Variety Presents: Gaming on TikTok Leadership Summit featuring conversations with executives and creatives on the leading edge of video games, entertainment and content.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Hello and good morning everyone. My name is Rhea Davidson and I lead the U.S. Media and Entertainment team at TikTok.
00:07And I am joined on stage by Cameron Curtis, who is the worldwide digital marketing head at Warner Brothers.
00:15And that is home of mega IP like DC Comics, Godzilla and Kong, Dune, and coming in 2025, Minecraft.
00:26So it's great to have you here with us today, Cameron. Thank you so, so much for being here.
00:31For those in the room who might not be familiar with your background, would love for you to share a little bit about you.
00:36Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me and it's so good to be here with all of you.
00:42We're doing so much with the gaming space and obviously partnering so closely with TikTok and really appreciate the opportunity to speak today.
00:50I think for me, I've been on the studio side of the business for almost 20 years.
00:54I've worked at Sony Pictures, Universal and currently at Warner Brothers.
00:58But I've worked on, you know, movies from back in the day like The Social Network and, you know, recently with Barbie and Beetlejuice.
01:05And, you know, obviously I've always been in digital marketing and because of that, I've seen a lot of changes over the years.
01:11And, yeah, excited to talk about it. Thanks, Cameron.
01:15So I'm going to start with some really heavy hitting questions first.
01:19My first question for you is what's currently on your For You page?
01:23Yeah, it's my favorite. I can get really sucked in. I'm sure like all of us, I can get really drawn into the For You page.
01:30And currently it's kind of an eclectic mix of I grew up and I'm a Los Angeles native.
01:35And so I get a lot of Los Angeles history presented to me from creators talking about that,
01:40also making recommendations of local spots and eateries that I really appreciate.
01:45As I was talking to Rhea early over the pandemic, I became really interested in sailing and I bought a 40 year old sailboat that has just been a miserable experience.
01:55I don't recommend it for anybody, but it's been kind of a hobby of mine and fixing it up.
02:00And so I get a lot of creators that sail around the world and talk about their experiences.
02:05And I love content like that, you know, that can you feel like you escape.
02:09And, you know, seeing creators spin on on all of that type of stuff is pretty, pretty interesting.
02:13Well, that's amazing. I would love to go sailing sometime.
02:16Yes, absolutely. Everyone's invited, although I can't guarantee safe passage back.
02:21Well, amazing. And then my second really tough question is what's a video game that you like to play?
02:26Yeah, for me, I've always been a Call of Duty fan. I play a lot. I'm not fantastic at it.
02:33But I also between that and Grand Theft Auto, you know, I really love video games.
02:38And I'm so impressed when it comes to the environment, the immersive environments that you find yourselves in.
02:43It's very much like the cinematic experience of it all is fascinating to me.
02:49And the character development that happens in game, particularly with games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty is just awesome.
02:57So those are two that I really appreciate.
03:00Love that. Some really good games there with Call of Duty and GTA.
03:03Yeah, absolutely.
03:04Fantastic. So, again, super happy to chat with you today.
03:08And as we heard earlier, there's just a lot of synergy between gaming and entertainment, which is why we're here chatting with you.
03:15On TikTok specifically, we see that over half of gamers have gone to the movies last year at least six times.
03:23And so with that, I'm really interested to pick your brain on your approach to launching and marketing new releases on TikTok.
03:32And zooming out, starting with a 10,000 foot view, you know, in recent years, there's been this debate in entertainment.
03:40And it's really focused around that tug of war between original IP and branded IP and where as an industry, entertainment should really be heading.
03:50And so we've seen some mixed signals on this.
03:54On the one hand, you know, surveys are showing that Gen Z and millennials, they are really attracted to original content.
04:02But then when we look at box office performance, on the other hand, barring a few outliers, it's really branded IP that drives box office success and just brings butts in seats and drives those movie ticket sales.
04:17So I am just curious, why do you think that is? And what is it that really powers branded IP?
04:24Yeah, I think it's, you know, it's the emotional connection that we all have to branded IP that's so powerful.
04:30And, you know, I think it's, of course, millennials, as you mentioned, in Gen Z, they love original content.
04:36But it's that branded IP that becomes like comfort food, and I think in a lot of ways.
04:41You know, especially when we think about this recent success that we had with Beetlejuice, a lot of the recall of Beetlejuice was exciting that, you know, new audiences were, of course, experiencing the IP.
