Male Gen-Z, Millennial Update Opps: Activision Blizzard to raise marketing spend (Score 57)
Update: Activision Blizzard (AB) announced during its Q1 earnings report that it plans to increase ad spend in Q2
to promote new content. It will also add more social media features to its mobile games, which it things will help acquire new users. AB is focused on high ROI marketing, so make sure to convey how you can help it make the most out of its ad dollars when you contact this company. This follows the company's April CMO appointment, which you can read more about below.
Please refer to the story below for additional spend and targeting data.
Agency & martech readers-- Keep reaching out to the new CMO because we have not seen any agency reviews yet. AB currently works with 72andSunny (creative AOR), Space150 (social AOR) and OMD (media AOR). Agencies that have expericen working in gaming may have an upper-hand.
The original story was published on April 7:
Activision Blizzard (AB) announced it hired Fernando Machado as CMO, effective April 2021. Machado comes from Restaurant Brands International where he held the same title, and led marketing for Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons. He is replacing David Messinger, who served in the role for almost two years. Messinger will reportedly stay on temporarily to help manage the transition. Keep any eye on this company, as this hire could lead to agency reviews and new marketing strategies. AB is best known for Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Candy Crush.
**Machado does not officially start his new role until April 12th, so we are unable to confirm his email address at this time.**
According to iSpot, AB spent around $9.9m on national TV ads in 2020 during programming such as "NFL Football," "NBA Basketball," "NHL Hockey," "MLB Baseball" and "South Park." It increased spend last year by about 39% from $6m in 2019. It has not aired a national TV ads yet this year.
Magellan reports AB placed about 150 podcast ads over the last year.
Per Pathmatics, AB earned 335.6m impressions through desktop video ads (69%), Instagram ads (17%), Facebook ads (6%), Twitter ads (5%) and desktop display ads (3%). It placed the majority (99%) of these ads site direct onto sites such as youtube.com, instagram.com, facebook.com, twitter.com and ign.com. It placed the remainder (2%) indirectly through Google AdX+AdSense and The Trade Desk onto sites such as ebay.com, finance.yahoo.com, fandom.com, thesimsresource.com and gamepressure.com. It spent around $3.6m on digital display ads YTD, a slight 9% increase from $3.3m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend skyrocketed from $12.3m in 2019 to $34.6m in 2020.
Sellers-- AB mainly targets Gen-Z and millennial men through national TV and digital display ads. It increased spend in both channels in 2020, and has been increasing digital spend this year. AB typically allocates the majority of its budget to Q4 during the holidays, which is also normally when the yearly Call of Duty game is released. The company has been doing well despite the pandemic, as consumers have been buying more video games while they are stuck at home, which is most likely the reason behind the increased ad spend. It also invests in OOH, radio and local broadcast TV ads, per Kantar. Keep in mind, these strategies are subject to change once Machado implements his strategy.
Agency & martech readers-- As you know, the number one indicator of a potential agency review is a new CMO, so start reaching out soon to be top-of-mind with Machado. I believe you will face competition from creative AOR 72andSunny, social AOR Space150 and media AOR OMD. Focus your pitches on separating AB from competitors such as Rockstar Games, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft.
