Home > Companies > Thought Leaders > Q&A with Natalia Vasilyeva, VP Marketing at Anzu.io

Q&A with Natalia Vasilyeva, VP Marketing at Anzu.io

Natalia Vasilyeva, VP Marketing at Anzu.io has worked in the AdTech industry for nearly a decade. An Anzu team leader since day one, Natalia’s marketing acumen and deep expertise across business domains has propelled Anzu to its current status as the world-leading in-game advertising platform.

A multilingual speaker and writer, she writes extensively about AdTech and in-game advertising and appears frequently at industry events. Prior to Anzu, Natalia served as a project and marketing manager for global company Glispa and the world leader of mobile fitness apps, Sport.com. She has been passionately advocating for Anzu and its ability to change the face of the AdTech industry since day one.

MEDIA 7:  What inspired you to get into marketing?
NATALIA VASILYEVA: From a young age, I was always fascinated by what motivated people to make certain decisions. I also had a keen interest in business, and saw over and over again how marketing played a key - perhaps the leading - role in helping transform budding companies to international success stories. As I grew into my career, I noticed that many people view marketing as just another way to sell products. But it's so much more than that--and that’s what I love, the diversity of the field. I see marketing as the starting point of a dialogue between a company and its existing and potential customers. This is a dialogue that can take place across channels, transcending the noise of today’s hyper-connected world. It's amazing to witness how small and calculated moves can change the course of a company for decades to come.

M7: What is the motto of Anzu.io? What does the company stand for?
NV: We make advertising in games better.
Better for advertisers, who want and need to connect to their audiences in meaningful and non-disruptive ways.
Better for game developers, who want and need to monetize and collaborate across industries without disrupting the user experience.

And, most of all, better for gamers, who can continue to play without interruption, actually benefiting from the enhanced gaming experience that Anzu’s blended in-game ads bring.

We fulfill our mission by bringing real-world brand ads directly into the gameplay.

Our core team at Anzu has been involved in the digital advertising industry for many years. We came together to solve a major problem we all saw: fragmentation. At the same time, we saw the gaming industry advancing at light speed and knew it was time to bring the two worlds together. Now, we’re working to create a new standard in advertising--one that is well-received by audiences and performs at an extremely high level, all while tapping into the massive potential of the 3 billion-strong gaming market. Our mission of making advertising in games better was a natural outgrowth of what both industries needed and the solution we could provide.


"Gaming is now so deeply ingrained in popular culture--the time has truly come for advertising and gaming to meet, collaborate, and grow together!"

M7: In what way is Anzu striving to transform gaming?
NV: This is an interesting question! We’re not trying to transform gaming itself--gaming is doing amazingly as is. What we are doing is bringing non-disruptive - and even well-received - advertising formats inside video game worlds, including console and esports (for the first time), for the benefit of advertisers, game studios, and gamers alike. The platform is a game-changer (literally!) for advertisers, empowering them with programmatic tools and capabilities that allow them to launch super effective in-game campaigns at scale. At the same time, it enables game developers to dramatically increase their sustainable income through non-invasive advertising. This is truly a win-win for everyone across industries, including the gamers themselves, who won’t be burdened with the cost of maintaining and upgrading the games they know and love, and who will benefit from realistic and personalized ads seamlessly blended into their gaming experience.

M7: What are the major challenges the gaming industry is facing, and how are you overcoming those?
NV: The inefficiency of existing business models leads to a lack of revenues on the game developers side and dissatisfaction on the gamers side. When game developers lack the funds they need, they’re often forced to turn to gamers to foot the bill through things like premium memberships, in-game purchases, game costs, and sometimes intrusive methods such as lootboxes and popups. In such a dynamic industry, it's always a challenge to keep the right balance between pushing revenues and building genuinely cool products and tribes. Anzu is bringing a new, scalable revenue stream that benefits all the players: game studios, gamers, and the budding in-game advertising industry.


"We are bringing non-disruptive - and even well-received - advertising formats inside video game worlds, including console and esports (for the first time), for the benefit of advertisers, game studios, and gamers alike."

M7: How does Anzu’s cross-platform advertising and monetization solutions help game producers?
NV: Many game developers traditionally shied away from advertising for a number of justifiable reasons: hardcoded ads, disruptive pop-ups, and a general lack of scalable technology that would suit their needs and keep the user experience intact.

Anzu is helping game producers add a completely new revenue stream, one that won’t disrupt their existing streams and, most importantly, won’t disrupt the gaming experience. Right now, Anzu is being employed as a premium revenue generator for game studios of all shapes and sizes across the globe, including Vivid Games, Axis Games, and Ubisoft.

More and more, brands are interested in reaching the ever-growing gaming audience base. Our cross-platform solution serves as a meeting place between these international brands and the games their audiences are playing. In addition to sustainable revenues, Anzu also allows games to partner with brands that can enhance their visibility and solidify their reputation. One extremely successful recent example of such a partnership was the Travis Scott concert inside the global phenomenon game Fortnite, during which more than 12M players tuned in to witness this epic brand partnership in action. Gaming is now so deeply ingrained in popular culture--the time has truly come for advertising and gaming to meet, collaborate, and grow together!