04:51But you also had the nostalgia, had the love for the original character and a lot of people coming back to theaters for it.
04:58So to me, it's, you know, branded IP is at its best when you're kind of thinking about it almost like a family heirloom, where it's, you know, it's something that you hold on to, but you also want to polish it and make it look nice for today and relevant for today.
05:13And I think that's what's so powerful with TikTok is so often, you know, when it comes to sequels or, you know, different takes on IP that we're leveraging, as in the case of Beetlejuice, we think about how Beetlejuice would show up on platform today or how you introduce it in that way.
05:27And that's something that I get pretty excited about.
05:30Well, as far as branded IP goes, huge Beetlejuice fan right here.
05:34Yeah, awesome.
05:36So yeah, next I want to talk a little bit more about fandoms because fandoms are just super, super interesting to me.
05:42And on TikTok, we see that fandoms can behave and look quite differently across different IPs.
05:49So they can be broad, niche, protective, newer, or more legacy.
05:55And I imagine that can be quite challenging to navigate from a marketing perspective.
06:00So thinking back to Dune 2 and that amazing campaign, your team came to TikTok with a really unique vision, establishing a fan-first approach to harness the power of that fandom.
06:14And my question is, how do you approach marketing with a fan-first mentality?
06:19And is that a strategy that you embrace across all branded IP?
06:24Yeah, absolutely.
06:25I think if you want to win hearts, you should make fans the co-pilots of your campaigns and not the passengers.
06:33And we think about that a lot when we talk about TikTok and how we show up there.
06:38Specifically to Dune, we started with initial teasers that appeal to the core fan base and those that were fans of the book.
06:45And even in the case of Dune 2, the first movie.
06:48And we create content that they can opt into, that they can co-opt.
06:52We saw almost 260,000 unique pieces of creative made on Dune alone.
06:59And the power of that fandom and the way we were able to harness it together with the spotlight really just signals heat.
07:08I think all of this UGC is money can't buy material.
07:13And especially when it came to Dune, having that amount of content really signaled to folks that this is something that you can be a part of.
07:20It's something for everyone.
07:21It doesn't just exist with these core fans who are fans of the book.
07:24I think there's a delicate way to go about doing that.
07:27Again, bringing in the core early and then broadening out.
07:30As we broadened out, we thought about ways we could bring in talent.
07:34So we had the core fans that opted in right away.
07:37But then we thought about how do we layer in the Timothee Chalamet fans, the Zendaya fans.
07:41And showcase them responding to fan comments on platform.
07:46And suddenly seeing these interactions between Zendaya and Timothee, if you weren't a fan of Dune or you weren't a fan of sci-fi movies,
07:53you said to yourself, oh, this looks interesting.
07:55This is fun.
07:56And you were brought into the world that was Dune on the platform.
08:00So it was pretty exciting to see and definitely took off in a big way.
08:04Yeah, that was such an immersive campaign for our community.
08:07And congratulations on the success for Dune, too.
08:10I think, too, one other thing I'll say is as it related to the platform itself,
08:15we saw three times the traffic being driven from TikTok to ticketing sites than we saw from Google search.
08:22And this is one of the first campaigns where we were able to really measure that and see that.
08:26And I think that's a significant shift when you think about younger audiences and where they're searching and where they're watching content.
08:33The fact that TikTok was driving, that we saw that return on investment, that we saw that conversion happening, that meant a ton to us.
08:41And we're constantly thinking about how we show up in similar ways on our upcoming movies.
08:45Yeah, that's so interesting.
08:47I'm still shocked by the fact that, I mean, on TikTok, Gen Z is using TikTok for search more than Google.
08:54It's just mind blowing.
08:55So certainly a really smart tactic that Warner Brothers utilized.
09:00So, you know, traditionally when we think about branded IP, we think about franchise properties like a Betelgeuse, like a Batman.
09:08And speaking of Betelgeuse, my personal favorite, I've got to play one of my recent favorite TikToks from Warner Brothers.
09:16It features Jenna Ortega, and she leaned into the very demure, very mindful trend on TikTok that has gone absolutely viral.
09:26See how I do my makeup for work?
09:28Very demure, very mindful.
09:30I don't come to work with a green cut crease.
09:33I don't look like a clown when I go to work.
09:35I don't do too much.
09:36I'm very mindful while I'm at work.
09:38See how I look very presentable?
