Admix: 2021 Wrapped

2021 was a massive year for Admix. From expanding our team, closing our round of Series B funding, and forming strategic partnerships with notable industry leaders, it’s been a wild ride.

Let’s look back at some of Admix’s biggest achievements in 2021.

Q1

Michael Silberberg joined us as VP of Global Partnerships, and Alex Faust joined us as VP of EMEA

As part of our expansion plan for 2021, we kicked off the year by bringing two major hires on board: Michael Silberberg as VP of Global Partnerships, and Alex Faust as VP of EMEA.

Michael Silberberg brought to the table over 14 years of experience as Google’s global agency partnership lead, while Alex Faust joined our team after leading the international ad sales and brand partnerships teams at Spotify.

On joining Admix, Silberberg said that “since [he] was a kid reading William Gibson, [he’s] been excited by the prospect of ads engaged with immersive digital environments” and expressed his excitement to “drive growth of Admix’s ecosystem that enables game developers to monetize their virtual environments with In-Play engagements for gamers.”

Faust claimed that “we are witnessing the next big shift in media. In-Play brings real value to all: brands, game creators, and audiences.”

We hired Rob Norman and Nigel Morris as Senior Advisors

In February, we strengthened our leadership for In-Play advertising by signing two ad industry trailblazers on as Senior Advisors: Rob Norman, former GroupM CEO and global CDO, who joined as our senior advisor focusing on the Americas — and Nigel Morris, former CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network, who joined the company board.

Morris claims that “the video gaming domain will be the next big media channel following social media’s emergence” and with “In-Play [being] intrinsically engaging to audiences and brand safe for marketers at scale, [it will] become a key driver of sustainable growth strategies for brands.”

Norman commented that he was “delighted to join Admix as an advisor” and that In-Play advertising “unlocks the economic opportunity [for brands] with programmatic speed and precision, and does so without compromising user experience.”

Q2

Admix In-Play was verified by IAS (Integral Ad Science)

In May, Admix’s In-Play advertising was verified by Integral Ad Science (IAS), a global leader in digital ad verification. This officially made Admix the only In-Play advertising company to provide ad inventory that has been measured and verified by a trusted, independent partner.

This partnership has since helped Admix increase buyer confidence and media quality, positioning the company as a recognized leader in both the gaming and advertising spaces.

We put In-Play ads into Reality Gaming Group’s ‘Reality Clash’

Also in May, mobile game publisher Reality Gaming Group teamed up with Admix to launch In-Play ads within their AR-based mobile combat game Reality Clash. An award-winning mobile game for iOS and Android, Reality Clash has been widely praised for its dynamic, highly-detailed AR gameplay.

We ran CoppaFeel!’s first digital ad campaign

Admix teamed up with CoppaFeel!, a UK-based charity focused on breast cancer awareness, to launch their first In-Play advertising campaign. Through this partnership, CoppaFeel!’s digital ads were inserted into mobile gaming content without disrupting gameplay. This was done with a goal to target women between the ages of 18 and 24 and help them become more aware of important breast cancer signs.

Throughout this campaign, In-Play ads featuring CoppaFeel!’s branding appeared within popular mobile games — including Cat Simulator, Beat Blader, Ultimate Car Simulator, and more.

Q3

We attended MAD//Fest, our first in-person event since the start of the pandemic

In July, our team attended MAD//Fest — one of the UK’s most widely-attended advertising and disruption festivals. With over 5000 attendees, we were thrilled to increase our company outreach and network with other leaders in the adtech space.

Other notable attendees included Amazon Advertising, Twitch, Marks & Spencer, Boots, Dishoom, and many more.

We sponsored the Pocket Gamer’s Mobile Game Awards

Admix was proud to be a sponsor for the Pocket Gamer’s Mobile Game Awards, a prestigious awards event held annually to celebrate the top mobile games brands.

The Mobile Game Awards are a great way to leverage the mobile games ecosystem, “from the game developers and publishers through the advertising and monetization companies, to the tool-makers and support companies that enable the magic to happen.”

Marty Berman joined us as VP of Sales for NA and LATAM

In August, Marty Berman joined Admix as VP of Sales for North America and Latin America. He came on board right when we began the latest phase of our US growth strategy, which helped us scale across major cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Marty brings over two decades of media and advertising industry experience to the table, having held senior leadership roles at various global organizations and key accounts (including American Family Insurance, United Airlines, and Progressive Insurance).

