Beyond the Console: Xbox Maps the Gaming Ad Ecosystem

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Speed of Culture — "Beyond the Console: Xbox Maps the Gaming Ad Ecosystem"

Host: Matt Britton, CEO of Suzy
Guest: Claire Nance, Senior Director of Marketing Communications, Microsoft Xbox Media Solutions
Date: July 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the evolving landscape of gaming as an advertising ecosystem, spotlighting how Microsoft’s Xbox Media Solutions is redefining how brands connect with gamers across mobile, console, and PC. Claire Nance brings her expertise on how gaming represents not just a colossal audience, but a rich, immersive channel for brand storytelling. The discussion explores the scale of gaming, key advertising philosophies, changes in consumer behavior, and actionable advice for marketers and aspiring gaming industry professionals.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Claire’s Journey & Xbox Media Solutions Evolution

• Claire previously worked at Activision Blizzard, joining their ads business at an early stage, focusing on B2B marketing and education for the ad industry.
• Since Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, there’s been a rebrand under "Xbox Media Solutions", broadening offerings across mobile, console, and PC platforms.
  • “We now have an offering across that entire spectrum... no one else can really compete with us through that lens.” – Claire Nance [04:47]

State of the Gaming Industry in 2026

• Massive Reach:

  • 3.6 billion gamers globally; about 80% of U.S. residents play games [05:55].
  • Gaming isn’t just for “gamers”—casual mobile games count too: “A lot of people don’t call themselves gamers... playing Candy Crush, like, is that gaming? And it is.” – Claire Nance [06:12]

• Growth Drivers:

  • COVID-era saw a resurgence—many “returned” to gaming for connection and entertainment [06:33].
  • Social elements have expanded beyond gameplay: forums, online communities, and social discussion even for solo mobile games.

• Accessible Technology:

  • Mobile gaming is especially fast-growing due to low barriers to entry—everyone already has a phone, no need for expensive consoles [08:34–09:24].
  • Modern mobile games prioritize easy onboarding and seamless play.

The Shift in Access and Monetization

• Evolution of Game Access:
  • From physical cartridges to digital downloads to streaming/subscription models like Game Pass [09:46–10:23].
  • Choice is key: players can buy, subscribe, or engage however works best for them.

The Role of Advertising in Gaming

• Player-First Philosophy:

  • “Every experience... we are player first in terms of any ad or brand experience.” — Claire Nance [11:12]
  • Studios will not allow disruptive ads; all ad experiences are “opt-in” and additive.

• Advertising Formats:

  • Mobile:
    • Rewarded video: users can watch an ad to earn in-game rewards.
    • Playable ads: interactive, mini-game style ad experiences.
    • “[Players have the] option to watch an ad and then you get rewarded.” — Claire Nance [12:03]
  • Console:
    • Ads on the Xbox dashboard—non-disruptive placements, entryway into the gaming/entertainment ecosystem [12:28–13:02].
  • No Intrinsic (In-Game) Ads:
    • Xbox does not do in-game banner/intrinsic ads (e.g., billboards on FIFA fields)—to keep player experience intact [15:40, 16:26].

• Ad Ecosystem Framework:

  • Claire proposes a helpful rubric:
    • In the game (intrinsic ads, not Xbox’s focus)
    • Adjacent to the game (rewarded video, dashboard placements)
    • Outside of the game (community forums, streaming/esports, influencer marketing)
    • “Gaming advertising is... there’s a lot there. There’s a lot of different ways to advertise, a lot of different formats.” — Claire Nance [17:09–17:16]

• Audience Targeting & Buying Options:

  • Brands need clear objectives and targeted audiences; different games have different user bases (e.g., Candy Crush ≠ Call of Duty) [17:34].
  • Both programmatic and bespoke advertising opportunities are available [18:29].

The Future of Gaming and Brand Integration

• Technological Innovations:

  • AI, immersive gameplay, player-driven content are making gaming even more accessible and creative [18:44—19:38].
  • Future holds more inclusivity and easier access: “The more technology grows, the more we’re going to see some of those access barriers [fall].” — Claire Nance [19:00]

• Marketer Education & Breaking Stereotypes:

  • Major part of Claire’s role is “selling gaming” as an ad channel, fighting stereotypes (teenage boys in basements) and showing the diversity of today’s gaming audience [19:57–20:47].
  • Gaming’s “superpower is its immersion”—brands must be careful not to disrupt the attention they’re lucky to have [21:11–21:43].

