After a first day dedicated to the audiovisual trade business held this Thursday (2), the 4th edition of Whext is open to the public through YouTube and also in person, in São Paulo.
The first debate this Friday (3) was “Games building narratives with brands” with moderation by the executive Loreplay Carvalho (account manager of the holding Meta (Facebool, WhatsApp and Instagram) and participation by Carlos Estigarribia (head of country management at Lockwood Publishing), and Rick Lousa (Vice President of New Business New Business at BBL).
The gamer environment requires some care for advertising, as Lousa explains, citing a project for O Boticário that attracted 14 million visitors to its store in one month. “In this case, a live store. It’s not enough to put something in and wait for it to happen. You have to activate, to help with promotions and other activities, the generation of social media sharing. Content delivery is key to this connection.”
On the issue of effective content management, Estigarribia emphasizes that this is an agenda that should not be left out of the agencies’ focus. In his opinion, global love brands did not contemplate the peculiarities of the metaverse world and had a negative effect. “We are putting together a reality show with more than 100 people working behind the scenes. It’s not just those who participate who are inside. The important thing is the community to be. The brand has to play together. The game is the new football. But it is good to note three points: 1) branding; 2) generate leads, but not those that ask for clicks for e-commerce, but through content that encourages interaction; 3) keep phydigital in mind.
Games, as a native of the metaverse scenario, are in the mindset of users as a form of entertainment. And watch how it evolves through technology, such as the 5G that will provide more interactions. Why? It’s not about going to the store and shopping, but having an experience with the brand, as Nike did with the Versa project.
The Whext 2021 agenda continues this Friday with agendas such as “Music for advertising”; “New forms of digital content”; “Empowerment, representativeness and transformation”; “Regenerative economy”; “Legacy of the pandemic and new production formats” and “What to expect from 2022.”
The final attraction will be the awards presentation to the Whext Award winners.
“Whext’s proposal has always been to be an exchange, reflection and disruptive platform. We seek to present the main trends for the audiovisual advertising production sector. Of course, with the pandemic we had to reinvent ourselves, the format of the event changed, but we managed to maintain the high level of discussions – the network moment, for example – we developed the Whext Connection platform, for business. We brought as international guests on the panels, participating remotely. Always seeking to have professionals who are references in their areas of expertise. We came to discuss the future and so on. Our purpose is to provoke the market with “what’s next” and I believe we are succeeding. It is also worth mentioning the award, which is recognition for backstage professionals, who are generally not praised by other festivals. The technical team is the one who helps to put the film on its feet and deserves to be recognized”, explains Marianna Souza, executive president of Apro, the organization that organizes Whext.
