The Leaderboard Insights Podcast

This month, Nathan Lindberg is joined by VP of Global Media at Liquid Advertising, Nikki DePaola, a seasoned advertising professional with over 14 years of experience at Liquid. In this episode, hosted by Nathan Lindberg, Head of US Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, we explored:

• The challenges endemic publishers face in shifting players’ attention to new releases as audiences spend more time in fewer games.
• The paradox of abundant data and stricter privacy rules, making first-party data increasingly vital for effective media strategies.
• How media buying has shifted from broad awareness to creating memorable, differentiated campaigns that resonate with entrenched players.

This month’s guest is Max Bass, VP of Emerging Connections at GALE, where he sits in the agency’s innovation practice helping clients understand and activate new marketing channels, with a primary focus on gaming.

Before GALE, Max spent eight years in the agency world leading accounts across entertainment, tech, toys, and alc/bev, then served as VP of Marketing at Immortals where he secured and renewed partnerships with Progressive, Toyota, Betway, and American Express. Today, he leads GALE’s efforts to help brands authentically engage esports and gaming communities through in-game activations, content, experiential, and community building.

Hosted by Chad DeLuca, Director of Brand Partnerships at Overwolf.

This episode explores:

• How GALE & MilkPep built the Milk Cup, the largest women’s Fortnite tournament in the U.S.—and why long-term investment beats one-off activations

• Immersion over impressions: why community-first programs (Discord, UGC) drive both engagement and sales

• When to build bespoke game experiences vs. integrate into existing games—and how to decide

• Full-funnel gaming: from Roblox integrations to real-world sales impact

• Where the white space is heading into 2026: UGC platforms, creator economies, and transmedia IP

This month's guest is Cody Flaherty, the Chief Operating Officer at Atlas Creative, a leading UGC studio behind the world's most successful experiences on Roblox and Fortnite. Cody brings over 15 years of experience in technology and gaming. At Atlas, he focuses on growing original games and helping major brands succeed in the UGC space and has worked on several award winning campaigns like Star Trek x Kid Cudi: Mirror Mayhem, MrBeast's Extreme Survival Challenge in Fortnite, Axe's Mistaverse campaign & many more.This episode explores:

• How Atlas Creative is powering iconic brand activations in Fortnite and Roblox with partners like Paramount, Puma, and MrBeast

• What advertisers should be considering when choosing an in-game “playground” to activate inside of

• How recent Roblox viral sensations ‘Steal a Brainrot’ & ‘Grow a Garden’ hit 20M concurrent players

This month, we had the pleasure of speaking with Don McLean, dentsu's Director of Gaming Agency Services for the Americas. Don, who has collaborated with Overwolf on multiple successful projects, shared insights from his 12+ years working at agencies where he specialized on everything from global strategy to digital planning, social media, PR, and beyond.

This episode explores:

• How gaming IPs are fueling the transmedia boom with movie and TV show adaptations, expanding franchises across screens and formats

• dentsu's most recent campaigns with Naked Smoothie and Butterfinger which are breaking campaign benchmarks

• Gaming as the new social media where Gen Z is spending more time forming communities and making purchase decisions

• How fandom is fueling brand conversation through active engagement and driving deeper brand affinity

Dive deep into Chipotle’s unique and long-term gaming strategy with Christopher Mann, SVP at REVXP, the gaming division of rEvolution.

Hosted by Nathan Lindberg, Head of US Brand Partnerships at Overwolf, our first episode explores:

• How Chipotle's gaming strategy zeroes in on FGC (Fighting Game Community) partnerships in major titles like Street Fighter & TEKKEN

• Why brands should be thinking long-term in gaming and capitalizing on ‘white space’

• Unique gaming trends for 2025 and beyond that brands should be considering right now