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On The Ubiquity of Gaming:

  • “3.6 billion gamers globally. That’s the number that gets touted a lot... 80% of people in the U.S. are playing games.” — Claire Nance [05:55]

• On Player-First Ad Philosophy:

  • “We are a game publisher first ... studios will not let us put a bad ad in the game. Which is a good thing, to be clear, because it means a better experience for players, better outcomes for brands.” — Claire Nance [11:27]

• Defining the Ecosystem:

  • “A really helpful way to think about gaming advertising is through this rubric: in the game, adjacent to the game, and outside of the game.” — Claire Nance [16:04]

• Immersion as Superpower:

  • “Gaming’s superpower is its immersion... as marketers traditionally we think about how we need to get attention. In gaming, we’ve already got that attention, so we actually don’t want to be breaking it.” — Claire Nance [21:11–21:43]

• Advice for Aspiring Pros:

  • “Careers are not linear... There are so many different types of roles in the gaming space ... probably jobs out there they didn’t even realize and in the future haven’t even been invented yet.” — Claire Nance [22:04–22:50]

• Mantra:

  • “Where’s the banner benefit?” — Claire Nance [23:10]

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Valuable Timestamps

• Origin & Microsoft Acquisition ................................... [03:15–04:47]
• Current State of Gaming .............................................. [05:40–06:33]
• Growth in Mobile & Accessibility .................................. [08:28–09:24]
• Ad Philosophy & Formats ............................................. [11:04–13:02]
• No Intrinsic/In-Game Banner Ads ................................ [15:40-16:26]
• Gaming Ad Ecosystem/Framework ............................ [16:04–17:16]
• Marketer Education & Career Advice ......................... [19:57–22:55]
• Career Mantra & Closing Remarks .............................. [23:10–23:46]

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Tone and Takeaways

The conversation is insightful, pragmatic, and forward-looking—Claire Nance combines a data-driven approach with advocacy for responsible, player-first advertising. The episode aims to demystify gaming for marketers, challenging outdated assumptions and encouraging brands to focus on the unique engagement and reach the channel offers.

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Closing Thought

Brands seeking to thrive in modern advertising must understand the gaming landscape as more than just “another screen.” With its breadth, depth, and evolving accessibility, gaming offers unprecedented ways to connect authentically—provided the experience is respected and the audience truly understood.

Transcript

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I remember telling my boss it'll be

[Claire Nance]

good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't.

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[Claire Nance]

as marketers Traditionally we think about like we need to get attention. Like how do we cut through? How do we capture attention in gaming? We've already got that attention.

[Matt Brit]

To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move at an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Brit and CEO of Suzy Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now, and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Culture. We're here live in south beach at the possible conference. And today we are thrilled to welcome Claire Nance, the senior director of marketing communications at Microsoft's Xbox Media solutions. Claire leads B2B marketing communication for Microsoft's gaming advertising business, helping brands understand why gaming has become one of the world's most powerful, powerful channels for culture, connection and modern entertainment. Claire, so great to see you today.

[Claire Nance]

It's great to be here. Thank you for having me.

[Matt Brit]

So you've been in the gaming space for quite a while, correct?

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Brit]

So tell us about your journey.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah. So I was previously at Activision Blizzard, which is one of the world's biggest video game players. And then of course, Activision Blizzard was acquired by Microsoft a number of years ago. Now I came into Activision Blizzard. They had kind of what was back then a very early stage ads business. And I came in as one of their first marcoms hires. And it was my job was really like, how do I help the industry understand gaming and the ad industry and marketers understand gaming? And so it helped kind of like build that team and build that business from scratch. And then now, since the Microsoft acquisition, we're now under the Xbox Media Solutions banner. So we've kind of had this rebrand which is really exciting and represents more of the properties that we're now going out to market with. So I've been in this space for a long time, as you mentioned, and really seen, I think, the evolution of the conversation around gaming amongst marketers and in the advertising industry and how that's evolved.

[Matt Brit]

How has life changed for you and your other colleagues formerly at Activision since the Microsoft acquisition?

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, I mean, it's been really exciting. We have the power of Microsoft, which is obviously one of like the biggest and best companies in the world. And to have that kind of power behind us, it now means for us in terms of like the amplification of the message and the storytelling that we're able to do, we're able to do that so much more. And even from a product perspective, when we were on the Activision Blizzard side, we were mainly talking about mobile gaming. So ads within the mobile gaming space can crush. You might have heard of it, one of our biggest.

