OS Studios is a creative agency that specializes in connecting brands with the next generation of fans, especially within the booming world of gaming, esports, and live entertainment. Pulse 2.0 interviewed OS Studios CEO John Higgins to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
John Higgins’ Background
What is John Higgins’ background? Higgins said:
“I started in theater with my company, Mayhem, where we managed everything from opera to live-action fusion shows. I learned quickly that if I wanted to succeed in the theater space, I had to sell tickets — and you are limited by the number of seats in these sometimes old theaters. We had a space problem, which led us to an ‘outside of the box’ approach. We started filming theater productions and broadcasting them so everyone with computer access or a cellphone could enjoy these major productions without fighting for prime theater-seat real estate.”
“This background has helped me enter the gaming industry with OS Studios, where I spearhead large, immersive experiences that merge gaming, entertainment, and dynamic marketing.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Higgins shared:
“A cofounder, Ian Packard, and I created Mayhem Creative. We took the theater company I already had and turned it into Mayhem Creative. With him as a producer and me as a director, we started producing more youth-culture TV commercials and broadcasts in Europe. It got the attention of the NBA in Europe and led to a contract with the NBA 2K League in North America — creating content and marketing materials for the first season. Twitch was our second ever client and the rest was history.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Higgins reflected:
“It’s almost impossible to choose between the ‘Call of Duty: Next’ event and the ‘Arcane’ event because they are both amazing, but for this last year, it has to be the ‘Arcane’ event. ‘Arcane’ is Riot Games’ first television outing, and it’s been wildly successful, garnering multiple Emmys for its first season.”
“We helped launch the second season of “Arcane” on Netflix on a global scale. It was a mixture of everything we do at OS Studios and covered multiple time zones. We helped with strategy and experiential marketing. I’m also a massive ‘League of Legends’ nerd, so it was a lot of fun from that vantage point. The show won a lot of awards, so knowing we were working behind the scenes was really cool.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Higgins explained:
“We work with brands, rights holders, and publishers. We are the connective tissue whenever they try activating or working with Gen Z or young millennials. The most common way this works is with gaming because that is a massive part of their content consumption. We also offer strategy, traditional marketing, copywriting, and content production. We are audience experts for brands, rightsholders, and publishers. We live and breathe youth culture and help our clients bring their vision to life.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Higgins and the team face in building the company? Higgins acknowledged:
“During COVID, gaming got really hot. But the actual gaming industry cooled after COVID, it didn’t grow as much as people predicted. Despite that, OS has continued to grow significantly year after year because we don’t just work with gaming publishers. We have future-proofed ourselves in that way.”
“Another challenge is educating people on the difference between e-sports and gaming culture. E-sports is a just tiny part of the larger gaming culture. Part of our role is explaining the power of gaming culture and Gen Z to long-standing brands. Many brands may be set in their ways when it comes to brand activation and marketing. However, we have proven case studies showing how successful and iconic the events, campaigns, and strategies we develop can be. Once brands recognize the influence of Gen Z and the gaming community, they are typically ‘all in.’”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Higgins noted:
“Massively. We started as humble theater producers and filmmakers. The technology was very production-based. As we got more sophisticated, we had to learn about data-tracking, social listening tools, and sophisticated CRMs. The latest technology is obviously AI. That has changed the game, and we are embracing it fully. AI creative technology allows us to be quicker, faster, and stronger. We can even use it for officiating, score keeping, and tournament operations.”
“Our company is built around tech advancements. The gaming industry looks radically different from the days of “Pong” or sitting in your family’s rec room playing “Mario Bros.” with your friends. Today, massive communities are being built around gaming.”
“Gen Z has really wrapped their heads around how to successfully monetize streaming, which has led to a whole new industry where niche creators and brands alike can take advantage of technological innovations that allow for even greater connection between companies and consumers.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Higgins cited:
“We’ve had several large milestone moments that have helped define us as a company.”
“The NBA 2K league contract in the US was a big milestone for us. Having that and Twitch as our first big contracts really set us on a path towards rapid success in the market.”
“Recently, we have become a part of Project Worldwide, a powerful gaming and esports collective that has allowed OS Studios to expand to many time zones around the globe. We went from being a small player to being able to offer thousands of people to the gaming culture community and handle large-scale events. This partnership has allowed us to help bring more brands into the gaming space and be a part of some significant events, such as the NBA 2K League event production and the Riot Games “Arcane” series launch.”
