Suggestions
Brandon Painter
Award-winning marketing director, global comms planner, and experiential savant
Brandon Painter is currently the Brand Solutions Lead at Enthusiast Gaming, a role that builds on his extensive background in marketing and brand strategy. He is recognized as an award-winning marketing director and a global communications planner, with a strong focus on digital strategy and experiential marketing.
Professional Experience
- Enthusiast Gaming: Brand Solutions Lead
- Rage Quit Consulting: Vice President, Brand Strategy (June 2023 - Present)
- GameSquare Holdings Inc.: Associate Director, Zero Code (May 2022 - April 2023)
- Ayzenberg: Manager, Influencer & Content Partnerships (April 2021 - August 2021)
- GGPR Esports: Head of Growth & Revenue Ops (September 2019 - August 2021)
Education
Brandon holds a degree from Kansas State University, which has contributed to his expertise in the marketing field.
Skills and Recognition
Brandon is known for his innovative approaches in marketing, particularly within the gaming industry. His work has garnered recognition for driving brand engagement and developing effective communication strategies tailored to diverse audiences.1
Highlights
𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙐𝙀𝙁𝙉...
𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺... 𝘜𝘎𝘊, 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘜𝘌𝘍𝘕 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵.
There seems to be a divide in the community around whether investing into the Fortnite ecosystem is "worth it." I pulled together this overview slide that has now made it into my "Welcome to the Metaverse" presentation that I've given to various college courses. While an activation in UEFN is certainly one of the sexiest things a brand can do right now, here are a handful of considerations when thinking about pulling the trigger...
We hear a LOT about Roblox these days, and Roblox is a fine alternative to a custom map build in Fortnite depending on business objectives and audience targets, but there are 3 key things to keep in mind when evaluating whether your agency or brand team should make the leap (or double down) in UEFN:
👀 At any given moment, Fortnite has 1-2M active players spending time in "Creative" games. This gives your brand the opportunity to capture the attention of a ton of individuals in a unique and immersive manner. While the discovery system is still a bit of a mess, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 "𝘧𝘶𝘯" 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯-𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. Media and creator support is pivotal for mass reach, but if the game is sticky? Players will return and share it organically, flipping a trigger in the UEFN algorithm that will surface it for even more playthroughs.
📊 According to Fortnite.gg, just about 1% of consistently played UGC game modes are branded. What does this mean for your team? 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡. 𝙁𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙥 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 (𝙞.𝙚. 𝙏𝙮𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝘽𝙚𝙙 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙚𝙩𝙘.) 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚. 𝙉𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨. 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮.
🕐 Gamers spend an average of 15 minutes in custom game modes in Fortnite. 15 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙙𝙮𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 (𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮-𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜) 𝙚𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. Just from a qualitative standpoint, how does that compare to your 6-second video buys?
Drop me a note to learn more about how EG has succeeded in this space.
𝙐𝙀𝙇 𝙐𝙋𝘿𝘼𝙏𝙀 8.21.24
The League is about to enter their ninth season, now with 12 teams, including the latest squad: Todd Harris and Ghost Gaming-backed Georgia Ghost. Already an industry-defining moment of expansion, Ghost was at the center of a high-energy moment during the S9 draft when they announced FaZeBloo will be filling one of their roster spots. Though exciting, the UEL leadership is looking ahead to S10 where the prize pool will increase more than 10x from $100,000 to “well over $1,00,000.”
🗺️ The Hub System A key component of this aggressive growth is the newly established Hub program. A UEL Hub is a designated location equipped with PCs or consoles where gamers can participate in the UEL Skills Challenge (i.e. the UEL Combine), 1:1 Friday Night Fights using titles on each season’s Wheel, battles against Hubs in other cities or regions, and other tests to expand awareness of the UEL brand while providing patrons with a unique, immersive experience. At full throttle, each Hub will allow gamers to log their Skills Challenges and compete on a daily leaderboard to gain draft stock. Additionally, UEL Hubs provide a space for UEL players to remotely play official games, ensuring a consistent and professional gaming environment. The Hubs are integral in fostering community engagement, facilitating player development, and maintaining the integrity of UEL competitions.
Just in the last few weeks, Hub Partners have signed deals to come online in locations across the country including New York, Alabama, Michigan, California, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and the very first international Hub in Lagos, Nigeria. 🇳🇬
🎰 The Wheel Another component is the unique use of “The Wheel,” as mentioned above. The innovative mechanism is at the center of every match, which randomly selects from each season’s 33 participating games, constantly keeping players and audiences on their toes. At any moment, the largest AAA titles could be chosen or the most obscure hidden gem from Indie studios, showcasing the adaptability and depth of the League’s players dubbed Endgamers. The UEL publisher partner team highlights the benefits of studios signing up to be a part of each season by saying that joining “[The Wheel] brings their games to life through competition, but also provides dynamic game testing, guarantees bulk purchase, and amplifies visibility through streaming both on event days and while our Endgamers are grinding the titles to prepare to be the best at it at any given moment.”
Their value prop is simple, multi-faceted and more cost effective than any on the market today.
𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘓𝘈𝘕 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷/𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘏𝘶𝘣 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭? 𝘋𝘳𝘰𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴.
