The Leaderboard Insights Podcast

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by Josh Mallalieu, SVP, Global Managing Director at UM (Omnicom). Josh has spent 20+ years helping brands navigate the intersection of media, gaming, technology, and culture, leading the agency's Epic Games and Fortnite partnership for the last decade while building UM's Gaming Center of Excellence and working with brands like Activision and LEGO.In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, VP of Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• Why "being seen isn't the same as being remembered"
• How endemic gaming environments hand marketers their strongest attribution signal
• How brands can draft off GTA 6's launch hype
• Why a 30-day login gap doesn't actually make a player "lapsed"

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by Kevin Veenman, Strategy Director at DEPT®. Kevin has spent fifteen years at DEPT® - first as a client, then as a "Depster”, growing with the company from 60 people in the Netherlands to 4,000 across the globe. Based in Chicago, he leads their retail media expansion in North America and has made it his personal mission to make gaming advertising genuinely accountable.In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, VP Global Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• Why click-through rate gives brands a false sense of accomplishment

• How a campaign DEPT® ran with Overwolf came back with hardware ownership lift significantly above expectations

• How DEPT® breaks gaming into behavioral sub-audiences for tech brands

This month, Chad De Luca is joined by Bryce Showalter, North America’s Head of Gaming at JBL. Bryce leads the growth of JBL's gaming portfolio, leading culture-first strategy, creator partnerships, and product development. He combines performance-driven execution with a deep understanding of gaming culture to build authentic connections with the communities that matter most. In this episode, hosted by Chad De Luca, Head of East Coast Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• Why JBL Quantum is its own sub-brand and the challenges entering gaming

• The full Clix story: from a 2020 Fortnite tournament to fierce brand advocate

• How JBL uses Overwolf's advanced targeting capabilities to engage gamers using competitor headsets

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by Marc Guldimann, CEO and Co-founder of Adelaide. Marc is the founder of Adelaide, the industry leader in attention-based media quality measurement. Adelaide puts evidence-based measurement into practice using AU, an omnichannel metric proven to measure media quality more accurately than existing verification metrics.

In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, VP of Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• How gaming environments score higher on the AU metric and what drives that

• Why optimizing for seconds of attention creates the wrong incentives

• Why the attention conversation is finally reaching procurement

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by Zach Smith, Vice President, Client Partnerships at Generation Media. Zach brings decades of gaming industry experience - from game tester to marketing roles at Acclaim, Majesco and Gameloft, to building media strategy for publishers like Square Enix, Nexon, Plaion and Capcom. He recently joined Generation Media to launch and grow their North American practice. In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, VP of Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• Why Discord joins have overtaken Steam wishlists as the go-to pre-launch metric for indie publishers

• How non-endemic brands burn media budgets by treating gamers as one audience - and what surgical targeting actually looks like

• Why Generation Media is bringing its specialist model to North America, and what hold co agencies keep getting wrong

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by Takuya Inoue, the Director and Head of Marketing at Capcom USA. 

In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, VP of Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• How Capcom shifted its marketing to an "entertainment-first" approach that builds lifelong fans.
• The strategic difference in launching a new IP like Pragmata versus a 30-year franchise.
• How campaigns like Resident Evil Requiem successfully capture modern horror audiences by featuring human drama and cinematic storytelling.

This month, Chad De Luca is joined by Andrew Martinson, Sr. Marketing Manager with H&R Block in charge of Gaming, TV, Audio, and Out of Home.  He has 18 years of experience in media strategy, reporting and implementation and has led the gaming strategy since it’s inception.

In this episode, hosted by Chad De Luca, Head of East Coast Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• Why H&R Block is leaning into gaming as a core pillar of their marketing strategy

• How H&R Block are scaling across Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox & more with Overwolf

• The critical need to support the creator economy as a legitimate profession

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by Morgan Pomish, the SVP of Innovative Experiences at Digitas North America. A strategist by trade, she’s spent over a decade in advertising and has led innovation at Digitas for the past four years. In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, VP Global Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• How opt-in behaviors like branded mods signal intent and drive mid-funnel preference

• Why metrics like time spent, engagement depth, and repeat interaction better capture gaming’s value than CTR

• Why marketers should treat gaming as a core pillar of their permanent media and creative strategy

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by Alexander Lee, the Lead News Writer at GamesBeat. Alexander is one of the most prominent writers covering the industry today, spending his time at the intersection of games, creators, and the business models shaping them.In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, Head of US Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• Major studios like Rockstar Games are signaling that creator tools are essential to the future of AAA titles like GTA 6

• AI is revolutionizing game development processes while facing skepticism from consumers

• Why in-person industry events remain vital for fostering authentic relationships

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by Sami Barnett, Senior Director of Gaming at TMA by Omnicom Group. In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, Head of US Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• Best in class case studies from State Farm & Doritos
• How brands should be thinking about gaming holistically in 2026 (beyond “just media”)
• Why gaming sponsorships + media must work together to truly move the needle

#gaming #gamingpodcast #ingameads #mediabuyer #advertisingagency #advertisingandmarketing ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Leaderboard Insights Podcast by Overwolf Ads is a monthly series featuring expert insights from top voices shaping today's gaming industry.Tailored for marketers from brands & media agencies, we uncover best-in-class strategies, emerging trends and actionable ideas within gaming advertising.Learn more at www.overwolf.com/ads.