Introducing Game On: Team Ups with Publicis JimenezBasic’s Carrie Server and an exclusive interview with Blue ‘Cuppy’ Paras

Game On is growing! After almost two years here in our corner arcade, sharing tips and tricks, chronicling the growth of Gaming X Marketing, and yes “playing while working” – we are expanding!

“Gamers instinctively help each other out.” – Game On, Stage 01, 2022

No words ring more true this year, as Team Ups will be a new segment where we shall feature content from invited guest contributors who are fellow gaming experts in the industry.

ADDING TEAMMATE: Carrie Server!

Carrie is a Sr. Planner at Publicis JimenezBasic. One of the very few pure, gaming-bred strategic planners in the local advertising industry today. She’s mostly active in the League of Legends and Valorant spaces, but mostly… I am just happy and honored to have her onboard! Her first piece is an interview with a gaming marketer veteran.

Let’s-a-go, Carrie!

CHOO CHOO! ALL ABOARD THE GAMING TRAIN!
An In-Depth Interview with Blue Paras
By Carrie Server

Gaming has come a loooong way.

People see that it isn’t just the Loser Recluse stereotype they have in their heads and want to get in on the action!

When it comes to gaming itself you can just pick up any game, play it as casually as you want and you’re already in, but when it comes to marketing – picking it up isn’t as simple…

Today we bring you something to help make more sense of how advertising and gaming can duo queue in the marketing scene.

CUPPY HAS JOINED THE LOBBY

Blue “Cuppy” Paras is a seasoned marketer in the gaming space and he was kind enough to have lunch with us to share some insights from a long-time marketing gamer.

Blue has worked with the likes of Tier One, NAOS Esports, and Rumble Royale to grow their communities, build meaningful partnerships, and mount events. Beyond his professional credentials, he shared how his love for gaming started with his Lola playing Bomberman with him.

At an early age, he found himself falling in love with the social aspect of gaming. Blue would often find himself in internet cafes trying to improve his skill while making friends.

“A core memory I have from my comp shop days was when I had this really good Fizz [1] game and people were crowding around me to watch me play. We lost the game, but after people came up to me and said they liked how I played, we became friends.”

This carried on to his college years where he would focus mostly on playing League of Legends since that was the popular MOBA [2] at most internet cafes.

GAMING IS NOT A TREND

Gaming has been around for years and years, but the way we know gaming today is very different from how it was in the 90’s.

“I remember when esports began growing, people would have 5-man pubstomp [3] in comp shops to make a name for themselves, but it’s not like that anymore.”

When gaming was “new” people saw it as a dork hobby for people who never left their rooms or lived and breathed the sweaty musk of internet cafes, but nowadays it has a much more accessible vibe making it the “new” thing for marketers.

The issue with the mindset a lot of marketers have when coming into the gaming space is that they want to be in the gaming space because it’s “cool” with big business potential.

But if you treat gaming like the next trend to hop on – your marketing will fail you because gamers don’t feel like they need brands to enjoy gaming since they didn’t need us before.

THE PRO STRATS

So, the question now is how do we get brands and gamers to really connect? Blue shared three key moments in his career that stayed with him and can hopefully inspire us in advertising in the gaming space.

1. KNOW THE CULTURE

Blue shared how Rev Major was such a fun project because it humbled him. While he excels in MOBAs and does his best to keep up with other games he isn’t as immersed in the fighting game community. To make sure his team’s work was good he made it a point to sit down and talk to fighting game enjoyer which unearthed the Melty Blood bathroom meme that is enjoyed within their community. This meme became the big idea for their booth and attracted many of the con goers.

“The fighting game community is made up of really loyal and passionate people. Understanding the game and the gamers is key. You can’t go into things without knowing about the communities because they can sniff out when you’re being fake and not genuine.”

2. BRING SOMETHING NEW

“Have you ever had a time in your career where you felt like you’ve made it? Like your inner child can’t believe you’ve gotten this far? That was Tokyo Game Show for me – Traveling for work? So cool.”

The gaming space is always evolving and what might be small right now might be the big thing tomorrow so it’s important to keep updated on the latest in gaming. More importantly, it is important to bring the latest in gaming to where you’re at.

Going to the Tokyo Game Show was an opportunity for Blue and the Rumble Royale team to bring something new to the Philippines because Japanese games tend to be gatekept to the their local market. Networking was key for the Rumble team during this event so that they could keep in contact with Japanese IPs and find opportunities to localize and grow the gaming ecosystem of the Philippines.

“Keeping yourself open to new experiences and looking for new ways to make gaming exciting is a great place to be especially if you want to become a thought leader.”

3. TALK TO GAMERS

Lastly, it’s important that you just talk to gamers.

You don’t even need to be one yourself. You don’t need to get every inside joke or every meme to be able to connect with them genuinely just listen to them because gamers are so vocal when it comes to what they want.

Blue’s community skills go back all the way to his teen years where he helped foster the MapleStory community in its early days. One of his latest successes was being able to spearhead the NAOS Community Nights where he and his teammates heard their community talk about holding scrims [5]. Blue found that being able to host these on a regular basis and invite community members to cast and help out made their community feel special. It made them feel supported and heard – giving NAOS a lasting relationship with their regulars.

GG GO NEXT

And if you’ll only remember one thing from this. Just remember gaming is bigger than all of us.

When it comes to the culture or what works we all have to put aside our egos, listen to the communities, and keep things fun.

And with that we ended the interview and GG go next!

Gaming Terms

1. Fizz – A League of Legends character
2. MOBA – Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
3. Pubstomp – Organized team of friends/clan members play against random people who join a public server with the intent to destroy their mentals.
4. Scrim- Organized online practice match

About the Author

Carrie “curry” Server is a Sr. Brand Planner in Publicis JimenezBasic. She also peaked ASC1 in Valorant, is a retired Junkrat enjoyer, and worked with Garena in marketing Call of Duty: Mobile.