Breakthrough Builders Leveling Up Brand: Jason Bunge
With games like its played-the-world-over League of Legends, Riot Games has a history of developing entertaining, rich worlds for highly devoted and skilled players. Now, Jason Bunge has joined Riot as the company’s first CMO, and he’s focusing on building a brand unlike any yet seen in gaming.
In his talk with Jesse, Jason describes his journey from advertising to tech to gaming, with stops along the way at Saatchi & Saatchi, Microsoft, EA, and now, Riot Games. He discusses how he believes Riot uniquely hybridized product and culture, and how he’s helping push the brand into new creative territory— maintaining Disney-like ambition—without abandoning the legendary player centricity Riot Games is known and beloved for. Jason talks about the importance of versatility and adaptability in his career; the role of emotion in B2B marketing; the experience of building Microsoft 365 into a cloud platform; the respective roles of the game brand, studio brand, and publisher brand; his role in building engagement and community at EA; and his advice for incoming CMOs.
Guest Bio
Jason Bunge joined Riot Games as its first Chief Marketing Officer in 2020. He oversees the Global Marketing organization, which carries the torch for marketing and publishing excellence across all the company’s games, products, and player experiences and includes overseeing strategy and execution for brand, creative, channels, and community communications globally.
Prior to Riot Games, Jason held leadership roles at Electronic Arts, Trulia (Zillow Group), Skype, Microsoft and Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. Most recently at EA, Jason led the company’s games portfolio, including the record-setting launches of Apex Legends, the SIMs, and that franchise’s first TV series, as well as partnering with Lucasfilm on the successful suite of Star Wars games. Jason graduated with a BS from Boston College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Helpful Links
Forbes Article: In a World Let Loose, Video Game Makers are Doubling Down
Jason’s hiring announcement
Jason on LinkedIn