09:40The way I came to the interview is the way I go to the job.
09:45Oh, my gosh.
09:46It's so good.
09:47I can watch that a million times.
09:50So getting back to the topic of branded content, you know, recently I've noticed that the definition of branded IP has begun to broaden.
10:00And so now a gaming studio can be branded IP, and talent can be a branded IP.
10:07So, you know, we think of stars like Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet as brands themselves.
10:13And so how do you incorporate and leverage talent fandom in a campaign?
10:19Yeah, it's a huge part of what we do.
10:22And I think there's also, you know, the way in which you honor the original brand to make sure that you're not capitalizing on a trend that isn't true or authentic to the brand itself.
10:32I think in the case of Jenna Ortega, you know, she's a brand in addition to obviously Beetlejuice being a brand.
10:38And what was so great is, you know, in this instance, you know, we really benefited from the fact that she had recently done Wednesday with Tim Burton on Netflix.
10:47Wednesday was very adjacent and almost a sister of Beetlejuice if you think about the world.
10:52And we benefited from that.
10:54I think, you know, folks that, you know, were uncertain about the Beetlejuice afterlife experience but had watched Wednesday on Netflix understood kind of the balance there.
11:04And so a lot of times when we're thinking about the brand IP, first and foremost, we're thinking about the creative and how we show up and making sure it's authentic to the brand.
11:11But then we think about the talent we have involved and, you know, how they show up and, you know, the audience that they're bringing in.
11:18There were a lot of young females who came to see Beetlejuice that otherwise may or may not have been interested because of Jenna Ortega.
11:26So that was pretty exciting.
11:27Fantastic.
11:30Yeah, again, so much great content that was talent-led supporting Beetlejuice on platform.
11:35And also from Dune II.
11:37So going back to Dune II, we've found such great success being able to partner together on countless theatrical releases to date.
11:46And, you know, thinking back to Dune II, that will always be a real standout for me because it made such a cultural impact on TikTok and in the real world as well.
11:58You know, that campaign was so layered and multifaceted from the organic fan-first solutions to the talent-led media to really some heavy-hitting paid media strategies.
12:09So I'd like for you to share with us how did you think about all the different layers of the Dune II campaign working together, what comes first, and what's the finishing act?
12:21Yeah, for us, what's first is always thinking about the core fans.
12:24And in the case of Dune, it was, you know, building or putting out creative trailers and having kind of interactive experiences that were true to them, first and foremost.
12:34Then it was expanding.
12:36It was thinking about the talent that we had involved on the project, the audiences that they bring alongside with them, and how can we recruit them in?
12:43And so I mentioned the Timothy and Zendaya of it all, answering fan questions on TikTok.
12:48We actually had this incredible experience where Austin Butler had answered a TikTok question from a fan, and that fan then happened to be at the premiere.
12:57And there was a case where Austin recognized the fan before the fan had a chance to see Austin.
13:02And that was one of those only-in-2024 moments where the fandom was really, you know, showcased in just such an incredible way.
13:11And it was so fun to watch that interaction that took place on the red carpet.
13:14But those opportunities, so thinking about the core early on, using talent to broaden out, and then ultimately it's about what is performing the best, and how do we layer media on top of that?
13:25So, you know, again, in the case of Dune, it was once we saw some of this fan-made creative really taking off, we thought, how do we get this in our rotation?
13:33How do we put this into our advertising?
13:36The type of UGC content that runs on TikTok doesn't feel like a traditional TV spot or an ad, and it's that much more compelling because of it.
13:44So some of our best fan-made Dune content actually ran in rotation in our media campaign and drove to tickets.
13:52So those are kind of the three steps that I think are pretty important as we're thinking about any IP and, you know, how we show up on the platform.
13:58Seems like such a successful recipe.
14:01Yeah.
14:02We can all learn from that.
14:04So on top of all that you just spoke about, your team posted over 164 unique creative assets to your own handles on TikTok, leading up to and after the release of Dune 2.
14:17So we really have to next talk about your creative approach.
14:20And on TikTok, creative is king.
14:24And our users are spending so much time, multiple times a day, watching videos that they love on TikTok.
14:31And I'm curious if you can share with us how do you combat creative fatigue on TikTok with those tentpole moments and titles?
14:39Yeah.
14:40I think creative fatigue is a real thing on TikTok.
14:43And in my mind, it's almost like a, you know, you've got to think about it like a bakery.
