The Future of Mobile Gaming

Mobile is more extensive, lucrative and diverse than ever before and gaming is no exception. According to the 2021 Global Games Market Report from Newzoo, the global gaming market is currently worth over $91 billion and is projected to exceed $116 billion by 2024. Join Adweek as we unravel the ways today's leading brands, marketers and gaming experts are cultivating robust consumer relationships and building unforgettable experiences by navigating the evolving role of the metaverse and much more.

Featured Speakers

Cathy Hackl
Cathy Hackl
Chief Metaverse Officer and Co-founder
Journey
Jay Cary
Jay Cary
Vice President, 5G Product and Mobility Innovation
AT&T
Ryan Griffin
Ryan Griffin
Head of Brand Partnerships
Niantic
Gabrielle Heyman
Gabrielle Heyman
Head of Global Brand Partnerships
Zynga
Fernanda Romano
Fernanda Romano
Chief Marketing Officer
Candy Crush
Latoya Peterson
Latoya Peterson
Co-founder and Chief Experience Offer
Glow Up Games
Mitu Khandaker
Mitu Khandaker
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Glow Up Games
Eric Krause
Eric Krause
Global Head of Marketing, League of Legends Group
Riot Games
Jorge Prado
Jorge Prado
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Admazing
Eddy Prado
Eddy Prado
Chief Product Officer
Admazing
Patrick O'Keefe
Patrick O'Keefe
Vice President, Integrated Marketing Communications
e.l.f. Beauty
Ben Webley
Ben Webley
Chief Marketing Officer
Scopely
MJ Tierney
MJ Tierney
Head of European Marketing
Circle K

The Agenda

Opening Remarks

12:00 PM — 12:05 PM

Main Stage

12:05 PM — 3:45 PM

Closing Remarks

3:50 PM — 3:55 PM

12:00 PM - 12:05 PM
Adweek Opening Remarks

Welcoming remarks and a look at the event.

Danny Wright - Adweek
Danny Wright
12:05 PM - 12:25 PM
Creating New Opportunities for Customer Engagement in the Real-World Metaverse

Much of popular culture and media have characterized the metaverse as a place of escape, a virtual reality into which one retreats to live, and work, and play. But what if technology instead enhanced our connection to people and the real world, and what if brands recognized the potential for a new kind of activation that fuses our physical and digital worlds?

In this session, Ryan Griffin, Niantic’s Director of Brand Partnerships, and MJ Tierney, Circle K’s Head of European Marketing will highlight new ways of engaging customers in real-world AR, the learnings that have come from that engagement, and their vision for where this new set of opportunities can take the Convenience category.

Ryan Griffin - Niantic
MJ Tierney - Circle K
Ryan Griffin MJ Tierney
12:30 PM - 12:50 PM
Expanding Riot’s PC-First Ecosystem to Mobile

Riot Games has thrived off a player-focused mentality in the context of its flagship global hit, League of Legends. During Riot’s 10-year anniversary in 2019, several new game genres were announced, including Riot’s foray into the mobile gaming space with Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, and League of Legends: Wild Rift.

In this session, Eric Krause, Riot’s Global Head of Marketing for the League of Legends group, will discuss Riot’s thoughtful approach to bringing a massive and passionate PC-first audience and ecosystem to the mobile platform, a transition that has become one of the biggest challenges for long-lasting gaming brands.

Eric Krause - Riot Games
Eric Krause
12:55 PM - 1:15 PM
Gaming in the Web 3.0 and Metaverse Era

What’s gaming have to do with the Metaverse? Well, everything. A lot of near-metaverse experiences we have today were built on the back of gaming. While video games have been around for many decades, what’s new is the advancements in technology that enable games to be real-time and mapped onto our social graph. Experiences like Fortnite and Roblox can be played with friends in a new digital reality, which sounds a lot like a step towards the Metaverse.

Join Cathy Hackl, the Godmother of the Metaverse, and Chief Metaverse Officer of the Futures Intelligence Group for this fireside chat that will offer a glimpse into untapped opportunities. She'll explore how in this new era gaming has a critical role in web 3.0 and the next evolution of our digital lives and sense of community.

Cathy Hackl - Journey
Toby Daniels - Adweek
Cathy Hackl Toby Daniels
1:20 PM - 1:40 PM
Harnessing the Power of Engagement in Mobile Gaming

With interactive entertainment core to what today’s consumers turn to for fun, mobile games offer brands what is most scarce in a fragmented media environment: attention. An engaging escape is quickly becoming the expectation with 80 percent claiming they play to get a break from reality and 75 percent report mobile gaming makes them happy, according to a recent NRG study. In this session, explore the innovative ways to drive brand KPIs by leveraging the interactivity of mobile games from weaving brand messages into game play, creating direct relationships with consumers, and more.

