Kane Forrester Video Games Marketer

Kane Forrester

Video Game Marketer

About Kane

 

Kane is a video game marketer, raised and educated in England with international experience in Games Engines, Free to Play, Triple-A, Live Services, Indie, PC, Console, Multiplatform Publishing, and Virtual Reality.

Kane Forrester Video Games Marketer

At TwitchCon 2019 with the PHOGS!

My love for innovative technology and video games has led me to a career as a Video Game Marketer. As a Senior Marketing Manager for People Can Fly, I lead the marketing strategy for their self-published VR titles.

As an expert in video games and digital marketing, I excel at conceptualizing, planning, and delivering brand strategy and engaging content that positively shapes customer dialogue.

I have a proven track record of successfully working with developers and publishers on game launches and products across all mainstream Console, PC, and VR platforms.

I now have over a decade of experience spanning varied projects across a broad spectrum of the games industry, including Games Engines, Free to Play, Triple-A, Indie, PC, Console, and Virtual Reality.

Key Skills

 

Video Game Brand Management

Lifecycle and Go-To-Market PLanning

Budget Setting & Handling

KPI Analytics & Reporting

Video Games Publishing & Ratings

Platform and Partner Relations

Global Team Management & Collaboration

Agency and outsourcing management

Career History

 
Senior Brand Manager - People Can Fly

August 2023 – Present

Senior Marketing Manager - Epic Games / Irregular Corporation

February 2021 – August 2023

Responsible to Marketing Director, First Party for:

  • Ownership and distribution of content, monetization and marketing beat roadmap for Fortnite
  • Liaising with internal and external stakeholders on approvals for Fortnite initiatives from platforms and partners
  • Agendas and taking lead in weekly meetings with Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and Epic Games Store
  • Participating in Fortnite Growth and Forecasting meetings
  • First Party major beat recaps for internal discussion and review by senior leadership
  • Secure, watermarked weekly GTM distribution to 1st party partners

Responsible to Franchise & Marketing Directors for:

  • Owning and executing global marketing campaigns and strategies that positively impact the bottom line for PC Building Simulator and future franchise titles
  • Managing global Partner Relations across 40+ hardware brands for PC Building simulator including the new parts pipeline for the game
  • Act as the principal point of contact for all marketing and brand activity for PC Building Simulator and future franchise titles, aligning expectations and negotiating with internal and external stakeholders
  • Sourcing, briefing and managing external contractors and agencies to deliver assets and requirements for successful marketing activities

The Irregular Corporation was acquired as part of the acquisition of Tonic Games Group in March 2021

Senior Marketing Manager - Coatsink

January 2018 – January 2021

Responsible to CEO, COO & SMT for:

  • Leading a marketing team of 6 at Coatsink and external contractors to develop and deliver synchronized, integrated and successful marketing campaigns and game launches for both internally developed and published products across all major games platforms.
  • Owning and executing global marketing strategies that positively impact the bottom line and help the company to hit its financial goals and execute its current growth plans.
  • Research, planning, budgeting, and project management of marketing, content, and go to market strategy for self-published products.
  • Fulfil partner relations duties and supporting external developers and publishers for products not directly published by Coatsink.
  • Act as the principal point of contact for all marketing and brand activity across the Coatsink publishing portfolio, aligning expectations and negotiating with internal and external stakeholders
Brand Manager - CCP Games

May 2017 – December 2017

Responsible to Senior Brand Director for:
 

  • Help define product positioning, messaging and the brand bible to arm the wider customer teams with the information, materials, and guidance they need
  • Management of external agencies and internal teams to deliver brand, marketing, and acquisitional assets on time and to a defined budget
  • Work with production teams, through game health meetings and analytics to prioritize new feature development in line with customer expectations to drive acquisition, engagement, and retention
  • Research and understand the customer journeys for my product(s) and weave this knowledge into the marketing mix and acquisition engine

Key Achievements

  • Briefed and guided the creation of brand assets for Steam, Sony America, Sony Europe and Oculus for the launch of EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone adhering to the strict and varying guidelines and requirements of each partner
  • Collaborated with website and growth teams to revamp and rebrand evevalkyrie.com into an effective acquisition funnel with a conversion average of 20%
  • Managed the vetting and coordination of influencers across multiple campaigns and activations in conjunction with Communications and PR teams
  • Improved relationship between production and community teams through conversation, expectation management and creation of process
Content Marketing Specialist - Crytek GmbH

Apr 2016 – Apr 2017

Responsible to Marketing Director for:

