Kane Forrester
Video Game Marketer
About Kane
Kane is a veteran video game marketer, raised and educated in England with international experience in Triple-A, Indie, Premium/Free to Play Live Services and Games Engines across PC, Console, Virtual Reality including multiplatform publishing.
At TwitchCon 2019 with the PHOGS!
My passion for cutting-edge technology and video games has led me to a career as a Video Game Marketer. As a Senior Brand Manager at People Can Fly, I develop marketing strategies for our self-published VR titles.
With video games and digital marketing expertise, I am confident in conceptualizing, planning, and executing brand and marketing strategies that generate results and shape positive player experience.
With over a decade of experience, I have worked on diverse projects in the games industry, including Triple-A, Indie, Game Engines, Free-to-Play, PC, Console, and Virtual Reality titles.
Key Skills
Video Game Brand Management
Video Games Marketing & Publishing
Go-To-Market Strategy and PLM
Platform and Partner Relations
Budgeting, RFP, Contracts and Execution
Global Team Management & Collaboration
KPI Analytics, Analysis & Reporting
Vendor, Agency and Outsource Management
⭐ Video Game Brand Management
💡 Go-To-Market Strategy and Product Lifecycle Management
💲 Budgeting, RFP, Contracts and Execution
📊 KPI Analytics, Analysis & Reporting
🎮 Video Games Marketing & Publishing
🫱🏻🫲🏻 Platform & Partner Relations
🌎 Global Team Management & Collaboration
💼 Vendor, Agency and Outsourcing Management
Career History
Senior Brand Manager - People Can Fly
August 2023 – March 2025
Responsible to Marketing Director for:
- Owning and executing global brand and marketing campaigns and strategies for the VR portfolio of self-published titles.
- Organizing and analyzing market research to identify market and player trends and develop initiatives to address them.
- Acting as the principal point of contact for all marketing and brand activity for Bulletstorm VR and future VR titles, aligning expectations and negotiating with internal and external stakeholders.
- Crafting briefs for external contractors and agencies to deliver on requirements for successful marketing campaigns and activities.
- Managing the process and relationships involved with 1st party partner marketing activations. promotions, and co-marketing deals.
Senior Marketing Manager - Epic Games
February 2023 – 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
February 2021 – February 2023
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
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
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
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
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
I’ve worked with
What I can contribute
Agency & Freelancer Management
I’m confident in assessing complex cross-discipline requirements and creating strategies aligned to business requirements and quality expectations met cost-effectively that deliver on time and generate a return on investment.
Partner Relations
With wide-ranging experience managing partner relations across all major industry players, I’m comfortable and effective at setting expectations, managing stakeholders, and bridging the internal and external communications needed to foster fruitful partnerships.
Project Management
Drawing from my teaching and business ownership experience, I apply time and task management frameworks that enable efficient use of time and resources, delivering on time both personally and in collaboration with internal resources.
Innovation & Creativity
Through research and creativity, I’m adept at generating ideas and strategies to propose improvements to existing processes and pipelines to better match business needs, requirements and efficiency goals.
Confident Communication
With experience as a teacher, lecturer, and business owner and knowledge underpinned by two Games Design degrees, I am confident to communicate across disciplines and technical levels to best collaborate across the organization.
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-supported strategies that make effective use of company resources and budget to maximize results.
Critical Thinking
I enjoy applying critical thinking in all aspects of my role – analyzing best practices, data, and information from multiple sources to derive fit-for-purpose strategies and solutions that take into account feedback from all appopriate sources.
Foresight & Initiative
I strive to communicate across teams at all levels to understand the bigger picture, raising issues ahead of time and actively seeking and proposing strategies to avoid scenarios that could negatively impact the organization.
Recommendations
If there were a war, I would want Kane to fight by my side. He has an undying commitment to doing what’s best for the product at the expense of his interests. His instinct on what makes a good marketing initiative and his ability to tap into the audience’s mindset is unparalleled. I cannot recommend Kane enough for any Marketing or Brand Management role because he will make your product as successful as possible.
Kane has become the benchmark for what I consider to be a strong marketing professional in the games industry.
I measure everyone else I work with against his proactiveness, clarity, and practicality. Nobody else yet has made that same impact on me in his discipline and I can only hope I get more opportunities to collaborate with him in the future.
I’ve worked on
Hit me up
© 2024 Kane Forrester – Video Game Marketer
Last Updated: Dec ’24
All trademarks, logos and brand names are the property of their respective owners.