Loot Labs is a unique company with an interesting value proposition for collectors and hobbyists. Can you tell us how the idea behind Boxed came to be?

At Loot Labs, we’re a group of collectors and gamers led by a team rich in experience coming from NASA, 2K, Twitch, Microsoft and Lucas Arts. Whether it’s trading cards or in-game skins, that passion for collecting unites us, and so we set out to create the ultimate collectibles experience that empowers collectors with a fun and convenient way to enrich their hobby. This ultimately led us to Boxed, an alternative way to unbox rare trading cards for your favourite TCGs with none of the fuss or bulk. What’s different about boxed is that we’re not exclusively a loot box product, we also have a marketplace where users can trade cards they’ve earned for the specific cards they want in a graded condition. It’s been hugely rewarding to bring this experience to fandoms that are underserved when it comes to collecting experiences, and we look forward to adding more physical and digital products in the future.

You’ve had a long career in the gaming space, across companies like Twitch and Bidstack. What gets you excited about gaming as an advertising medium? What are the biggest evolutions you’ve seen over the past few years?

Gaming is the most engaged medium on the planet. It’s taking a bigger and bigger share of the attention economy and with that, revenue. Gaming is now bigger than music & movies combined, a fact that advertisers should be alert to. While the innovation, immersion & sheer scale of gaming is incredibly exciting, the bit that I love is the audience. They vote with their feet and anything that breaks immersion or distracts from the core experience will not be tolerated. This means that the advertising industry is forced to evolve and create integrated experiences that add value to players. This continually rising bar means that we will move towards tailored, personalized ad experiences in the near future, all driven by gaming. 

How did the idea to partner with RevU come about?

The Boxed community is a hugely passionate, engaged group of collectors. We see users spending time on the platform, interacting in site chat and showing off their best pulls in Discord. We’ve always looked to reward engagement and a number of features already exist for users to earn our on-site credit - gems. These are popular features and, with community guidance, we decided to explore new ways to reward users. The key consideration was that any experience had to add value, be opt-in and not interrupt the core experience. An offerwall, or Gem Missions as we call it, was the logical decision. From the first conversation with RevU we were confident we’d found the best partner. Their technology, advertiser selection & partnership support are fantastic, we feel fortunate to be working with such good partners.

Where do you think gaming, and in-game advertising, are headed next?

We are in the era of indies, platforms & open markets. It’s becoming harder and harder to know what will resonate with audiences hence why indie hits are breaking through. Driven by passion, they are tapping into the zeitgeist in a way we’ve never seen before. Games like Roblox & Fortnite have become platforms that more studios are building for. These have economies in their own right that are now rewarding developers and players alike. In the short term, we’re a proliferation of smaller studios either building indie titles or experiences for the platforms. These platforms can be lucrative for developers and users but they remain walled gardens. We will see more free trading of gaming assets as more studios and publishers understand how much value can be created for their players and the effect that has on in-game engagement. With blockchain gaming on the horizon, this open trading should accelerate. Advertising has a part to play in all three areas. We can expect more dollars going towards owned experiences on platforms but I also foresee brands taking a more long term approach to gaming. Advertisers who understand this audience will start to invest in, or even buy, studios that can craft deeper 

brand experiences. Brands that become enablers of fun will dominate gaming in the long term.

What do you think makes Boxed.gg’s users especially valuable for advertisers?

The combination of passionate collectors and an exciting experience has created a highly engaged audience on Boxed. The offerwall allows advertisers to enhance the Boxed experience by rewarding interaction. These elements combined lead to highly qualified users. When combined with RevU’s market-leading recommendations tool, Boxed users are served relevant content that adds value to their experience. These elements ensure high conversion and long term customers for advertisers.

‍Has anything been a positive surprise about working with RevU?

Releasing a new feature, especially one that includes advertising, can be divisive. We monitor and interact with our audience in real-time through site chat and Discord. The response to the offerwall has been overwhelmingly positive. We knew that the feature was as good as we could make it and we’d chosen the best partner, but to see the level of positivity around it has been incredible. We’re excited to deepen our relationship with RevU and surface more features & content that advertisers can harness.

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