14:47Like you have to have fresh product every morning or, you know, something fresh ready to go.
14:51And I think part of that is staying on top of the trends.
14:54It's about responding in real time.
14:56You know, oftentimes we have these publicity tours that take place around our movies.
15:00And more often than not now we have somebody embedded with the talent as they travel around.
15:05So this becomes just a hugely powerful tool when it comes to staying on top of those trends and having them opt into them.
15:12And 160 plus, you know, pieces of creative content sounds like a lot.
15:16But, again, a lot of this was us showcasing the content that's being created and giving fans the tools to create that content.
15:23And I know we're all always thinking about how we show up in an authentic way.
15:26But when you also mix that with your media spend, that becomes a pretty powerful tool.
15:31Absolutely.
15:33And on the topic of creative and some creative challenges, you know, for your campaigns promoting beloved Warner Brothers IP,
15:42have you faced any challenges developing unique assets for TikTok while still maintaining the integrity of the IP?
15:50Absolutely.
15:51I think you need to show up in the right way.
15:53You know, as we were looking at Beetlejuice, for example, you know, a really interesting thing we did with Roblox
15:59in partnership with Roblox was to do an integration of Beetlejuice in the game.
16:04Something that was really powerful about that was there's this whole generation of kids that had never been exposed to Beetlejuice
16:11and weren't sure maybe how to feel about Beetlejuice.
16:13Well, Roblox presented an environment where they could interact with the characters, where they could get to know Beetlejuice.
16:19We even did a first-of-its-kind kind of Fandango ticketing opportunity within Roblox itself.
16:24And what's amazing about that is the UGC that comes from that, you know, lives on and goes to TikTok and really spreads in a big way.
16:33I think when we were talking about putting the afterlife on Roblox, we had to think, to your point,
16:38about how do we make sure this is authentic and true to the IP and isn't presenting Beetlejuice in a way that isn't Tim Burton's vision.
16:46So a lot of it is collaboration with the filmmakers and creators.
16:50But it's exciting about all the new ways in which you can show up, whether it's trends or whether it's, you know, gaming integrations.
16:56Always important to keep kind of the creators involved throughout.
17:00Amazing. Well, I mean, Warner Brothers has seen such success over the last two years.
17:04So, again, congratulations.
17:06Now I want to look ahead a little bit and look ahead to your slate for next year.
17:11And I'm curious how those campaigns might look and feel different compared to what we've already been seeing the last few years.
17:18Yeah. For us, you know, we're going to lean into personalization and think about content and how we can make it feel personalized.
17:25One of our most viral success stories was on Barbie when we created kind of a Barbie poster generator where you could put yourself in our advertising.
17:34And that took off and I think was probably pretty unique to Barbie and the heat that was around Barbie.
17:39But personalization is just such a powerful tool.
17:41And creating content that speaks to fans, that's unique to fans is something that we're thinking a lot about.
17:47We're also, again, thinking about creators and how we can bring them along every step of the way and make them the co-pilots of our campaign.
17:55And working really closely with them and making sure they always have the tools to market and to be a part of our campaign alongside of us.
18:02So I think you can expect a lot more of that.
18:05And what's exciting about movies like Minecraft that we have coming up or movies like we have the F1 movie that we're doing in partnership with Apple.
18:13We have James Gunn's Superman that's going to be just massive and exciting.
18:17What's exciting about all those things as we think about kind of engaging gamers is this opportunity that when I think about something like Minecraft,
18:26in a gaming environment, you are creative, you are building things, you are discovering things.
18:32Very much like we want people to build and create and discover within kind of our movie marketing campaign.
18:38So in my mind, there's a lot more gaming integrations to come for us and then a ton of opportunity when it comes to personalization.
18:45Well, that is super exciting. I saw the teaser for Minecraft coming out next year.
18:50It looks so fun and immersive. I'm really excited about it.
18:54And so, you know, for this audience especially, what would you say is the unique opportunity when activating gaming IP on TikTok?
19:02Yeah, again, for me, it is just what I described in the sense that gamers are creators and gamers are the first to be active participants within their virtual environments.
19:17What we're doing on social, what we're doing in digital marketing is bringing those folks in.
19:22And I think the opportunities for that are truly limitless.
19:25And this idea that, you know, they create in their world and we're bringing, giving them the tools, providing them the opportunities to opt in, to engage with talent,
19:33to, you know, make themselves part of our campaigns and part of our movies.