[Matt Brit]

I can't get my mom off of it.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, you know, I think it's one of the most ubiquitous like of all titles. Right?

[Matt Brit]

Yeah.

[Claire Nance]

And so we were doing a lot in the mobile space post acquisition. We're now also in console, we're now also in PC. So when you think about the gaming landscape and you think about it through these kind of like these three channels or these three platforms, mobile, PC and console, we now have an offering across that entire spectrum. Whereas previously we were much more focused in the mobile space. So for us, that's been a really, I think, important step for us as a business. But candidly, even for the gaming ads industry, in the gaming ad space, because no one else can really compete with us through that lens.

[Matt Brit]

Yeah.

[Claire Nance]

You know that the depth and breadth of the portfolio that we have. And so being able to work with marketers and brands and have them come to us and say, like, yo, I'm interested in gaming, like, where do I start? We can now help them be like, this is the best channel or the right audience for you, rather than having a narrow portfolio.

[Matt Brit]

Right. So gaming is big. Just how big is it? I know, like during COVID obviously.

[Renewal by Andersen Announcer]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

Stuck at home.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

All they could do is play video game five years later. What is the state of gaming today and what are some of the areas that are growing the fastest?

[Claire Nance]

So does this start. You're going to hear it a number of times, if you haven't already. 3.6 billion gamers globally. That's the number that gets touted a lot. I think it's about 80% of people in the US are playing games. So, like, wow, that's a lot of

[Matt Brit]

people from mobile games.

[Claire Nance]

Absolutely.

[Matt Brit]

IPhone.

[Claire Nance]

Absolutely.

[Matt Brit]

Xbox hardcore.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, absolutely. And I do think one of the reasons that, that there's not this quite like this understanding of the power and just how big gaming is, is because a lot of people don't call themselves gamers or they don't think of like the mobile game and playing Candy Crush, like, is that gaming? And it is.

[Jenny Rooney]

Right.

[Claire Nance]

And we see that of those numbers, it's 3.6 billion. Like, it's so ubiquitous.

[Matt Brit]

Big number.

[Claire Nance]

It is really big. So that shift, you know what we saw with COVID there was obviously a lot of people kind of picking up gaming again. And we actually saw that it was more people returning to gaming. So people who had played maybe when they were younger still had that consol home. Covid happened. They actually like picked it up again because they had a little bit more time.

[Matt Brit]

Right.

[Claire Nance]

It was a great way for social connection.

[Matt Brit]

Like, wow, this is not like Atari growing up.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

Just for those who haven't played video games in a while, like, it's Just incredible. Just the evolution.

[Claire Nance]

Exactly.

[Matt Brit]

Gaming experience has undergone. It's so like. It's incredible.

[LinkedIn Ads Announcer]

Exactly.

[Claire Nance]

Well, even when you think about mobile games too, like the technology advancement in mobile games too, like from where it was to where it is today, like the level of graphics that you can

[Matt Brit]

have and connectivity with other people.

[Renewal by Andersen Announcer]

Yeah.

[Claire Nance]

And that was a big thing during COVID obviously. But I think even beyond that that it wasn't just about oh, having a call with someone, like sharing an activity together.

[Matt Brit]

Right.

[Claire Nance]

So when you're gaming and you're, you're just, you know, experience. Exactly. And that's really, really important. So I do think that sometimes gets missed when we think about this idea of gaming and I think this kind of like social connection piece, we see that extend outside of the game as well. So a lot of gaming audiences are connecting off platform. So even again, I know I've mentioned Candy Crusher a couple of times here, but we actually. That is a sing mobile game, but we actually see that communities connect in forums offline to talk about their favorite levels and why is this level so hard. So that connection extends. Yes, some of it is in game, in those multi game experiences, but it also extends beyond that. So I think when you ask about the state of gaming today, I think it's continuing to grow. We see that gaming is kind of this precursor for technological advancement. So we know that people are kind of. They use gaming as a way to really understand technology and understand it through play. And so I think we're seeing kind of this evolution there. We're seeing the technological advancement there and kind of getting bigger and better. Which is.

[Matt Brit]

And what are some of the fastest growing titles or categories that you're seeing across the gaming landscape here in 2026?

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, I still think the mobile gaming space is growing because it's that access.

[Matt Brit]

Yeah. Just like anybody can grab onto it, you can.

[Claire Nance]

Right.

[Matt Brit]

All ages you don't have to be a gamer.

