Brands In Play

Welcome to Brands in Play - The podcast where we explore immersive marketing and the people who are leading it.

Brands In Play is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 91 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts Brands In Play, a business show with 91 episodes published.

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  Episode #92

  Minecraft Opens Up, GTA VI Spills Into Roblox & OpenAI Goes Mainstream | EP92

  Oct 5, 202628 minS1

  Brands In Play is a finalist in the 5th Annual Signal Awards in Creativity & Marketing, and we’re also up for Listener’s Choice award. We need your vote. Please cast a vote for us before October 1! https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2026/shows/genre/creativity-marketing This week, Minecraft has been one of the biggest creator platforms in gaming for years, but Mojang and Microsoft have never made it as easy for brands to play there as Roblox or Fortnite. That door now looks like it’s starting to crack open. Nic Hill and Matt Daly also talk Rockstar Games turning GTA VI into a full entertainment release, the spillover into Roblox, Best Buy building a media business around its stores and customer data, Crunchyroll and Venum putting Jujutsu Kaisen on real fighting gear, Vogue and Unitree Robotics sending humanoid robots down the runway, and OpenAI making a very deliberate shift toward normal, everyday use cases. Watch or listen to the full conversation on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts. Watch or listen to Episode 92 of Brands In Play. #ImmersiveMarketing #vogue #GTA6 #minecraft #brandintegrations #jujutsukaisen Follow Us: Co-Hosts: Nic Hill - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nic-hill-6553873/ Matt Daly - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalymatt/ Producer / Editor Edward Regue - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-regue-%C2%A9-44b0421b2/ Website: https://www.brands-in-play.com/ #brandsinplay

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  Episode #91

  How Virgin Music Builds Artist Fandom Through Gaming & Immersive Experiences

  Sep 30, 202622 minS1

  Artists are starting to face a lot of the same questions brands are. Where are your fans spending their time? How do you show up there without forcing it? And what can you give them value that goes beyond just another piece of content? Nic sat down with Connor Hachey, SVP of Global Digital Strategy at Virgin Music Group, and got into how his team is figuring that out across gaming and immersive experiences. There are some great examples in this one. Joji turned an album release into a robot cage fight. ZEROBASEONE went into Rec Room, interacted with fans and drove more than 15,000 new U.S. Spotify followers. And sometimes Virgin finds the opportunity by looking at what fans are already making around an artist on platforms like Roblox. Check out Connor’s point about experimentation. There isn't always a benchmark for this stuff. Sometimes you have to understand the artist, understand the audience and take the swing. Because the platforms will keep changing. The harder question is knowing where your audience is going next and what they’ll want from you when they get there. Watch or listen to Episode 91 of Brands In Play. Follow Connor Hachey - https://www.linkedin.com/in/connorhachey/ Follow Virgin Music Group - https://www.linkedin.com/company/virginmusic/ Follow Us: Co-Hosts: Nic Hill - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nic-hill-6553873/ Matt Daly - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalymatt/ Producer / Editor Edward Regue - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-regue-%C2%A9-44b0421b2/ Website: https://www.brands-in-play.com/ #brandsinplay

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  Episode #90

  GTA 6 Sets the Rules, Pikachu Goes to Space | Ep. 90

  Sep 28, 202634 minS1

  Rockstar has started drawing the boundaries around its creator ecosystem, including restrictions on advertising, product placement and sponsored content inside mods specifically. Nic and Matt get into why Rockstar might be keeping such a tight grip on this from the start, and whether those walls eventually come down. Elsewhere, Pokémon has somehow made it to outer space. Apex Legends is taking a very different approach to IP integration with Street Fighter 6, going beyond product placement to actually changing the way the game is played. Toys “R” Us is opening 120 new US stores while experimenting with creator studios And Oprah is taking AHA to the Sphere in Las Vegas?! GTA 6, Pokémon in space, Street Fighter inside Apex, the return of Toys “R” Us and Oprah at Sphere. Also Nic’s quick report from Meta Connect 2026! A weird week, but a good one! Watch or listen to Episode 88 of Brands In Play. #ImmersiveMarketing #GamingMarketing #GTA6 #BrandIntegrations Follow Us: Co-Hosts: Nic Hill - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nic-hill-6553873/ Matt Daly - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalymatt/ Producer / Editor Edward Regue - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-regue-%C2%A9-44b0421b2/ Website: https://www.brands-in-play.com/ #brandsinplay

