In this episode, we dive into the video game industry from a different point of view. This industry is now evolving into having more all-in-one characteristics. Video game users are constantly looking for more in their gaming experiences, and that’s where creative thinking needs to come in. Listening to your audience first will always lead you to success. Still, on a regional level and specifically for the Latin American market, a more specific approach is required in order to incorporate consumer needs and market trends. Rafael Tello, the Regional Lead Latam at Activision Blizzard Entertainment, shared his takes on how video games are changing to fit the need for instant gratification from the NOW generation. Listen to this episode to learn more about his experience in this industry.
Guest
Rafael Tello
KEY POINTS:
- His experience in the entertainment industry all around the world
- Creative thinking in the process of creating user experiences
- The need for speed in the video game industry
- Listening to your audience to better cater to their needs
- Catering to the Latin American market
- Implementing influencer marketing
- Ecommerce evolution inside videogames
RELEVANT QUOTES:
“Because being a marketing by hearts, I was, uh, I love creative thinking. I love how can we make experiences, uh, you know, the company, we don’t do games. We do epic experiences. It encompass everything.”
“I have so many memories of playing with my friends, at home right now, it’s even bigger. And brother, because we’re playing, as you mentioned in the beginning, with people from Africa, Europe, Asia and Europe are based in Argentina, Brazil. Right. You have very good friends all over the world just by playing.”
“The job that we have as a regional teams, always discussing with the global teams what is hot, what is happening, the markets, what is catering to our players so we can adapt, and make sure that we are talking to those audiences.”
“Now, people wants to have things very fast. So how can we improve those? That experience? Also on the payment method sites, there’s a lot of payment methods that it takes 24 hours to do the transaction. When you’re a gamer, you don’t have the time you want to kill, killing, uh, want to keep killing monsters or engaging with your friends. So you cannot wait 24 hours. So we are always working on that.”
“You need to see to, to hear what your community, it’s, it’s saying, uh, of course there’s a lot of of things that you can do, a lot of things, because everybody, of course, we last for a lot of, a lot of things. But, uh, you need to be on top of that.”
“How can we make experience better for each of our players? And we have different tools from forums, community management. We have a team that is, uh, dedicated for that. We have PR that also speaking with more influencers that they will speak with the players. So it’s every single stage you need to be connected to make sure that these people listen.”
“We work with a lot of influencers. Uh, I see influencers as a, an extension of us, or an extension of our community.”
“There’s a lot of options already, and there’s amazing games outside. Uh, so as we, as a company always need to research to think about innovation, uh, to work on how the player will, let’s say, consume this, this instant gratification, and it’s not only consuming inside the game is how, how they will have a good experience inside the game.”
“And I spend some time there, all the instant gratification. And as mentioned, how can I pay faster because I really want to play this game? Or how can, uh, I connect faster with my friends, uh, or connect better. So we are always touching this, this instant gratification in every single touch point, right? Be from innovation, better graphics, always on top of that, better, uh, artists, uh, in the sense of creating things that these, uh, new consumers are liking better ways of playing.”
“And it’s not only from marketing tools, touching all the points, uh, creating specific bundles inside the games that will, will ma manage that, but also creating the experiences in the countries in the experience we have.”
“When you see concerts inside the games and people are launching songs inside a game, that’s the metaverse that’s fantastic. When you have movies that are coming for me, that will be when the metaverse and it’s necessary. I mean, our younger generations are connected all the time.”
“But I think more tools will evolve, more tools will come that you can send the send message or you will you be able to do things in a better way? Not in a disruptive and invasive way. Uh, I think that it’s going towards the future. It’s not only about sponsorships or advertising, it’s more about what do I like as a player or as a human being?”
“A great evolution of, uh, gaming that we see normal right now. And, uh, I’ve been seeing this coming, uh, in the past you were playing or in PC or in console or in a different device. Now the game start interconnected. You can be, I can be playing on the PC while my daughter is playing on the switch.”
“It’s a big company and we have that is the inside designers and the consumer marketing team and the growth marketing teams that are always working on the media side, that they are working on the assets.”
“There’s a big opportunity for the Hispanic, and we are, uh, as a company, we are not catering that demographic. Cause we are launching games in the US right? Uh, we did a test last year, uh, a music video with Bandai Mess and Call of Duty. And it was very satisfying.”
“Knowing your product is the first thing you need to really know your product, uh, to be able to come up with ideas and suggestions or strategies. What to market plans to present to the global teams to be able to cater.”
“There’s a lot of learning and teaching inside the companies how this market, uh, works. We are not, uh, one Latin country. We are 32 countries with our own specificities, with our own things.”
“So how can we keep, uh, learning? So really, uh, read news, really engage with the community, get information and also a lot of attitude. Uh, Francisco, we have to be resilient. Uh, Latin America is not an easy market to break.”
