Everything is converging, and the slow burn of brands experimenting with activations instead of dedication to meeting "gamers" (now a segment of the global population pushing 3.5 billion) where they are.

Bastian Bergmann, co-founder of Solsten, where behavioral science meets brand strategy,  spells out why every company will need a gaming strategy. "The message to executives and leaders of any business is: to regain the loyalty of your customers, you have to meet them where they are. And where you will find them is playing video games."

Of course, brands will need a playbook to master this mass media. They'll find it in Bastian's new and powerful book, Press Play.

In it, Bastian maps the rise of gaming as the next cultural super-platform and draws from interviews with top brands ( Peloton Interactive , The New York Times, PUMA Group ) to show how different industries are rewriting the rules of engagement and ringing in the revenues in the process.

We met up at Gamescom to talk about the opportunities for brands and what happens when Culture is Distribution.

• Engagement trumps impressions. A branded Roblox experience can capture 11 minutes of attention — compared to just 1.3 seconds on a social post.

• Games are the new storefront. Younger consumers aren't starting their shopping journeys on websites — they're starting in games, where identity and purchase decisions are already being shaped.

• "Identity is currency." Avatars, cosmetics, and digital goods aren't side hustles. They're how consumers express themselves, and where brands can add real value.

My take: Gaming is where culture lives, where engagement exists, and where your audience is— whether you like it or not.

Adidas got in early, and the success is staggering.

The sports apparel giant didn't just show up in games. Press Play tells the story of how Adidas built a playbook for turning immersive culture into measurable ROI — and every brand exec should be taking notes.

Erika Wykes-Sneyd, the maverick marketing mind behind the transformation, told me firsthand how she took the brand from logo placements to building a 24/7 Roblox store, selling over +10M avatars, and treating gaming not as a stunt but as a full-blown business unit with its own global P&L.

Her playbook for executives?

• Educate the boardroom and kill the stereotypes (gaming isn't just teens in basements — the average gamer is 37, often women with disposable income).

• Lead with value and identity, not reach — gaming is about how people live and represent themselves online, and Adidas tapped into that by powering avatars, not just sponsoring teams.

• Treat gaming as a channel, not a campaign — the same way you'd resource TikTok or Instagram, you need dedicated teams, long-term patience, and shared KPIs.

Erika's take: "Don't start with a gaming strategy. Start with the customer you want to win — where they play, how they spend, and how your brand can add value to their world."

My take: Gaming isn't the stunt. It's the strategy — and Adidas proves the ROI is already here.

This is HUGE — and it's happening now.

It's why it's the focus of an upcoming two-part PocketGamer.Biz Podcast interview with Bastian and my co-host Brian Baglow dropping later this month.

And it's also the spark behind Game the Brand, a special series on my own Mobile Groove podcast (powered by Xsolla), where I'll unpack what this shift means for brands, games, and culture.

What? You can't wait? I hear you, so here's the pure gold from my lineup of Gamescom interviews. And trust me, these aren't the usual suspects.

Take Henkel Consumer Brands , a 147-year-old traditional German chemical giant. Brand manager Paulina Besmehn explained how the Schwarzkopf Live brand partnered with Final Fantasy to launch three limited-edition hair colors that existed both in-game as avatars and offline as products. The goal wasn't just exposure but authentic self-expression. It was to identify and partner with a game that aligned with the brand's values of individuality, boldness, and positivity. High marks for showing how brands can win new relevance (and audience) when they focus on community first.

Jukka Laakso, CEO @ Soihtu DTX, shared how his journey from traditional game development led him to co-found a studio creating clinically tested games for mental health. Backed by neuroscience research and large-scale trials with over 1,000 patients, his team has shown that gameplay can directly improve neurocognitive functions tied to depression, with results 3x better than standard care. His next steps: the game is headed toward FDA approval, and his company is moving to mobile-friendly titles that doctors could one day prescribe as digital medicine.

Felix Zimmermann from Germany's @Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / Federal Agency for Civic Education explained how the government is using games to reach younger audiences with democratic values. For the first time, they showcased indie titles under the banner Games for Democracy, including standouts like Media Circus from game designer Pragya Mukherjee, where you run a newspaper and wrestle with fake news, money, and morality. In my view, it's play with purpose. And it's exciting to learn that the next move may be Germany developing its own games.

Luc Bernard reminded us what happens when a game's purpose is to preserve memory. Voices of the Forgotten pushes the boundaries of storytelling by blending fictional characters with real photos, documents, and footage to become the first video game to address the Holocaust. Launched free in 2023, it has already reached over 2 million players worldwide, including in countries with no Holocaust museums, proving that games can carry memory where other media cannot. It's proof that games aren't just preserving history; they're powering new ways for us to experience it, making history playable, personal, and impossible to ignore.

Clearly, games are where impact happens.

But impact also requires brands and publishers to partner in ways that balance purpose for players and performance for the business. It's new territory, which is why I sat down with Sarah Chafer and Travis Anderson from Xsolla, a company redefining how players, publishers, and brands exchange value inside games, to talk about what brands expect and where publishers can excel. And guess what? Offer walls are having a moment.

For brands, offer walls are "very low risk" because spend only triggers at conversion, Sarah tells me. Another bonus: the chance to glean rich data on what players value and how they engage. For publishers, they are a new revenue lever that Travis calls "a proxy for payment" that turns engaged non-payers into spenders. With the right segmentation, offers can feel additive rather than intrusive.

No wonder bigger brands are exploring them alongside traditional ad channels. As Sarah puts it: "When you let players choose how to engage, from low-friction installs to premium offers like Paramount+ subscriptions, the result isn't intrusion, it's connection."

And speaking of connection, from meetings to mind-melds, Gamescom 2025 was my busiest and best ever! ✨🖖✨

Thanks Jani Torppa and Jesse Lempiäinen Geeklab, Robert Huynh Reforged Labs, James Hursthouse Greenstone Initiatives. David Ruggeiro TyrAds, Dan Francis & Sham Saleh Fateless Games, Nick Bloom exmox GmbH and Craig Chapple at PocketGamer.biz for the insights and the inside track on what's next in your world 🙌 I look forward to continuing the conversation!

On the road: Where I'll be—and where we might meet

Let's make it real.

Here are the places I'll be in the weeks ahead, and where we might connect in person. If you are attending, or even just nearby, give me a shout.

DMEXCO - Cologne, September 16

PREMEXCO CONNECT is back, and it only gets better each year. It's where unforgettable connections happen. It's also the event I've attended since co-founding the MMA in Germany in 2017 with Daniel Rieber and Mark Wächter — the one and ONLY Mr. Mobile.

Apps on TikTok 2025 - Berlin, September 25

I'm keynoting TikTok's first-ever' Apps on TikTok' event, 'From Insight to Impact: Growing App Brands on TikTok.' My session will focus on full-funnel growth, drawing from The 2026 Full-Funnel Growth Playbook for App Marketers: User Acquisition, Retargeting, SKAN 5.0 The upcoming playbook brings together insights from Aarki Adjust AppTweak CleverTap Phiture and top app marketers. It's an exclusive gathering for app leaders, packed with strategy, creativity, and success stories — and I'm thrilled to set the stage.

Google #AppSummit25 — Dublin, September 30–October 1

I'm excited to join this invite-only gathering of the world's leading app publishers and developers, connecting with Google's product and engineering leaders. I'll also share the stage with Božo Janković from GameBiz Consulting to discuss ad quality and strategies for user growth and monetization.

That wraps up September ✨

Out of time, never out of insights. See you in the inbox next time!

Peggy