Exploring the Shifting Landscape of Brand Engagement Through the Evolution of Mobile and In-Game Advertising
The advertising landscape is evolving rapidly, fueled by technological advancements and shifting consumer behavior. In recent years, mobile and in-game advertising have emerged as powerful marketing channels, offering brands the unique opportunity to engage audiences within fully immersive digital environments, leveraging innovative and highly personalized experiences to capture the attention of online users.
As in-game and mobile advertising becomes a key component for many marketers’ media strategies, we asked several industry leaders for their perspective on where these channels stand today – and where they’re headed next. Here’s what they shared with us:
Devyn McHugh
Director, Programmatic, Quigley-Simpson
Like any other open ecosystem, gaming can be an excellent resource to reach new audiences and drive growth; however, it's imperative that supply curation and creative development are priorities in activation.
Gaming continues to evolve with improved streaming technology, increased data sharing, and creative storytelling. More and more, gaming content is bridged with other media, specifically higher-impact channels like TV and VR. Individuals can engage with characters and immerse themselves in a story, or they can connect with other gamers and build community as they play. For advertisers, breaking into these entertainment sources can be manual and expensive - especially since most games are built & sold in order to create an ad-free space. However, cloud-based developments are providing better pipes to buy advertisement at scale (even on TV and VR devices), and mobile gaming remains a massive opportunity for marketers to tell their story and drive engagement at scale. Mobile also provides a massive opportunity for media waste and poor-quality engagement. The difference is in supply, creative, and measurement.
Mobile gaming provides quality environments for brand messaging: rewarded video allows full screen, high SOV exposure on a personal device; intrinsic in-game advertising enriches audience experience while driving reach; gameable interstitials provide memorable touchpoints and brand engagement. Each is dependent on curated inventory and creative builds that match and complement the environment with which the audience member is engaging.
With quality ad experiences, success can be defined with a layered measurement strategy that takes into account signal loss on mobile devices (especially iOS), and competitive touchpoints. Modeled attribution should be considered for holistic affect on 1P data, while campaign KPIs should be matched to creative capabilities.
As access to advertisable gaming inventory increases on more home devices like TV and VR, inventory control and specified creative will become even more paramount. Test these strategies within mobile now, build a layered measurement strategy to prove growth, and continue to build your brand with memorable in-game experiences.
Scott Ensign
CSO, Butler/Till
We see gaming as a big opportunity for clients, as it is significantly undermonetized today. There is no doubt a perception problem with brands and marketers who view gamers as hardcore console and PC gamers when there are more than 3.4 billion gamers worldwide, with most of them gaming primarily on mobile devices.
One way we've been successful is to treat in-game advertising not as another channel or effort, but as just another way of getting attention from key audiences. Many games have standard formats and ad opportunities that just make sense for a lot of brands. This will become more and more common as gaming continues to grow, and brands get more comfortable with this space as a critical dimension of entertainment media. Formats will become more and more native to the gaming experience, and consumers will come to appreciate the ad experience as part of a clear value exchange.
Kim Wijkstrom
CMO, Vanda Pharmaceuticals
In our media mix, we do not actually do any gaming. I think it would be challenging from a product perspective for a pharmaceutical brand, given the legal disclaimers that have to be included. However, for pure brand awareness, it would make a ton of sense – just like having a banner at an actual baseball event – because with the growth of gaming, you would get an enormous amount of eyeballs. Even better if you can find a way of weaving your brand story in a relevant way into the narrative – again, that would be very challenging for a pharmaceutical brand.
In terms of where the in-game advertising is heading, I imagine it continues to get more immersive with the combination of VR and AI, probably turbo-charging it from here. But again, any integration into it would be (in my mind) either straight up billboard in the background or woven into the narrative, as long as it enhances or at least feels relevant to the story arc.
Mobile advertising is something that we do, in that we do Google banners for both desktop and mobile. And mobile is critical there, since people spend so much time on their phones. I think this will only grow in importance with AI being available in app form, and as the search engines keep integrating AI into their functionality. This feels a little like the Wild West, but I imagine that most search engines will start feeling more like a mash-up between TikTok and YouTube. However, the commercial element fits in will be a real challenge.
Ryan Edwards
Co-Founder, CAMINO5
Electronic Arts' Sims-Tinder campaign was one of the most unexpectedly brilliant moves in mobile and in-game marketing. Dropping the Sims character Bella Goth into Tinder while having a crossover in-game app for characters to “swipe right.”
It was seamlessly executed. People could swipe, match, and actually chat with her in-character, which made it feel like part of the app, not an ad. What really set this campaign apart was how it moved fluidly between digital and physical, from in-game to dating app, into real-life conversation, and back into the digital world again.
That kind of consistency in cross-platform, cross-reality presence is very hard to execute. Balancing technical execution with brand authenticity, reaching an incredibly broad audience of fans, daters, gamers, and casual scrollers alike. It was the most multi-layered, mainstream-reaching game campaign I’ve seen since Guitar Hero.
In today’s gaming world, marketers need to stop thinking of players as one type of person and games attracting one type of player. Games attract affinity and most often overlapping affinities.
The truth is, gamers span every age, identity, and lifestyle. Relevance now comes from context in a way that fits the experience.
This means less interruption, more integration, and contextual campaigns. Campaigns like EA’s Sims-Tinder moment worked because they felt native, not forced. Create a brand association past product to value.
Looking ahead, in-game and mobile advertising will lean even more into these blurred lines. We’ll see characters popping up in unexpected digital spaces, storylines extending beyond games, and ads that feel more like play than pitch. The future is a layered immersive experience that feels just as authentic in the game, in digital, and in the world.
July 24, 2025
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