[Claire Nance]

You have essentially like a gaming device in your pocket. It removes a barrier to entry. And I some of the barriers to entry historically was the card cost of a console. Right. And the equipment, then you're adding on the games. And so if you're not sure, like that's a lot to kind of commit to upfront mobile gaming. There's the device piece, you already have the hardware. You don't need that level of investment. But I think the other critical piece is that the mobile game development and the gameplay itself and the mechanics are actually created so that it's really easy to start playing a Game and enter into playing a game. Like you can pick up a new game and get really, really comfortable and familiar with it and they're designed that way.

[Matt Brit]

There's not really a learning curve.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, yeah. So I do think this idea of access is really important and candidly that's also where we see the kind of like the ads piece and the media piece come into play because that can play a really critical role in providing audiences with more access to more games titles through a monetization kind of stream that hasn't necessarily been used in gaming.

[Matt Brit]

Before I get to the advertising piece in a second. My last question. The gaming space is obviously Xbox has Game Pass and it's a subscription service. Yeah. I was growing up and I went to have a Nintendo game. I'd have to go to the store, buy the cartridge.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Brit]

And then over time you're able to download it, but you like a day to download it now it downloads instantly and now you could subscribe and.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

Is that how you're seeing more people in the console world actually access games?

[Claire Nance]

I think it's one of the ways like I do think it's about giving people choice so that they can choose how they want to engage with the games, whether through the subscription model, whether it's still through the like the purchasing, the title.

[Matt Brit]

As we talked about buying CDs.

[Renewal by Andersen Announcer]

Yeah.

[Claire Nance]

You know, the digital stores make it a lot easier these days. But I do think we've seen, and we've seen this in CTV as well, like the shift to that subscription model. There's an understanding and a comfort level for consumers with that. So I think it really is about choice, giving gaming audiences the options so they can play how they want to play, they can access the games how they want to play. Because not every person who plays games is the same.

[Matt Brit]

So your role obviously is to drive awareness and buy in to a gaming platform under Microsoft's Xbox Media solution.

[Jenny Rooney]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

So ultimately what that means is you have a massive audience of people who are playing games to your point, across a multi division devices and you can reach them.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

So tell me about how that works. Like am I seeing ads when I'm playing games or is it something a little bit more subliminal like how's it.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think like the really critical piece and core kind of philosophy that we have operated under and this was back in Activision Blizzard days and it continues today, is every experience like we are player first in terms of any ad or brand experience, whether it's in the

[Matt Brit]

game, whether it's in go ads first. Forget about it.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah. And like what I used to kind of say to people a lot is like, we are a game publisher first. So like, the studios that we work with are very careful about the experience for the players and they will not let us put a bad ad in the game. Which is a good thing, to be clear, because it means a better experience for players, better outcomes for brands. So I think when we look at the mobile space, that's where we really think about like rewarded video. So where there's those natural breaks in gameplay, everything we do is opt in. So you're playing Candy Crush, you get to the end of the level, you run out of lives, you have an option to watch an ad and then you get rewarded.

[Matt Brit]

Purchase more coins. Right?

[Claire Nance]

It's like, yeah, yeah. Oh, you can do nice, right? But you get rewarded for watching the ad experience. We also have playable ad experiences which are really fun. So there's this value exchange and I think that is really critical and making sure that it's in these natural modes moments. It's not. Yeah, nothing's popping up during gameplay. Like we've all played those mobile, you know, back in the day, mobile games and the ads and you're trying to

[Marketing Architects Podcast Host]

X out of it.

[Claire Nance]

And that is very much not the experience. And then when you think about the console side of things, with the Xbox dashboard, we have ad units that sit on the dashboard itself. So that's kind of like the entryway.

[Matt Brit]

People are selling first party games or.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, games. Yeah, exactly. Entertainment partners as well. So that dashboard is really like the entryway into this gaming ecosystem, this entertainment ecosystem. So nothing about it is disruptive. It's fitting like very seamlessly within to the environment. And again, there's often that kind of like, how is this adding value for the player and being additive to the player experience?

[Matt Brit]

We'll be right back with the Speed of Culture after a few words from our sponsors.

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[Claire Nance]

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[Matt Brit]

How about in game advertising, like you're playing FIFA World cup and you see banners on the field. Is that part of your offering as well?

[Claire Nance]

That's not part of our offering. Yeah. I know that there are some ad tech companies out there that do what that's kind of what we call intrinsic advertising. So that's when you think of you're playing that car racing game and you see the billboards, you know, on the

[Matt Brit]

road, Toyota and Toyota's actually paying for the drug.

