Chris Jovanov, Matt Lawson, Jasmine Hansen.
Independent creative agency ATime&Place has launched DEEP (Digital Experience & Entertainment Practice), a division covering brand-owned entertainment, digital product development, customer experience design and gaming.
The move comes as Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers, expected to command a combined global spending power of more than $12 trillion by 20301, increasingly favour more interactive digital experiences over traditional campaign-led marketing.
Jasmine Hansen has been appointed head of digital experience to lead the practice.
She joins from eGEN, where she led digital product strategy for brands including e.l.f. Cosmetics and Adidas and built platforms enabling brands to engage audiences within environments such as Roblox.
"Brands that build experiences people actively want to take part in — whether through loyalty, utility or entertainment — drive deeper engagement and stronger long-term value," Hansen said.
"Platforms like Roblox, with more than 151 million daily active users, are enabling brands to unlock entirely new revenue streams beyond their core business."
ATime&Place co-founder and chief creative officer Matt Lawson said the launch formalised a capability critical to modern brand building.
"The era of AI and automation will for the most part mean more of the same in many more places, at a time when consumers aren't just ignoring brands, but actively blocking them,” he said.
“So creating experiences people actually want to be a part of is essential for brands."
Hansen will work alongside creative director Chris Jovanov, who joined ATime&Place six months ago following senior roles at AKQA, R/GA, Leo Burnett and Clemenger BBDO.
Jovanov said the combination of creative and product capability opens new possibilities for brands.
“There’s a real opportunity here to build things people actually want to spend time with," Jovanov said.
"That shift towards more useful, experience-led work feels right for where brands need to go. Having Jasmine’s product experience in the mix, alongside the broader team, means we can build things properly - not just creatively, but in how they work day to day.”
Lawson said Jasmine Hansen and ATime&Place co-founder Adrian Mills built the Dumb Ways To Die games franchise together, which at its peak was generating multi-million dollar revenues through more than 6.7 billion game sessions.
"So it’s great to have that team back together working on new problems and platforms," he said.
“DEEP will help us create brand worlds with more depth, and meaningful entertainment experiences.
"The era of A.I and automation will for the most part mean more of the same in many more places, at a time when consumers aren’t just ignoring brands, but actively blocking them. So creating experiences people actually want to be a part of is essential for brands.”
DEEP launches across Australia and New Zealand this month, with the agency already in discussions with brands on early-stage projects.
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