M7: What marketing channels do you use, and which ones do you see as the most promising given your target customers?
NV: We’re present on most social media platforms, but the most effective marketing we’ve employed centers around sharing our messages and educating our audiences via thought leadership articles, interviews, conference appearances, collaborations with our partners, and other authentic content initiatives. We find that the best way to reach our audiences is through helpful market and industry analysis and engaging examples of in-game advertising.

M7: What does the platform offer to brand advertisers?
NV: Now more than ever before, consumers are looking for authentic experiences from brands. The old “buy me” methodologies are just not effective with younger audiences. For that reason, brand awareness campaigns are becoming more popular as they brand affinity and loyalty over a period of time, rather than relying on one-off messages relating to a product’s features or benefits to sell. Another benefit to brand awareness campaigns is that they can be employed across touchpoints, creating an integrated experience. Video gaming, with an audience of 3 billion people worldwide, is clearly becoming one of those key touchpoints.

More people are spending more time inside virtual worlds and brands cannot afford to miss out on this unprecedented opportunity to connect with these engaged users. Anzu’s blended in-game advertising solution seamlessly integrates non-intrusive ads into the gameplay, allowing brands to reach previously undiscovered audience groups in a more immersive way.
As opposed to intrusive ads that interrupt gameplay and offer low brand visibility, blended in-game advertising brings realism to games through advanced product placement.

In addition to creating a completely immersive environment, in-game advertising with Anzu offers advertisers significant benefits that were never before possible due to limitations in technology. These include the ability to launch scalable campaigns programmatically across platforms (mobile, PC, console), to create personalized and even hyper-targeted campaigns (think ads for local restaurants wherever the player is in the world), to utilize existing buying protocols, and, perhaps most importantly, to measure campaign performance by utilizing advanced AdTech tools. These tools include the first-ever in-game ad verification solution in partnership with cybersecurity firm CHEQ, brand lift measurement in partnership with Nielsen Connectivity, and fraud detection in partnership with Forensiq, among others. Additionally, Anzu is the first and only in-game advertising company to bring the highest level of security clearance to in-game advertising with its ISO 270001 security certification. This combination of technologies gives advertisers the confidence they need to leverage the massive gaming audience.

Brand safety is also a major concern for modern-day advertisers. In-game ads are by nature brand-safe because there is no risk of user-generated content. Brands can derive great value for their campaigns by advertising in top-line premium games that carry a reputation as high-value channels.


"More and more, brands are interested in reaching the ever-growing gaming audience base."

M7: How do you see the AR and VR space evolving in future?
NV: VR and AR have been buzz terms for the past few years. There were a lot of expectations that VR would really take off, and Anzu had also originally anticipated a large chunk of their activities would be VR related.

I still believe VR is the future. It's clear that the entire world is striving to become more connected and more efficient than ever before. The biggest issue remains the tech constraints and comparatively high pricing. I’m sure that COVID-19 has given another boost to VR tech, given that everyone is looking for more ways to connect virtually for business and personal purposes. This place of connection is where I see VR can really shine.

And although VR and AR are grouped together all the time, the technologies and their applications are actually quite different. As a marketer, I see a lot of value in AR as a brand “extension” and another efficient way for advertisers to communicate and give value to their audiences. I love the way IKEA played with AR, offering its customers to “try on” the furniture with their phones. Some clothing brands are also now offering customers the ability to “try on” clothes, shoes, and accessories using AR technology. What a great idea and an efficient way to spend time, money, and resources!

M7: What quote has changed your perspective?
NV: Well, I can definitely cite marketing or advertising gurus like Ph. Kotler or D. Ogilvy, but it’s more than a quote that changed my perspective.

I’ve been inspired by brands that take marketing further, becoming more than just another name. These innovative brands become widely associated with a set of values or even emotions. A good example is Starbucks! I've been in love with them for a long time and  have often wondered, “why them? Why not any other coffee shop?” When I started to dig in and study their values, corporate culture, business approach, and such, I found answers to all my questions. Indeed, they don’t sell just coffee, they sell emotions :) Such cases of how brands become distinguished have inspired and shaped my vision as a marketer.

ABOUT ANZU.IO

Anzu.io is a leading in-game advertising platform that brings real-world brand ads to video gaming and esports. Backed by BITKRAFT Esports Ventures, WPP and Axel Springer Digital Ventures, Anzu redefines digital advertising through seamless integration of non-intrusive ads into the gameplay. Bringing real-time data and programmatic to the video gaming world, the platform promises native advertising, brand safety and ad viewability. For more information visit www.anzu.io.

