On November 4, 2026, Toronto’s marketing community gathered at The Second City for AMA Futures: FORGE, an inaugural event that brought together forward-thinking leaders tackling the biggest questions facing our industry: how AI is reshaping the work, which emerging channels deserve our attention, and how brands earn trust and protect their reputation in an increasingly noisy world.  One question connected many of these conversations.  “In a world where attention is harder than ever to earn, how do brands turn it into meaningful engagement?”

It was a fitting venue. The Second City is famous for improv, where the audience helps shape the show. That idea of participation rather than passive observation is at the heart of what we brought to the stage.

Taking the Stage: Marketing Becomes the Game

Caroline Murphy, CMO at Meta4 Games, where she leads PowerUP, delivered a keynote on the shift from advertising to playable media. Through Native Playable Experiences (NPX), PowerUP helps brands move beyond traditional advertising to create interactive experiences that invite audiences to participate rather than simply watch. Her opening question set the tone: we’ve become brilliant at capturing attention, but what happens after we get it?

What Resonated with the Room

1. Gaming is mainstream culture, not a niche. More than 212 million Americans play video games every week, and the average player is 37. Millennials didn’t outgrow gaming; it grew up with them. Meanwhile, over 80% of U.S. Gen Z play weekly, yet 82% skip social video ads whenever they can. Gen Z isn’t disengaged. They’re selective about where and how they spend their attention.
2. Earn participation, not just attention. Caroline walked through three Native Playable Experiences: Dune: Awakening, where an entertainment universe became a world to explore; Takis, where the brand’s bold personality became gameplay; and WaterAid’s #TeamWater, which turned play into a force for good with 70M+ interactions and 4.9M+ hours spent with the cause.The common thread: each brand gives audiences something to experience, explore or participate in, rather than simply interrupting what they’re already doing.
3. Measure value, not just cost. The line that drew the most nods: we’ve optimized the cost of attention, but what about its value? Caroline laid out a framework that moves from exposure, to participation, to business impact, including brand lift, consideration and conversion. She was candid that the category is still evolving, and that measuring activity isn’t the same as proving effectiveness. Ultimately, the goal isn’t simply to show that people played, but to understand what that participation achieved for the brand. In a room focused on brand trust, that honesty landed.

The Real Signal: Marketers Want In

The conversations didn’t stop when the mic went off. Caroline spent the rest of the event fielding questions from marketers eager to explore NPX: where it fits within the media mix, how creators can contribute to the experience, and how to connect participation to measurable business outcomes. The question has clearly moved from “Should brands be in gaming?” to “How do we do it well?”

Her advice for anyone getting started: answer three questions before choosing a platform or creative.

• What makes our brand worth playing with?
• What experience would players actually value?
• What business outcome are we trying to influence?

Continuing the Conversation

Thank you to the AMA Futures team for an energizing, idea-packed afternoon, and to everyone who stopped to chat. As Caroline put it, the future of marketing isn’t just about being seen. It’s about being played.

For brands looking to move beyond traditional advertising and create more meaningful audience engagement, Native Playable Experiences offer a new way to bring that ambition to life. Curious what your brand could create? Let’s talk.