19:37That's a pretty exciting thing. So that's, I think we'll see a lot more of that.
19:40I can't wait. Well, Cameron, thank you so much for sharing all of your knowledge with this group here.
19:46We do have about five minutes for Q&A for Cameron. So I'd like to open it up to all of you.
19:52You can raise your hand and I believe we have somebody with a mic who can come around if you have questions and want to learn from Cameron.
20:06I have a question on behalf of some of my clients who have asked this question to me.
20:10So I think one of the things that you guys are doing really well is you're moving very quickly, like on that trend, for example.
20:16But we run into issues with routing through approvals with very large companies that have a lot of creative stakeholders and it becomes complicated.
20:25So how do you balance that internal kind of process through a company like WB with also staying agile on a platform like TikTok?
20:34Yeah, that's a great question. And, you know, early on, that was a huge challenge for us.
20:39On these campaigns now, we understand just how powerful jumping in on these trends can be.
20:44And at any one moment, we have a task force that includes our lead creative, our legal team, our publicity team, and then obviously the digital marketing team.
20:53And something we're doing in real time is making sure that we're getting those approvals with our various talent reps,
20:58that we're licensing soundbites if we're using them in our campaigns, and that we're ready to respond in a real way.
21:04The thing I appreciate about our marketing group is we're set up in a way where we have kind of our paid side of our business and the earned media side of our business.
21:12Digital marketing and publicity falls into the earned media side of things.
21:16And so for us, that is our task. It's what can we jump on today that creates earned media for us and creates conversation?
21:24And just having that setup has really made a difference and having that task force ready to go solve some of those problems.
21:30But you have to have, you know, it's a team sport, you know, showing up, and everyone has to be involved for it to really break through.
21:41Nick from 2K. Search has come up a lot today, and I'm really intrigued to see, like, your ideas and how you're evolving your search strategies,
21:50the way you see that going over time as you sort of embrace this approach.
21:53Yeah. For us, I would say TikTok Spotlight is a great example of that.
21:59You know, we worked with TikTok Spotlight specifically on Beetlejuice on Dune.
22:05What it does is it creates attributes. So all of this UGC that is being created then exists in one place.
22:11So when somebody is searching for Dune or they're searching for Beetlejuice, you encounter all of the flood of content that has been made.
22:19And I think rather than it just perhaps showing up in your feed, these become centralized locations where fans can learn more about the movies from other fans.
22:28So it's not Warner Brothers telling them how to feel or what to think about these titles, but it's the other fans who have opted in who are having fun with the IP.
22:36They exist in that way. So I think for us, that tool has been incredibly powerful on TikTok,
22:41and we're thinking about search in terms of what is showing up in top of feed, how are we showing up.
22:46And then ticketing is a connected element through those things.
22:56Hey Cameron, thanks for being here.
22:58Question for you is we talk about the crossover between games and film,
23:04and it seems like WB is in a unique position with James Gunn taking over the helm recently,
23:10where the films and games seem to be developed a little bit more together so you don't feel as disjointed as they have in the past.
23:17Can you talk a little bit more about your strategy around films and games together?
23:22I personally oversee obviously the marketing campaigns as they relate to our theatrical releases,
23:27and my purview is really thinking about how we integrate within some of our most popular games,
23:33how we show up in kind of a promotional window that can be from 30 to 90 days.
23:37I think to your point, there is a ton of amazing DCIP,
23:41and we work very closely with our WB Games group anytime we do any one of these integrations.
23:47I hope for continued collaboration in that way because I do think the possibilities
23:51and how you show up in a virtual environment, our success that we just had on Roblox with Beetlejuice,
23:56all of that points to more, right?
23:59And again, I think when consumers are encountering these marketing campaigns
24:05in environments where they spend most of their time, they learn more about it.
24:09They become, again, a part of our campaigns in a lot of ways
24:13and encounter the creative in a way that feels authentic and organic to the gaming environments that they're in.
24:19So a lot of opportunities to come.
24:21I think we are working closer than ever with that group,
24:24and I think Superman, we probably have a lot of surprises and exciting stuff that everyone will see.
24:30Any other questions?
24:35Okay.
24:36Cool.
24:37Amazing.
24:38Thank you guys so, so much.
24:40Thank you so much.
24:42Thanks.
24:43Thank you very much.
24:44Thanks.