“Gaming is one of the most engaging channels, and what makes it particularly interesting is its ability to convert taps into transactions,” said Maya Kosovalic, vice president of marketing at L’Oréal-owned NYX Professional Makeup during Advertising Week New York.

But that conversion hinges on authenticity.

• In a crowded advertising environment, the goal is to preserve the player’s experience while opening natural opportunities for interaction and purchase.
• “We believe that playing a game is a gift,” said Jorge Prado, co-founder and CEO of mobile gaming ad platform Admazing. “We wanted to bring the brands that people already love in a seamless way, in a way that truly feels like we are part of the game and not just pushed into the game.”

Walmart’s approach follows the same principle.

“We talk about the work that we do as meeting customers outside of the traditional four walls of Walmart and using new mediums like gaming to engage with consumers where we know they’re spending their time, specifically Gen Z and Gen Alpha,” said Justin Breton, director of brand experiences and strategic partnerships at Walmart.

For him, success comes from building meaningful experiences.

“What are the types of products that make sense? What are the price points that are going to resonate? What’s actually going to incentivize that purchase so that it feels meaningful?” he asked.

That mindset led to the launch of Walmart’s brand shop on Zepeto.

• There, players can buy real-world items and receive virtual twins for their avatars.
• “Users in the US are changing what their avatar wears 11 times per week,” Breton noted. “That particular platform, we’ve had more than 80 million virtual items sold in less than a year.”

Frictionless commerce is the next step. For example, Unilever is experimenting with one-click shopping tied directly to retailers, according to Danica Chong, group director, investment at WPP Unite, which cites Unilever as a primary client.

“[With the] click of a button, it would add it to your preferred retailer cart… so you can buy our suite of products [without leaving the game,]” she said.

The future will be shaped by seamless integration, meaningful partnerships, and the ability to measure what matters.

“It’s about understanding more and more about the experience and the user, and not just going broad,” said Prado.

This article was prepared with the assistance of generative AI tools to support content organization, summarization, and drafting. All AI-generated contributions have been reviewed, fact-checked, and verified for accuracy and originality by EMARKETER editors. Any recommendations reflect EMARKETER’s research and human judgment.

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