With technology becoming even more ingrained in marketing communications through AR and VR, the mobile gaming sector is booming. More and more luxury fashion brands are immersing themselves in this space to connect with audiences in highly engaging and interactive ways. DREST offers brand partners across luxury fashion, beauty, travel and entertainment the next big frontier to market and incubate luxury consumers of the future, rooted in deep and iterative machine learning and insight.
How have the events of 2020 impacted on how your brand or business communicates with your customers?
The principle of DREST is the evolution of marketing and storytelling to an audience. As a tech company we primarily move in the digital space in terms of user-facing communications, outreach and acquisition, so the impact of this year’s events haven’t changed our approach. However, for our full consumer launch we were intending to execute on real virtual real physical activations - which we have now reconsidered.
What has been the biggest marcomms lesson you have learnt since March?
This year has reaffirmed that agile planning is vital and that communications and content need to be both authentic and empathetic. Timing is also everything in terms of knowing what approach and tone to adopt and when to push such communications.
What do you believe are the ‘new marketing luxury rules’ for the ‘new normal’
Just two months ago one in three said they had already stopped using a brand that was not acting appropriately in response to the public health crisis. Authenticity is key and brands need to acknowledge how people are feeling and adapt their marketing approach accordingly. The crisis remains and so businesses need to know when it’s the right time to focus on lifting spirits and bringing joy to people. Initially a global marketing approach worked, but I believe localisation is integral to future success - though the world was united through the pandemic, the current status and lasting effects differ drastically from country to country.
What 'headline' insights would you like to share with the Festival's guest?
iOS 14 and its requirement for apps to ask users for permission to collect and share data using Apple’s device identifier - and subsequent impact on marketing (particularly advertising) activity
Mobile-first content should be a priority for every business: users spend 90% of their smartphone usage on apps and games. (Source: eMarketer)
Gaming and play results in deeper learning with new brand affinities being forged: engaged DREST users spend, on average, 33 minutes a day in-app and 7 minutes per session, completing 5 sessions a day
Over 25% of total media time and 89% of mobile time is spent in-app: native content is proven - we design bespoke brand partner challenges and video format plays an important role
Mobile gaming is the world’s most popular form of gaming [Source: App Annie]
Mobile games in 2019 saw 25% more spend than in any other gaming combined [Source: App Annie]
Mobile games will generate revenues of $77.2 billion in 2020, growing 13.3% from 2019 ($66.9 billion) [Source: Newzoo]
