By Robert Gaxiola, the head of creative at Ampverse in Southeast Asia and India, left the position after two years to launch PLAYBOOK XP, a creative agency focused on gaming and esports.
Gaxiola led Ampverse’s creative direction and product expansion into original game content and Web3 throughout his tenure there as an esports leader. This involved managing social media marketing, team branding, clothing design, and custom metaverse experiences with NFT product development on many meta platforms.
PLAYBOOK XP will now be managed by Gaxiola as a managing partner. A brand-new creative consultancy called PLAYBOOK XP teaches customers how to succeed in the game industry by learning, investigation, and ingenuity. Robert Gaxiola and Jenny Hall, who was previously Ampverse’s head of strategic partnerships, are starting the consultancy.
The goal of PLAYBOOK XP is to assist marketers and businesses in harnessing the power of gamers in the Asia-Pacific area.
“Our sole purpose is to show brands how to enter the space and win,” Gaxiola stated.
Education and training, strategy development, innovative ideation, and the implementation of successful gaming activations are among its primary services.
“I think we found a niche opportunity in a market while I was there, but I learned a lot at Ampverse,” Gaxiola said in a conversation.
“In the course of our work with clients, we felt we could bring more creative and advertising solutions to brands who specifically want to target gamers within the gaming ecosystem,” he said. “We strive to assist clients step up their game in the gaming industry by leveraging our expertise in branding, esports, and gaming. This might be accomplished by creating innovative gaming and esports-related activations, content, or advertising strategies throughout APAC.”
He expressed his desire to assist companies in creating their own consumer engagement strategies for the gaming industry.
“For brands, gaming is actually a new space, and we are quite familiar with it. Gaxiola stated, “We are familiar with the games, the ecosystems, and what can be produced with publishers, developers, and platforms.
We offer a special blend of creative agency and gaming knowledge. Fans and players make up our squad. “It’s a creative offering that aims to highlight the value of clients’ brands within the gaming ecosystem through content, KOL activations, or events,” the speaker said.
He went on to say that he will keep working with the KOL talent and esport teams at Ampverse.
“We will collaborate with other esports teams and talent as well,” stated Gaxiola. The team is also prioritizing education and training, holding professional training sessions for marketers at SMU Academy through a course certified by Skillsfuture, as well as brief workshops with companies.
“The course we created for the SMU Academy is designed to help brands and marketers target gamers,” Hall stated. The considerable disparity that still exists between the size of the gaming business and the percentage of advertising expenditure in this field can be explained by the complexity and sometimes intimidating nature of marketing within the gaming ecosystem.
The agency’s goal, she continued, is to make things simpler and draw attention to obvious avenues for involvement. “By doing so we will empower brands to leverage the vast opportunities across gaming effectively and connect with their target audience in meaningful and impactful ways,” she stated.
PLAYBOOK XP is now engaged in projects in APAC, Japan, and the United States.
Gaxiola was director of creative and content at Something Else, the digital content and NFT studio for Vogue, Esquire, and Robb Report, before joining Ampverse.
He reported to Michael von Schlippe, president of Media Publishares, and oversaw the creative resources, production services, and team’s commercial development at Something Else. Prior to that, he was leading the content production company KellerMedia, which he and TV host Denise Keller co-founded.
Gaxiola is a well-known figure in the advertising industry. He held executive positions at Ogilvy and Mangham Gaxiola, both of which were acquired by the Densu Network in 2015.
