Havas Play has partnered with gaming advertising platform iion to offer interactive, playable advertising across gaming, digital and social environments in ANZ and APAC.
Under the partnership, iion will become Havas Play’s exclusive technology partner and platform for playable and mini-game builds, integrating its Playable Creator Studio into the agency’s regional offering, Havas Play:able.
Through the platform, Havas Play will be able to generate bespoke, pitch-ready interactive concepts and previews before moving into production and deployment. The offering will be available across the Havas network and directly to brand clients.
Several Havas Play clients are already exploring the capability to develop casual gaming experiences across retail, FMCG and beauty categories. The release said the experiences can bring gaming principles into physical and digital environments.
Havas Play:able uses agentic technology and AI automation alongside human creative strategy to develop interactive previews. Once developed, the experiences can be deployed across iion’s gaming ecosystem, the premium open web and social channels, with analytics available to measure audience interaction and performance.
“The era of passive media is over – every ad should be an invitation to play, interact, and engage, because that’s how genuine brand love is created,” said Yun Yip, Chief Commercial Officer at iion.
“Havas Play fundamentally understands culture and entertainment, and together we aim to take the power of ‘play’ far beyond gaming into the broader digital and social ecosystem. By fusing their cultural pulse with our technology, we are making every impression an active, lean-in moment that keeps brands top-of-mind while delivering measurable performance across the player’s experience.”
“Gaming has become one of the most powerful ways for brands to earn attention, and the scale and frequency of casual gaming has made play a mainstream behaviour, not a niche activity. Micro-games give brands an opportunity to move from advertising around gaming to creating experiences that audiences actively participate in, with simple, culturally relevant experiences that people can pick up and play anywhere,” said Nick Smith, Managing Partner of Havas Play ANZ.
“Historically, bringing that kind of experience into a brand’s everyday content and media plans has been difficult, expensive and slow. Havas Play:able changes that. By combining our understanding of culture with iion’s technology, we can turn an idea into a playable branded experience in days, not weeks, giving brands a new way to make their audiences active participants rather than passive viewers.”