We partnered with Movember to run In-Play ads across various games

Admix partnered with the Movember campaign to raise funds and awareness for men’s health. Starting in August, our team launched a series of targeted In-Play ads featuring the signature Movember ‘mustache’ branding. This allowed us to target and reach a young male audience at a time when they were most likely to be engaged — while in gameplay.

We attended Gamesforum 2021

In September, the Admix team attended GamesForum 2021 to increase awareness of In-Play advertising. This year, the focus of Gamesforum 2021 was in-app advertising and monetization.

With London being a leading hub for mobile games publishers, Gamesforum 2021 allowed our team to network with other ad monetization managers and developers, as well as to participate in exciting panel discussions.

Q4

Stefan Adamczyk joined us as VP of Global Partnerships

In late September, Stefan Adamczyk joined the Admix team as VP of Global Partnerships. With at least 20 years of experience in the advertising industry (at companies such as Lycos and Media Planning Group), Stefan has already developed ambitious plans to help us scale globally and “deliver the infrastructure to effectively monetize 3D worlds”.

We teamed up with Atomik Research to deliver a whitepaper on how brands can reach gaming audiences

In October, Admix teamed up with creative marketing agency Atomik Research to conduct a study on how brands can best reach gaming audiences (and compile these results into a featured whitepaper). More than 400 media-based respondents in the UK and US were surveyed.

The results of this study revealed that gaming has become an increasingly lucrative channel for brands, with figures showing that 93% of advertisers had seen an increase in video game ad spend over the past 12 months. Our results also suggested that gaming revenue is poised to surpass $200 billion within the next year.

We closed our Series B funding and raised $25 million

In late October, we closed our round of Series B funding with a total of $25 million. We welcomed investors such as Elefund, Notion Capital, DIP Capital, Rocket Capital, and Sidedoor Ventures.

Our Series B marked our transition from building and solidifying our core In-Play stack, to applying our technology to Web 3.0 and the metaverse. This round will allow us to establish In-Play as a new infrastructure layer for gaming and the metaverse, as well as to better establish our technology as a valuable service for gaming platforms.

We partnered with Somnium Space to release exclusive billboard NFTs

In November, Admix partnered with virtual reality platform Somnium Space to release a series of exclusive billboard NFTs. Users were able to insert these billboards into their Somnium Space parcels, allowing them to profit from any ad revenue generated. The sales of our NFT billboards were a huge success, with revenue from selling our first 6 billboards racking up a total of $200,000.

As part of our continued Movember efforts, we also launched a limited release of ‘Movember Edition’ NFT billboards in the month of November. Brands were able to place these billboards onto their virtual land and profit from any generated ad revenue, while all sales were directly contributed towards our Movember fundraiser.

Our custom integration went live with Movember and Ultimate Car Driving Simulator

As part of our partnership with Movember, we configured In-Play ads featuring the signature ‘mustache’ logo to appear within a range of mobile games — including the popular game Ultimate Car Driving Simulator. This was done in an effort to target young male audiences while they were engaged in gameplay and help spread awareness about men’s health.

We partnered with Ocean Outdoor to bring more brands into the metaverse

In December, we partnered with Ocean Outdoor — a leading UK-based provider of digital connectivity in the Out-of-Home advertising space. Our plans with Ocean Outdoor include digitally replicating popular real-world sites and bringing them to life in the virtual world. This will provide Ocean’s brands with the opportunity to advertise both within our games and in the metaverse.

As part of our exclusive partnership with Ocean Outdoor, we will also be releasing a new series of NFT billboard collections in 2022.

And… that’s a wrap!

As we wrap up an exciting and eventful year, our team at Admix looks forward to new horizons in the years ahead.

And as the creator economy continues to scale and we edge closer towards Web 3.0, we can’t wait to apply our In-Play technology to this changing landscape. This includes our commitment to provide an invaluable service for game platforms, help advertisers find greater ways to engage with their audiences, and continue to serve the creator community with better engagement tools in the metaverse.

Be sure to stay tuned for what’s next. See you all in 2022!

Originally published at https://blog.admixplay.com on December 20, 2021.