Brands In Play

This week on Brands In Play, we're joined by gaming journalist, creator, and cultural connector Gerard "HipHopGamer" Williams for one of our most energetic conversations yet. We unpack why every company should have a gaming division, why relationships always matter more than follower counts and how brands like Chase are making a positive impact through their game marketing strategy....

This week on Brands In Play, Nic Hill and Ely Santos sit down with Chris Mann, SVP of RevXP at sports marketing agency rEvolution. Chris takes us behind the scenes of major branded activations with Chipotle and more, explaining why authenticity, community trust, and understanding gaming culture are now essential for brands. This week's headlines: • Meta launches its first smart glasses line b...

This week on Brands In Play, Nic and Ely sit down with Doddz, the AR artist and founder of Dime. From Disney, Nike, Amazon and beyond, Doddz breaks down how brands can use augmented reality to create experiences that feel like moments of magic. The conversation gets into smart glasses, AR fatigue, data capture, creative R&D, and why bad AR is usually the problem and not AR itself. In the news:...

Episode 70 is live! This week, Nic Hill and Ely Santos sit down with John Benyamine, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Moonrock, one of the top game marketing agencies.  John has worked on everything from Comic-Con activations and Fortnite tournaments to custom Minecraft worlds for Walmart and Samsung. He shares why the future belongs to brands that dive into the culture, rather than just...

This week on Brands In Play, we’ve got a packed house! First up, Ely Santos (Founder of Vibe Glass and host of the Metavertising Podcast) is joining us as our guest co-host for the whole month of June. Then, Nic sits down with Will Trowbridge, the Founder & CEO of Saylor, one of the fastest-growing creative agencies out there right now. Will drops some serious truth bombs on why you can't...

This week on Episode 68 of Brands In Play, Morgan Pomish sits down with Derek Dabrowski, SVP, Head of Cold Brand Marketing at Keurig Dr Pepper. After nine seasons of Dr Pepper’s micro drama series Fansville, Derek explains why most marketers kill great ideas too early, why consumers need consistency more than novelty, and why CFOs don't care about impressions, engagement rates, or video compl...

This week on Brands In Play, Nic Hill and Morgan Pomish are joined by Alexander Lee, Lead News Writer at GamesBeat, to unpack one of the biggest questions in gaming right now: Could GTA 6 become the next major creator platform? From Rockstar's growing interest in UGC and creator monetization, to what brands should be doing before launch day. We get into creator ecosystems, platform economics,...

In Episode 66 of Brands In Play Morgan Pomish and Nic Hill are joined by David Nussbaum, Founder and Chairman of Proto Hologram. We unpack the world's first always-on holographic advertising network and how brands are turning malls and public spaces into immersive channels. We also get into AI agents, holographic storytelling, and whether these systems become infrastructure rather than novelt...

What happens when attention moves… but brand budgets don't? This week, Nic Hill and Morgan Pomish sit down with Zoe Soon, Head of Creator and Gaming at the Interactive Advertising Bureau.  Zoe unpacks why outdated assumptions about "gamers" are still shaping brand decisions, why interactive media hasn't yet earned the measurement standards it needs to unlock serious budget, and...

This week on Brands In Play, Nic Hill sits down with Karl Stewart, SVP of Worldwide Marketing and Head of IMAGINE AI at IGN Entertainment, Tate Fiebing, Senior Director of Business Intelligence at IGN, and Brent Koning, Global Head of Gaming at Dentsu, for a sharp breakdown of the new Generations In Play audience insights report. Want the full IGN Entertainment Generations In Play Audience Report?...

Episode 63 of Brands In Play goes straight to the source. Recorded live at World Builders Summit, Nic Hill and Brandon Iverson sit down with Roblox leaders Julie Piskin and Nick McLachlan for one of the clearest conversations yet on where immersive advertising is heading. From why creators should be valued like media companies, to Roblox’s controversial new ad revenue share model, to the bigger pu...

In Episode 62 of Brands In Play Lee Kebler and Nic Hill are joined by Cathy Hackl, CEO & Founder of Future Dynamics and Futurist in Residence at Nokia.  Cathy reframes the entire AI conversation away from models and toward networks. Positioning companies like Nokia as critical to enabling agentic and physical AI. The key idea: AI doesn’t scale without connectivity, and that’s where the real mo...

On Episode 61 of Brands In Play Nic sits down with Sara Apaza, Digital Brand Experience Manager at Cosnova, to unpack how Essence built one of the most effective beauty activations on Roblox with Kingdom of Essentia. Sara breaks down the internal reset from a campaign-led mindset to a community-first strategy, shifting from brand expression to player value. The result: sustained growth across enga...