[Claire Nance]

Exactly. So that's intrinsic advertising. So I think a really helpful way to think about gaming advertising is through this kind of this rubric which is in the game, adjacent to the game, and outside of the game.

[Matt Brit]

Got it.

[Claire Nance]

So in the game is that intrinsic, like you're actually seeing the ad within the gameplay experience itself.

[Matt Brit]

Xbox doesn't do any of that. Even with its own first party games.

[Claire Nance]

Xbox does not.

[Matt Brit]

Wow.

[Claire Nance]

No. Yeah. So again, it's really about that player experience. But I know that other games and other ad tech companies do that. So intrinsic is that in the game example, the adjacent to the game is what I talked about. The rewarded video, like natural breaks in play, the opt in. That's a really clear example of that. And then the outside of the game is like when I was talking about these communities that connect off platform and so that can be even things like streamers, you know, the watching, like that kind of component. Esports is obviously really big as well. That's where we see that outside of the game. So I think thinking about like in the game, adjacent to the game, outside of the game is like a helpful rubric to understand like there is a complex ecosystem. Gaming advertising is. There's a lot there. There's a lot of different ways to advertise, there's a lot of different formats, a lot of different genres. And so having that r help simplify it for brands a little bit.

[Matt Brit]

So I would imagine that if an advertiser is coming to Xbox Media Solutions based upon the title, that title has a certain demographic that they're going to want to reach. So that will kind of dictate the types of titles that they will advertise on.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah, I think like one of the things we think about when we work with brands is like, know your objective and know your audience. So rather than coming in and being like, I want to do gaming, if you kind of really focus on like what it is as a brand that you're trying to achieve, who is the audience that you're going to reach? We can then work with those brands and be like, hey, this is the type of experience that's going to match that. Yeah, this is the type of, you know, you look at something like Candy Crush and Call of Duty, not necessarily going to have crossover in terms of audience. So like it is actually about even though gaming can be this kind of like overwhelming and a little bit complex for brands, actually really simplifying it and taking it back to that core starting point as a marketer of like, who am I trying to reach, what am I trying to do? First principles and then, you know, kind of figuring out, okay, what is the right gaming experience that matches that and

[Matt Brit]

is this a programmatic media buy or is it just sort of like one off premium buy within the mobile space?

[Claire Nance]

We do both. So we sell programmatically and then we also have bespoke, like those playable mini games that I talked about, more bespoke experiences as well. So we have a bit of a spectrum.

[Matt Brit]

Got it. So, more broadly, like, where do you see the gaming space going? I was at CES this year.

[Renewal by Andersen Announcer]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

So many innovations, especially when you bring in the power of AI, the gaming experience. I mean, some people are talking about how people are going to be able to put themselves in the games and write the future. Like, where do you see that? You obviously are passionate about the gaming space. Just personally, where you see it headed.

[Claire Nance]

I think, again, we're going to see more people playing, and I think the more technology grows, the more we're going to see some of those access barriers, like, it's going to be even easier to game. And I think we're already seeing that. And we're seeing this kind of more people are playing different types of games, and I think we're only going to see that continue. And I think the technological advancements are going to be really exciting because there's going to be more that can be done within a game environment and more immersive styles of play and different styles of play. And I think that's going to just continue to attract more people. So I think gaming as a space is somewhere that really is able to kind of like, push the boundaries a little bit more. And I'm excited to see where that goes.

[Matt Brit]

Yeah. So we're here at the Cosplay conference in Miami, and obviously, I'm sure top of your list is getting an audience with the right people to tell the story about why this is a powerful medium. What are some of the effective ways that you've been able to capture the attention of advertisers? Like, from a B2B marketing standpoint, what's worked.

[Claire Nance]

The biggest part of my job is actually not even selling kind of Xbox or Activision Blizzard. It's actually selling gaming. And really, a lot of what I do is this education piece. And that's kind of the core part of my job.

[Matt Brit]

Like, what we're doing today through this conversation.

[Claire Nance]

Exactly what we're doing today, which is like, breaking down, like, some of the misconceptions about gaming. So, like, teenage boy in the basement, you know, that kind of stereotype, which is very much not who the gaming audience is today. So breaking down some of the misconceptions, helping them understand the space, understanding the different ways they can activate, that's really like the core, almost like overarching Kind of part of the job, because the titles and the platforms that we work with and some of the IP we work with is some of the best in gaming. You know, it's so well known. So it's less about selling that and more really about that education piece.

