Create a future-first digital branch on top of the established physical products
The GoaL
With demand for more physical cards and gaming products soaring before and through Covid-19, Cartamundi like any company had difficulties with supply-chain struggles. Therefore they decided to accelerate their Digital Ventures program, to become a big player in digital gaming entertainment after establishing them in the physical gaming world since 1970.
Cartamundi wanted to create core team of engaged individuals to spearhead these digital endeavors.
The Solution
15 high-potential employees from different branches across the world were hand-selected to go on a 5-day exploration in digital entertainment in Los Angeles. We wanted to submerge them in this new world, let them think outside the box and explore what the future could be for Cartamundi.
With the Day After Tomorrow in mind, we picked these topics together:
- Digital Gaming
- Digital entertainment
- 360° (online and offline) brand experiences
- Web3.0
- Investors and equity firms in the gaming space
The Program
- Day 1: We focused on Web3, NFT's, the Metaverse and other future technologies
- Day 2: We continued these topics in the morning, and shifted to the importance of communities in the afternoon. With the former Exec. Producer BlizzCon Saralyn Smith from Blizzard Gaming, GM & Head of Business Maryam Sabour from Niantic Inc., and a product developer from Twitter.
- Day 3: We focussed on digital gaming. We started with gaming organizations, and invited the founder of CLG Gregory Kim, C-level of Evil Geniusses and ESL Gaming. We ended the day with a VIP visit to the all-star NBA game, The Lakers vs The Bucks... The Bucks won 131-116 ;)
- Day 4: To broaden the spectrum to overall digital entertainment, we visited the offices of Jukin Media and got a full tour from their Founder Jonathan Skogmo, the powerhouse behind user-genereated content like Failarmy.
- Day 5: On the final day visited the offices of Snap Inc. (SnapChat), Director of their inhouse accelerator Michael Su managed to introduce us to 3 start-ups actively disrupting the space. To finish, we visited one of the world’s biggest gaming VC’s, Griffin Gaming Partners, with over $1 billions in AUM and got to learn the secrets of VC funding in the gaming world from Managing Director Peter Y. Levin and Partner Anthony Palma.
The Impact
This 5-day program was crucial to ‘see beyond the mountain’ of opportunities regarding new markets. The team now have a clearer vision into which areas they need to invest and develop in-house expertise.
