Today Ian is joined on the wild side by ex-pro gamer, co-founder and CEO of NewGen agency Mike Craddock. For Mike it all started with video games, quickly becoming a gaming influencer from his bedroom. After building a strong network of influencer and content creator friends, Mike soon began to negotiate their sponsorship deals.
Realising there was something in bridging the gap for his friends, this naturally led to Mike co-founding his own talent management company, Kairos Talent.
But Mike’s business has had many identities during its rapid growth. What started as talent management soon evolved into content creation generating hundreds of millions of regular views across social platforms. Things have now come full circle so he’s now in charge of an agency at the forefront of social & gaming with a roster of influencer talent to back it up.
Mike then talks about his evolving branding journey. With multiple business names used from 2017, the business identity was unclear.
After realising they needed to go to the world as one brand, with many clients valuing agencies that ‘do everything’ they eventually landed on NewGen. This was chosen as it encompasses their ambition and the shifting nature of the gaming audience. What Mike makes very passionately clear is that the new generation of gamers has many forms. From deep gaming to casual CoD players to mums mobile gaming on their commute - and NewGen can target them all.
When Mike talks about his entrepreneurial background, we learn that it runs in the family - Mike being exposed to the highs and lows of small business from an early age. We also hear that Mike may have got a lot of his business acumen from (ironically) gaming as a kid, as he recruited others to get him the best items in the game to then sell on to Americans due to demand.
Later on, when Mike became a YouTuber, he gamified this system too. When he was starting out he was the sole creator of his content - filming, editing and uploading it. The ever-changing nature of algorithms, what’s effective and what pays might be why the mindset of Creators is one of the most entrepreneurial around.
When it comes to traditional ad agencies trying to break into the gaming space, Mike thinks their strategies need to go deeper. Gaming isn’t just video gaming, it’s on a spectrum made up of different audiences - like sport is. Where NewGen, made up of gamers of all types, may have an advantage is that they ensure the people who play a certain game are on the project from the get-go. They’re already on the journey.
When Mike offers advice to his younger self, he admits he would have taken on more mentors and experienced people from an earlier stage. And also, find your niche and stay true to it; don’t try and be everything to everyone…people (and clients) will respect you for who you are.
Mike Craddock
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-craddock/
Ian Millner
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianmillner/
EitW
IG: https://www.instagram.com/entrepreneurs_inthewild/
TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@entrepreneursinthewild
X: https://twitter.com/EitW_podcast
Executive Producer Addi: https://addi.london/
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/addi-merrill/
Iris Worldwide: https://www.iris-worldwide.com/
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iris/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/irisworldwide/
Music courtesy of Filmstro | Music that Moves
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