  • Conceptualising creating and delivering strategies and content for growth in owned media channels
  • Briefing and cross-coordinating Marketing, Live Operations and Creative Services teams to ensure all elements of content marketing are delivered on time and to the expected standard
  • Managing the configuration of hardware and software, and use of the in-house live broadcasting facilities
  • Producing weekly live broadcasts on Twitch and YouTube platforms
  • Curating, cultivating and promoting community-generated video content for Warface for greater earned media impact

Key Achievements

  • Delivered subscriber growth of over 120% and over 1,000,000 views in 9 months of working with the Warface YouTube channel
  • Delivered follower growth of over 120% and average peak viewership by over 225% in 4 months of working with the Warface Twitch channel
  • Designed, remodelled and configured live broadcasting facilities into a production-ready environment returning them to shared resource status within the company
Managing Director - KaneAtron Digital Marketing

Aug 2013 – Mar 2016

Responsibilities:

  • Designed and delivered Web Design, SEO and Digital Marketing projects for businesses in the UK & Europe
  • Analysed and merged complex metrics and analytics to make informed, key business decisions
  • Designed and delivered the company brand image. guidelines, positioning, personality and voice
  • Effectively communicate with clients and stakeholders by leveraging appropriate digital technologies such as video tutorials and annotated tutorials

Key Achievements

  • Delivered a global e-commerce solution that returned over £435,000 in revenue in its first 12 months of operation
  • Organizing, marketing and running regular events for the Federation of Small Businesses and Business for Breakfast organizations in Staffordshire
  • Delivering educational presentations to businesses and professionals for the Federation of Small Businesses, Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce, Business for Breakfast, Staffordshire University and Wolverhampton University
Community Representative - Crytek GmbH

Feb 2013 – Mar 2016

Responsible to CRYENGINE Brand Manager & Live Ops Producer for:

  • Organising and managing global volunteers across Warface & CRYENGINE communities
  • Liaising with Crytek Community & Engine teams across multiple time zones and offices
  • Presenting two weekly community Twitch streams for European & American communities
  • Engaging with and responding to community questions & concerns via forums and social media
  • Acting as an ambassador for CRYENGINE and Warface products

Key Achievements

  • Produced and featured in over 200 Twitch streams gaining over 6000 followers for each of Crytek’s live streaming channels
  • Negotiating with key Twitch personnel to secure transcoding without the need for a formal partnership
  • Improving volunteer retention and satisfaction levels within both CRYENGINE and Warface

I’ve worked with

 
XSolla
Steam
Xbox
Stadia
Coatsink
Nintendo
Unity
CCP
Coatsink
Twitch
NVidia
Crytek
Oculus
Oculus
PlayStation
CRYENGINE

I’ve worked on

Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
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Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
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Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group
Mail.ru Group

Recommendations

Kane immediately proved himself to be a valuable member of a fast-paced and results-driven marketing team. He owned key elements of the go-to-market execution for a multiplatform, high-visibility game; identified and addressed critical gaps in planning; and built highly valuable cross-functional relationships within the organization that led to a direct return on investment.

Ryan Geddes

LinkedIn

One of the most distinguishing factors of Kane’s work ethic is a combination of his motivation, and the enthusiasm he brings to each and every task.

No matter the request, Kane always handled it professionally and treated each task with a level of detail and focus that is rarely seen within the workspace.

Tom Ebsworth

LinkedIn

What I can contribute

 

Agency & Freelancer Management

I’m well versed in assessing complex cross-discipline requirements and creating strategy to guarantee business requirements and quality bars are met in the most cost-effective manner possible.

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Confident Communication

Having experience as a teacher, business owner and two Games Design degrees to support me – I’m confident in my ability to communicate across disciplines and technical levels to market games products and services.

Partner Relations

With experience managing partner relations across all major industry players, I’m comfortable and effective at expectation setting, stakeholder management, and bridging the internal and external communications needed to foster fruitful partnerships.

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Strategy & Analysis

As an experienced video game marketer and strategist, I relish the challenge of breaking down complex business requirements into coherent, robust, and data-driven strategies that effectively use available company resources and budgets.

Innovation & Creativity

Through research and creativity, I’m adept at generating original ideas and strategies to improve existing processes and pipelines to match business needs and requirements better.

Project Management

Drawing from my teaching and business experience, I can apply time and task management frameworks that enable efficient use of time and resources, delivering on time every time.

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Critical Thinking

I enjoy exercising my critical thinking skills in all aspects of my role – analyzing best practices, data, and information from multiple sources to derive fit-for-purpose strategies and solutions.

Foresight & Initiative

I always strive to understand the bigger picture, raising issues ahead of time and actively seeking to advise against scenarios that could negatively impact the bottom line.

Hit me up

© 2024 Kane Forrester – Video Game Marketer
Last Updated: Jan ’24

All trademarks, logos and brand names are the property of their respective owners.