[Matt Brit]

Yeah. And I think, I would imagine one of the big selling points is just the level of engagement that you have from this audience. You know, they're a captive audience, they're engaged in what they're doing. And if you reach them contextually and you can put your brand into an environment, because we're in a world where everyone's climbing for attention, there's a million things popping up in every direction. But when you're immersed in the game, it's almost like no other experience. And it's a great place for a brand.

[Claire Nance]

We often say that gaming superpower is its immersion. Like, as you said, like when you're in that game, that's all you're thinking about. And so again, as we think about these brand experiences, for us it's not about disrupt. We don't want to break that immersion.

[Matt Brit]

Yeah.

[Claire Nance]

We want it to be much more seamless and it's almost thinking about it the opposite way. Like as marketers traditionally we think about, like, we need to get attention. Like how do we cut through, how do we like capture attention in gaming? We've already got that attention, so we actually don't want to be breaking it it. We want things to feel seamless within that environment.

[LinkedIn Ads Announcer]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

So as we wrap up here, a lot of our listeners of the podcast are younger listeners who at the beginning of their career and a lot of people always told, do what you're passionate about. And obviously gaming is a passion point.

[Claire Nance]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

Just curious how you found your way into the gaming space and any advice you might have for some of our younger listeners to follow their dreams, what they're most passionate about.

[Claire Nance]

I think the biggest piece of career advice I always say is careers are not linear. You know, you kind of often start out in your career and you think there's this path that you're going to follow. My career was not linear. I've worked in tv, I've worked in media, I've worked in advertising, and now I find myself in gaming. I came into the gaming space through advertising, so I previously worked at ipg. So again, a very non traditional way to come into the gaming space. I think for people who are really interested in gaming, I always kind of remind them that there are so many different types of roles in the gaming space. You don't just have to be like a game developer or an engineer. You can work in hr, you can work in marketing, you can work in all these different facets of the industry. So I always like to remind people there's probably jobs out there they didn't even realize and in the future haven't even been invented yet.

[Matt Brit]

Right.

[Claire Nance]

When we think about mine. So yeah. I always kind of tell people to really think big and broad.

[Matt Brit]

Yeah.

[Claire Nance]

And if you're passionate about it, you have conversations with people in this space and learn and just know your stuff.

[Matt Brit]

Very cool. So the wrap up here, we always ask our guests if they're saying or mantra.

[LinkedIn Ads Announcer]

Yeah.

[Matt Brit]

That helps sort of encapsulate their career journey. Just what is yours?

[Claire Nance]

Mine is where's the banner benefit.

[Matt Brit]

Okay.

[Claire Nance]

And it's a question I ask myself before doing anything. And it's if we're going to be doing something, whether it's we're going to be doing a marketing campaign or we're going to be doing some kind of activity or making an investment in something, where is the benefit in doing that and being really crystal clear on the why rather than just doing? Because I think especially very fast paced environments, there's a lot going on. There can be this kind of technical

[Matt Brit]

AI like lowers the barrier to entry in almost anything. But if you don't know why you're doing it, it you're just going to be doing a lot of doing and not making a lot of progress.

[Claire Nance]

Exactly. So that was the benefit. It's a question I ask my.

[Matt Brit]

I love that. Well, lots of benefit today.

[LinkedIn Ads Announcer]

Absolutely.

[Matt Brit]

Think about the gaming space with you and really thankful that you said to take the time out of your busy schedule here possible.

[Claire Nance]

Thank you.

[Matt Brit]

Share with us and wishing you nothing but success in 2026.

[Claire Nance]

Thank you for exciting space.

[LinkedIn Ads Announcer]

Exactly.

[Matt Brit]

Absolutely. On behalf of Susie I we team. Thanks again to Claire N. The Senior Director of Marketing communications at Microsoft Xbox Media Solutions for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe rate review the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time, bye bye. The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Suzy as part of the Ad Week Podcast Network and a guest creator network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcasts by visiting Adweek.com podcast. To find out more about Suzy, head to Suzy.com and make sure to search for the Speed of Culture in Apple podcasts, Spotify or anywhere else podcasts are found. Click follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Suzy. Thanks for listening.

[LinkedIn Ads Announcer]

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[Marketing Architects Podcast Host]

Dashboard Confessions I remember telling my boss

[Claire Nance]

it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it it wasn't.

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