“COVID was also a huge milestone, we were acquired by Project Worldwide during COVID. We offered a deep understanding of creator culture. We knew that if you ask creators to leave their streams and come work for you, you’re asking them to walk away from their revenue. We were very good at remote workflows, which many other businesses struggled to cobble together during COVID. Gamers are naturally good at remote work. We were getting calls from the NFL asking about remote workflows for things like the Draft. Medium Rare, Shaq’s entertainment company, also reached out to us.”
“Other milestones such as winning ‘COD: Next’ and the ‘Arcane’ launch have helped put us in a new sphere.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Higgins about customer success stories, he highlighted
“Recently, we worked with DoorDash on the Stay in Your Game promotion. We found that gamers are DoorDash’s fastest-growing market, and this promotion really tapped into that rising consumer demand. The promotion has led to millions of stream views for games like “Fortnite,” an organic feature in the Wall Street Journal, and millions of orders for DoorDash by gamers.”
“DoorDash is incredible with their data. There was a massive potential with gamers for growth with the company. We became their go-to agency for their gaming activation, helping them produce livestreams and manage creators. As a result, they got loads of new subscribers. They made it to the Wall Street Journal as the most Valuable Convenience App, all based on tapping into the power of gamers. It was a great success metric for us.”
Funding
When asking Higgins about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“When we started, we got funding for what was initially supposed to be a gaming venue, but grew from there. We have been growing year on year. In a market where some may be struggling, we are bucking that trend year after year.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Higgins assessed:
“The gaming industry is massive, and the tappable market is significant. The global gaming market is estimated at approximately $217 billion and only stands to grow. Through our various projects, we seek to address the largest portion of that global market as possible. The gamer community is vast and multifaceted, but our various events, brand activations, and experiential marketing approaches are tailor-made to appeal to the most amount of people within the Gen Z-focused gaming market.”
“The total addressable market (TAM) has to include gaming and sports culture. Combined, they are projected to reach a projected $1.5 trillion by 2030, so we’re talking about an incredibly large industry with massive numbers.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Higgins affirmed:
“When we look at our competition, some look at other esports organizations or small to mid-sized experiential agencies. We never consider ourselves in competition with those genres.”
“We consider ourselves Gen Z and young Millennial experts. We look at how they interact with their environments and consume because we are “fan first” — we employ the biggest fans of anyone we work with. Fan acquisition is our primary objective; consumption always comes after.”
“We understand Gen Z because we aren’t just industry experts but Gen Z culture vultures. We deeply understand the market because we are part of it.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Higgins concluded:
“Our North Star, in some respects, is that when you say the term gaming culture is to delete the word ‘gaming,’ we are the leading organization to do that. It’s just culture, not a niche thing. Right now, there is a huge push to work with sports rights holders and brands in a new way because we know the interactions have been pretty prehistoric. We want them to learn how to use money in a different way and solve problems for their fans.”
“We are trying to rework aging entertainment IP, such as the Olympics, Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, and sports finals — big-time entertainment. We are trying to get closer to those entertainment mainstays and create something that works for Gen Z and Millennials. The future is all about gaming, sports, and entertainment, and merging those three into overall ‘culture consumption.’”
“We have more magic up our sleeves, although some of our projects can’t be revealed just yet. Our partnership with Project Worldwide has allowed us to be involved in some incredible events and projects.”
“We are also very focused on sustainable practices, which is all about us having an eye on our future. Gaming is a high-consumption activity, so we are exploring net-zero gaming methods to help offset the unsustainable nature of gaming.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Higgins concluded:
“We are constantly trying to explore how gaming and sports can be combined in a way that also benefits the planet and are always on the lookout for partners to help that cause. For example, in-game purchases can go straight to carbon offset. The amount of travel that goes into sports is one area that could be improved, we could offer an alternative experience where they don’t have to travel as much. Fans can start to become carbon neutral. It’s not happening right now, but we are exploring it.”
“It’s important that people understand the power of Gen Z and the size of the gaming market. Many people believe that gaming culture is still a niche interest rather than a billion-dollar industry that is helping to create deep community connections around the world. We are helping brands embrace gaming culture and find success with Gen Z consumers.”