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ViX's "Premium with Ads" offering will give viewers access to the entire ViX Premium content offering, including exclusive original series, novelas, comedies, movies, thousands of live exclusive soccer matches and tens of thousands of hours of library content with a moderate advertising load. The combination of ViX's premium streaming programming with TelevisaUnivision's market leading linear channels will create an unmatched Spanish-language content offering available to Spectrum customers at no incremental cost. In addition to giving Spectrum customers access to the forthcoming ad-supported premium version of ViX, the agreement enhances Charter's flexibility to offer its video customers high-value linear and over-the-top TV packages. TelevisaUnivision's U.S. channels will be included as an integral launch partner in a new, innovative, low-cost Spanish-language internet-delivered video package that Spectrum will launch in the coming months. "We're pleased to enter into an innovative deal with Charter that underscores a shared commitment to the growing Hispanic market and prioritizes their needs and interests, ensuring TelevisaUnivision's leading content remains available to viewers for years to come," said Mike Angus, Executive Vice President, Global Distribution and Streaming Partnerships at TelevisaUnivision. "This deal demonstrates the value we can deliver to our partners and consumers by continuing to invest in both the linear and streaming platforms to create a complementary Spanish-language content ecosystem." "We appreciate TelevisaUnivision's willingness to fully support our new distribution framework, which is good for customers and a significant step forward for the video ecosystem," said Tom Montemagno, Executive Vice President, Programming Acquisition for Charter. "With this agreement, our customers will continue to enjoy access to TelevisaUnivision's extensive Spanish-language programming, including entertainment and live sports, across multiple platforms. This furthers our goal of providing value to customers by including streaming apps with Spectrum services." Spectrum provides customers with access to TelevisaUnivision's networks, including Univision, UniMás, Galavisión, TL Novelas, TUDN, FOROtv, Bandamax, De Película, De Película Clasico, Telehit and Telehit Música. About TelevisaUnivision TelevisaUnivision is the world's leading Spanish-language media company. Powered by the largest library of owned Spanish-language content and a prolific production capability, TelevisaUnivision is the top producer of original content in Spanish across news, sports and entertainment verticals. This original content powers all of TelevisaUnivision's platforms, which include market-leading broadcast networks Univision, Las Estrellas, Canal 5 and UniMás, and a portfolio of 38 cable networks, which include TUDN, Galavisión, Distrito Comedia and TL Novelas. The company also operates the leading Mexican movie studio, Videocine, and owns and operates the largest Spanish-language audio platform in the U.S. across 35 terrestrial stations and the Uforia digital platform. TelevisaUnivision is also the owner of ViX, the largest Spanish-language streaming platform in the world. For more information, please visit televisaunivision.com. About Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is a leading broadband connectivity company and cable operator serving more than 32 million customers in 41 states through its Spectrum brand. Over an advanced communications network, the Company offers a full range of state-of-the-art residential and business services including Spectrum Internet®, TV, Mobile and Voice. For small and medium-sized companies, Spectrum Business® delivers the same suite of broadband products and services coupled with special features and applications to enhance productivity, while for larger businesses and government entities, Spectrum Enterprise provides highly customized, fiber-based solutions. Spectrum Reach® delivers tailored advertising and production for the modern media landscape. The Company also distributes award-winning news coverage and sports programming to its customers through Spectrum Networks.

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Technologies

AviaGames Unveils New Brand Identity to Reflect Enhanced Corporate Vision and Accelerated Growth Aspirations

PR Newswire | October 19, 2023

AviaGames, creator of the award-winning "Bingo Tour" app and Pocket7Games social competition platform, today unveiled its new corporate brand identity, Avia (ah-vi-ah). The evolution to the new Avia brand identity underscores the company's growth aspirations and innovative vision helping drive the brand to where it is today and towards the future to potential entertainment applications. Enhancing the social competition gaming experience for players of all skill levels, from casual to hardcore gaming enthusiasts, Avia remains focused on providing quick, fun and rewarding gameplay in an inclusive environment, while always looking for new ways to improve and deliver more games that can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere.1 "Starting as an idea in a garage just a few years back, it is surreal to think about how far AviaGames has come, and I look forward to what's ahead for Avia, our team and community of players. At Avia, we've always believed that everyone has a competitive spirit, and our goal remains to unleash the joy of competition in everyone," said Vickie Chen, CEO and founder, Avia. "Avia has always been the go-to destination for casual competitive mobile gaming and this new chapter represents our commitment to staying fun, fresh and innovative while providing our players from around the world with the best possible interactive gaming experience." An expression of the company's boldness, enthusiasm, inclusivity, and confidence, the new brand identity comes at an important time for Avia. Positioning itself for the future as the gaming industry experiences explosive growth generating revenues of $187.7 billion in 2023, with mobile gaming accounting for the highest share of revenues, according to Newzoo. Quick to play and quick to win, Avia's gaming titles are designed for people who love competition, but don't desire a steep learning curve. Avia's core mission is focused on ensuring that everyone, employees and players, feels supported in achieving their goals, Avia seeks to build a culture where all players feel safe and have fun, and employees feel comfortable to contribute and act on their ideas. This philosophy of support and inclusion is what enables Avia to continue to enhance its Pocket7Games platform and individual titles to deliver fresh and exciting competitive mobile games that everyone can enjoy.

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Anzu.io

Anzu.io is an in-game advertising platform that brings the sophistication of advertising into video gaming and esports. Our Blended In-Game Advertising solution seamlessly integrates non-intrusive ads into the gameplay. With Anzu’s state-of-the-art programmatic technology and real-time data, brand a...

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