1
They are not your ordinary audience.
Although 6 in 10 people can be considered a gamer according to the recent The Belgian & Dutch Gamer study, involving gamers is not your ordinary walk in the park.
They are harder to connect, engage and convert. In short: they are different and so should your approach be.
2
Gaming is about rules you need to play by the book
1 in 2 gamers state that when brands make a connection trough gaming it has a positive impact on their attention for that brand (even 60% of gen Z state this).
Though 61% of gamers indicate that a non-gaming brand should not misuse gaming 'blind'.
3
Gamers value technology when it delivers value.
Gamers appreciate tech. However, they don’t blindly swear allegiance to every last digital tool, but instead, favor services that offer practicality, utility, fun, savings or convenience.
So they do with online ads. They don’t like ads, unless they are rightly targeted and deliver value.
The Belgian & Dutch gamer report
Gaming has changed. For many years gaming was seen as a pastime for “young guys who didn’t have any friends”. A stereotype that’s long been countered. The gaming community is diverse, going from GenZers to Millennials to so-called old-age gamer (OAG), social and omnipresent through their console, PC and smartphones.
As gaming has become mainstream, it has seamlessly become part of people’s lifestyles: just like the (pop)cultural phenomenons (Friends, Jurassic Park...) gamers have their own, often bigger, counterparts in gaming. The kinds of experiences Fortnite is giving, will last a lifetime. And it’s just the same for the Call of Duty: Black Ops, Super Mario or any game. They have become part of people’s life.
It’s time to start connecting with these consumers through the medium they love: gaming. That means we have to look beyond the gamer as a tag, stereotype or even as a ‘segment’.