YouTube Culture & Trends

2020-2024 - Audience Research - Content Research - Content Strategy

The Ask

YouTube needed support for their research programs to gain deeper insights into gaming culture and video content: detangling its complexity all while amplifying voices within the YouTube creator communities.

My Role

• Performed ongoing research and analysis across social media platforms, tracking trends and activity across creators, viewers, and gaming culture at large

• Coordinated with the Culture & Trends team and other researchers and writers to develop more detailed reports and consultations for specific initiatives and activations

• Wrote regular reports explaining to wider YouTube marketing teams the context and significance of gaming content, cultures, and communities

Impact

• Built and grew essential knowledge for YouTube’s internal teams

• Surfaced and spotlit trends and creators to invigorate community initiatives with nuance and authenticity

• A few million views & countless heartfelt community responses don’t hurt either

Examples

• Tabletop Roleplaying Games (Video, Blog) - Original topic. Provided original, ongoing, and additional research; initial script inputs; and recommended creator features

• Cozy Gaming (Video, Blog) - Original topic. Provided original, ongoing, and additional research; and recommended creator features

• Star Wars Day (Video, Blog) - Consulted topic. Provided original and additional research; and recommended creator features

• Retrogaming (Video, Blog) - Consulted topic. Provided original, ongoing, and additional research

• Mario: 100 Billion Views (Video, Blog) - Consulted topic. Provided original and additional research

lululemon athletica

2023 - Audience Research

The Ask

lululemon athletica’s Futures Innovations teams wanted to understand how gaming lenses could be applied to their perspective about fitness and well-being, imagining futures beyond “gamification.”

My Role

• Conducted interviews with gaming professionals and additional desk research to learn about various game design and experience principles from multiple POVs

• Conducted and analyzed interviews and surveys with customers about various gaming, fitness, and wellbeing behaviors and their motivations

• Compared various behavioral and design-centric models for relevance in a fitness and wellness environment

Impact

• A nuanced model for understanding motivations by using gaming behavior as an illustrative analogy

• Thought-starters for their research and product teams, enabling further iteration and development

SoundCloud

2021 - Audience Research - Content Strategy

The Ask

After a few trial runs with gaming events, SoundCloud wanted to identify where else they can play at the intersection of gaming, music, and culture.

My Role

• Designed, led, and analyzed concurrent surveys with gaming audience and
  SoundCloud users

• Analyzed trends in gaming and music through social listening and desk research

• Identified messaging and content opportunities based on unique strengths

• Developed creative thought-starters with our other creative strategists

Impact

• Robust data and analysis of gaming and music behaviors, and strategic recommendations for content planning

• Thought starters for their product and marketing teams to iterate and experiment with.

charity:water

2023 - Audience Research - Content Strategy

The Ask

charity:water needed guidance on how best to focus limited resources, and asked for help understanding where they fit into the grand ecosystem of charity work in the entire gaming landscape.

My Role

• Conducted interviews with gamers about their charity giving

• Conducted deep content research across messaging and social platforms for charity:water and similar organizations

• Identified messaging opportunities based on available resources

• Assessed strengths as an organization and opportunities for content development

Impact

• A shift in perspective of who they want to be versus who they appear to be in the gaming space

• Priority orders to allocate their energy to build goodwill and deepen their relationships with gaming audiences

• A nifty visualization of their strengths organized into a TTRPG-styled character sheet

Spin Master & League of Legends

2022 - Audience Research - Content Strategy - Social Media

The Ask

Spin Master needed support learning more about the League of Legends audience to develop their relationship as a collectible merch partner for Riot Games and create authentic messaging for their social campaigns.

My Role

• Led and performed the research sprint on League of Legends content and communities

• Conducted new interviews to supplement internal client research

• Identified key values and opportunities for the brand and its fans

• Developed content messaging and audience targeting alongside our other creative strategists

• Developed influencer personas to guide outreach and campaign direction

Impact

• The foundation of the marketing strategy and social campaigns, leading to an 800% increase in sales for their figurine and cosplay line