We continue our review of 2024 together with top managers and experts from the games industry (and related fields). Up next is an interview with Marcin Marzęcki, CEO and co-founder of Kool Things.
What was the year like for the company? What would you like to highlight in terms of achievements?
Without a doubt, it has been a challenging year. The Kool Things agency is deeply connected to the international gaming market. If this market experiences difficulties, it is natural for it to negatively impact our company. It’s well known that 2024 has been tough for the entire industry, with some analysts even claiming it was harder than 2023. This trend can be observed in the decreasing demand for marketing services at Kool Things since 2023. Clients are either reducing their budgets or canceling previously planned activities for 2024.
What is astonishing, however, is that toward the end of 2024, we are receiving a significant number of inquiries and assignments for 2025. Let’s hope this is a sign of the end of the crisis and the beginning of better times. An achievement is undoubtedly the fact that, despite challenging times, the company has improved its profitability.
How has the gaming PR market changed over the year?
I want to emphasize that when talking about gaming PR, I mean all available communication channels, such as influencers, product placement, social media, and collaborations with journalists from websites dedicated to gaming. There aren’t any significant differences between 2023 and 2024.
However, there is a noticeable strong growth in several promotional trends that emerged a few years ago:
- Game companies are increasingly adopting cross-platform release strategies to broaden their reach and engage diverse audiences. This approach not only enhances player accessibility but also necessitates PR campaigns that effectively communicate across multiple platforms;
- Brands are leveraging platforms like Roblox to incorporate user-generated content into their marketing strategies. This trend fosters community engagement and allows for innovative promotional campaigns on Roblox and similar platforms;
- The growing popularity of gaming influencers and live-streaming platforms has made them central to PR strategies. Collaborations with streamers and content creators enable brands to reach targeted demographics authentically;
- AI-driven tools assist in content creation, data analysis, and targeted marketing, enhancing the effectiveness of PR initiatives.
Has the practice of working with game companies changed?
Agencies adopting more integrated, data-driven, and community-focused approaches to meet the evolving needs of game companies and their audiences. That’s definitely the biggest difference between PR in say 2022 and now. Additionally, game companies prefer to work on a project-based fee rather that monthly retainer.
What trends in gaming PR are you expecting to intensify or emerge in 2025?
Personally, I don’t expect any revolution about gaming PR in the coming year. I’m sure that all trends I mentioned in the second answer would be growing in 2025 even more.
What are the company’s plans for the coming year?
The plan is simple. To do what we do best: an effective marketing mix for our clients. Kool Things has specialized in gaming promotion since 2010, with our experience spanning hundreds of campaigns across various PR dimensions. While 2024 was quite average for our industry in terms of the number of projects and client budgets, 2025 looks much more promising, as evidenced by the increased number of inquiries for the upcoming year.