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  Episode #89

  Gaming Marketing Needs to Get Boring | IAB & GamesBeat Insider Recap

  Sep 23, 202623 minS1

  Matt spent the week in New York at the IAB PlayFronts and GamesBeat ‘Brands & Games’ event, and one idea kept coming up: gaming marketing needs to get more boring. Not boring creatively. Boring in the way media teams understand it. Clear objectives, real measurement and an answer when someone asks, “What’s my ROI?” Nic and Matt break down why gaming still gets stuck in the innovation bucket, why “the gaming audience” is probably the wrong way for brands to think about players, and why reaching someone through ‘Call of Duty’ should be treated like reaching them through any other media channel. They also get into GTA VI, Rockstar’s tight control over Vice City, and whether the more interesting opportunity for brands could eventually sit on the UGC side instead. Plus, Matt asks people at IAB one question: what’s the most valuable thing to measure in game marketing? Thanks to everyone who rocked the mic and gave valuable insights: Andrew Martinson - Media and Strategy H&R Block Michael Arzt - Experience Center Director at IAB Jean-Baptiste Godinot - Executive Vice President, Gameloft for brands Olivier Moingeon - Co-Founder & CEO Exclusible Bryce Showalter - Head of Gaming JBL Professional Matt Sharpe - Creative Director, Advertising Zynga Shahar Sorek - CMO Overwolf Follow Us: Co-Hosts: Nic Hill - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nic-hill-6553873/ Matt Daly - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalymatt/ Producer / Editor Edward Regue - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-regue-%C2%A9-44b0421b2/ Website: https://www.brands-in-play.com/ #brandsinplay #iab #gamesbeat

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  Episode #87

  Roblox Is Betting on Better Games and Smarter Discovery | Roblox Chief Growth Officer | RDC 26

  Sep 16, 202620 minS1

  “The algorithm doesn’t make or break a game. The game makes or breaks the game.” At RDC, Nic Hill sat down with John Ciancutti, Chief Growth Officer at Roblox, for a conversation about one of the hardest problems on the platform: helping the right game find the right player. John explains why Roblox has moved away from optimizing discovery around short-term signals and toward what it calls “lasting value.” In simple terms, the platform wants to reward games people return to, spend time in, share with friends and choose to spend money on. John explains that this is much better than encouraging developers to chase the latest algorithm trick. That becomes especially important as Roblox pushes further into adult gaming. John sees deeper games and an expanding older audience feeding into each other: better content brings in different players, and a broader player base gives creators a reason to build more sophisticated games. But showing up does not automatically mean building another branded world. Roblox is built around communities already playing, creating and sharing together. John points to Bruno Mars entering an existing Roblox game as a more interesting model for how brands and talent can participate. As John puts it: “Roblox, it’s not a place where culture is consumed. It’s a place where culture is created.” Watch or listen to the full conversation on Brands In Play. #rdc2026 #roblox #brandstrategy #growthstrategy Follow John Ciancutti - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jciancutti/ Follow Roblox - https://www.linkedin.com/company/roblox/posts/?feedView=all Follow Us: Co-Hosts: Nic Hill - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nic-hill-6553873/ Matt Daly - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalymatt/ Producer / Editor Edward Regue - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-regue-%C2%A9-44b0421b2/ Website: https://www.brands-in-play.com/ #brandsinplay

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