Tell us about your Journey in Technology? What inspired you to start Anzu.io?
Since I originally plunged my feet into the AdTech industry, I was snared. I saw in AdTech, an all the way open canvas for development and important headways. My mission goal was – and is – to create breakthrough products that have the ability to change the way people and promotions interface with each other. A center specialized foundation combined with an passion for business drove me to make innovations that would chart the future of Digital Advertising.
With over a decade in the Mobile Marketing space, I clearly understood the problems the industry was facing. And so, I teamed up with Gaming Product guru Ben Fenster and master Software Architect Michael Badichi to solve the biggest issues in Video game advertising. The lack of scalable tech and cutting-edge solutions, the disruptive nature of in-game ads, and the huge gap between advertisers and developers were leaving audiences of billions of people totally inaccessible to brands. It was also increasingly difficult for developers to monetize without sacrificing the gaming experience. We set out to make advertising in games better when we founded Anzu in 2016. We’ve been disrupting the industry ever since!
What is Anzu.io? What inspired the idea of non-intrusive ads? What unique challenges did you face?
Anzu is an in-game advertising platform that brings real-world brand advertising into video gaming and esports. When we founded Anzu, our key question was: how can we bridge the gap between brands and game developers in an industry that holds so much potential? We wanted to develop a scalable business and tech solution. There was a whole new audience of gamers to tap into, but brands couldn’t access them because of a lack of scalable ad offerings. Developers faced the problem of hard-coded ad technology that made it difficult and time-consuming to integrate ads into the game content.
We were inspired by how Hollywood uses native advertising successfully and came up with the idea of blending ads directly into the gameplay in a similar manner. Our state-of-the-art technology allows brands to deploy immersive ads in IAB-recognized formats directly into the gameplay. Of course, as with every new technology, we face the challenge of market education. We want to shake up the video game industry and debunk any myths around the effectiveness of advertising in games. The next challenge we tackle is breaking down old, stale perceptions of who the gamers are (hint: they are no longer antisocial teens in basements). Gamers hold a massive purchasing power that brands can’t afford to miss out on!