Episode 60 of Brands In Play features a conversation with Mirjam Schuele, SVP of Marketing at Karl Lagerfeld, joining Nic Hill, Val Vacante and Gigi Casimiro to break down how one of fashion’s most iconic brands is navigating innovation. From early NFT drops that sold out in seconds to digital product passports and immersive campaign activations with Paris Hilton, Mirjam shares how Karl Lagerfeld...

Episode 59 of Brands In Play features an in-depth conversation with Charlie Fink, one of the earliest voices shaping the XR and metaverse space. Nic and Val unpack decades of perspective across immersive tech cycles, from early VR waves to today’s AI-driven storytelling. This week in the news: Epic Games announces major layoffs; Roblox introduces a controversial new ad policy; Minecraft expands in...

Episode 58 of Brands In Play was recorded live at SXSW, with Nic Hill on stage alongside Val Vacante, who hosting a panel on the future of play featuring Chris Down (EVP, Chief Design & Innovation Officer at Mattel) and Mitchel Berger Executive Vice President, Global Commerce at Crunchyroll. As discussed on stage, the role of a brand today is to bridge creators with audiences, aligning creativ...

Episode 57 of Brands In Play was recorded live at SXSW at the Red Thread X House, with Val Vacante joining Nic Hill on stage for a conversation with Chris Down, EVP and Chief Design & Innovation Officer at Mattel. Chris broke down how Mattel approaches extending brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels, UNO, and Monster High beyond the toy aisle and into connected play, collector ecosystems, gaming plat...

This week, Nic Hill is joined by special March co-host Val Vacante for a conversation with Katie Pereira, Director of Conference Strategy at SXSW. The interview explores the ideas shaping SXSW 2026, with a focus on AI and human connection, the return of creativity as a competitive edge, fandom as a force in modern marketing, and the growing importance of immersive brand experiences that people can...

Nic Hill and Aida Andersson are live this week in LA and they’re joined by Brian Ryerson, Senior Director, Digital Strategy at the USTA for a deep dive into how the US Open thinks about immersive platforms as more than a one-off activation.  Brian breaks down why Roblox and Fortnite are fundamentally an audience growth play for tennis and how they earned internal buy-in by turning the US Open into...

This week on the show, Nic Hill and Aida Andersson sit down with Matthew Zanazzo for a deep dive into the state of advertising inside Fortnite and the broader UGC gaming ecosystem. Matthew, founder of Catalyst Studios, former Head of Fortnite at Gamefam, and host of the Creative Juice podcast has driven over 750M plays across collaborations with Epic Games, LEGO, Disney, Samsung, and more. Matt’s...

This week on the show, Aida Andersson and Nic Hill sit down with Joe Farren (Future Sport Co.), an award-winning sports innovation consultant who’s helped top sports brands translate immersive tech into real fan and commercial value. In the interview, we unpack Joe’s framework for integrating sport into immersive platforms, what drives loyalty (and what kills it), and why the next wave is less abo...

This week on the show, Nic Hill and Aida Andersson sit down with Morgan Pomish, Senior Vice President, Head of Innovative Experiences at Digitas North America. We get into how strategy falls apart when brands start with “we need to be in gaming” instead of a real business problem.  In the news, Twitch launches BloxFest, Verizon turns Fortnite into a Super Bowl moment, Disney+ releases the full Hig...

This week on the show, Nic Hill and Albane Prioux are joined by Leslie Shepard, Lead of Partnerships and Growth Marketing at Sam’s Club. In this conversation, Leslie breaks down how Sam’s Club thinks about gaming as an upper funnel growth lever, why Roblox integrations beat building a standalone world for their goals, and what she learned by running a portfolio approach across multiple titles. In...

It's EPISODE 50! Before anything else, thank you to everyone who’s been listening, watching, sharing, and building with us along the way. What started as a conversation has turned into a weekly ritual, and we don’t take that for granted. Your support is the reason Brands In Play keeps showing up, digging deeper, and pushing this space forward. This week on the show, Nic Hill and Albane Prioux...

Episode 49 of Brands In Play is here and this week Nic Hill and Albane Prioux are joined by Charlie Melcher, founder of Melcher Media and The Future of Storytelling, and author of The Future of Storytelling.  In the interview, Charlie breaks down the rise of “living stories", plus what this shift means for brand storytelling, experience design, and how marketers should think about impact, mem...