Attend this session and learn:

  • Why mobile gaming is a premium high impact environment
  • How to leverage the gaming environment to drive sentiment, communicate brand attributes, increase purchase intent and ultimately drive conversions
  • The best activations based on your KPI’s
Gabrielle Heyman - Zynga
Matt Steinmetz - Adweek
Patrick O'Keefe - e.l.f. Beauty
Gabrielle Heyman Matt Steinmetz Patrick O'Keefe
1:45 PM - 2:05 PM
The Saga Continues: Why Candy Crush is More Than a Game

Candy Crush has garnered more than 3 billion downloads since it was launched in 2012 and it successfully led the way for a new generation of mobile games, as one of the first freemium apps to generate over $1 billion revenue. It currently has more than 200mm users and it continues to launch levels and events to entertain this incredible fanbase. Candy players are usually referred to as casual gamers, but are they all “gamers?”



Join Candy Crush CMO Fernanda Romano, as she shares her best practices and tips for accelerating innovation, building great partnerships and fostering brand love in the mobile gaming space, why Candy Crush sees itself as an entertainment app, not just a game, and what lies ahead for the franchise.

Fernanda Romano - Candy Crush
Fernanda Romano
2:10 PM - 2:30 PM
Mobile Gaming and the Gaming Shopper Opportunity

The last 18-months have shown that consumers can easily adapt to new ways of engaging with the brands they love. In particular, advertising in mobile games has never been more powerful than it is today — there are roughly 2.7 billion people who play mobile games — offering millennials and Gen Z a more enjoyable, interactive experience.

In this session, join Admazing co-founders Jorge and Eddy Prado as they explore how Fortune-50 brands are successfully experimenting with new formats via custom content to grow sales, the opportunity around the gaming shopper, what they predict for this next era of advertising and what it means for your brand.

Jorge Prado - Admazing
Eddy Prado - Admazing
Luz Corona - Adweek
Jorge Prado Eddy Prado Luz Corona
2:35 PM - 2:55 PM
Full Stream Ahead: 5G and Cloud-Gaming Are Just Getting Started 

Streaming changed the way we watch our favorite content, and now it’s doing the same for gaming. Gamers today want instant gratification, with the benefit of playing immediately without having to download a title or wait for a software update to load. Once in the game, packet loss and pixelated graphics are a cause for frustration. Those days are gone with the combination of cloud-gaming and 5G. See how these technologies and collaborators in this space are coming together to improve gaming as we know it today and transform it for what’s to come in the future.

Join a discussion with AT&T’s Jay Cary, VP of 5G Innovation as he details where the gaming industry is headed and how 5G will be the backbone in transforming how gamers play.

Jay Cary - AT&T
Rafael Canton - Adweek
Jay Cary Rafael Canton
3:00 PM - 3:20 PM
Thinking Creatively About Mobile Games

In a world where everyone’s a gamer, mobile gaming stands alone in its ability to capture attention, create connections and drive engagement among consumers. With players coming back for more each and every day – some Scopely titles see over 80% of players logging in 7 days a week – the opportunity is endless for brands to tap into a broad and valuable audience. The key to success? Prioritizing a smart creative mix.

In this session, join Webley, CMO of Scopely, as he discusses his approach to making the most out of mobile games advertising and partnerships to generate life-long fans. As the marketing mind behind Scopely – makers of popular mobile games “Star Trek™ Fleet Command,” “MARVEL Strike Force,” “Yahtzee® With Buddies,” “Scrabble® GO,” “WWE Champions” and more – he will speak to how to capitalize on the most entertaining experiences in interactive entertainment today.

Ben Webley - Scopely
Matt Steinmetz - Adweek
Ben Webley Matt Steinmetz
3:25 PM - 3:45 PM
Glowing Up Games: Diversifying the Industry

Founded last year, Glow Up Games continues to make aggressive strides in its goal to make games and creative experiences that center on marginalized stories — from how video games look in terms of representation as well through the behind-the-scenes when it comes to developers.

In this session, hear from Glow Up’s Mitu Khandaker and Latoya Peterson as they share their journey as founders of the first ever all women of color game studio, their path to raising a $1.2M pre-seed, and their commitment to diversifying the industry from the ground up. They’ll also discuss their recent partnership with HBO on Insecure: The Come Up Game, and other projects in the pipeline.

Latoya Peterson - Glow Up Games
Mitu Khandaker - Glow Up Games
Nicole Ortiz - Adweek
Latoya Peterson Mitu Khandaker Nicole Ortiz
3:50 PM - 3:55 PM
Adweek Closing Remarks

Thank you for joining us!

Danny Wright - Adweek
Danny Wright

The Adweek Community