Collective, stated:
“LevelUp OAC brings together our most passionate and seasoned talents in the gaming space and offers a single source solution for brands who want to engage with gamers in an authentic, 360-degree way.”
Along with the expertise of TMA and GSD&M, LevelUp OAC brings together other capabilities to round out its offerings such as earned media, PR, commerce, and others. Additionally, the Advertising Collective will focus on other disciplines and verticals, including B2B, multicultural marketing, retailing, and the metaverse.
As examples of recent gaming-related work from the two agencies- GSD&M helps Pizza Hut deliver pizza boxes with an AR Pac-Man game incorporated into them. On the other hand, The Marketing Arm helps State Farm to incorporate its signature character Jake into NBA 2K22. LevelUp OAC plans to offer an end-to-end solution. As reported by Adage, Marketing Arm’s Andrew Robinson Jr said,
“There are a ton of gaming solutions for brands, specific boutique solutions, larger agency solutions, but I think there are very few that offer a top to bottom comprehensive solution. So everything from strategy, creative, media, experiential, influencer [marketing]—they are all the things that LevelUp offers.”
LevelUp aims to provide clients with a “general learning experience” about gaming despite its massive popularity. A critical part of that education is helping brands differentiate between gaming and Web 3.
The new focus on gaming is driven mostly by big growth in gaming numbers. eMarketer research shows that Americans spent $47 billion on gaming services last year. Gaming analytics firm Newzoo also estimates that gamers worldwide will grow to 3 billion, up from 2.03 billion in 2015.
There is no doubt that Omnicom’s move is long overdue. COVID has brought massive growth to this sector, and it’s now reaching a tipping point for brand engagement. The company is working to grow its strengths in these areas as well – e-commerce, retail media, precision marketing, and performance media.
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