KRAFTON EMEA merchandise, the full story
Leading KRAFTON’s business in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), is the Amsterdam office. Originally built to guide the EMEA efforts for the “PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS” IP, it has expanded to work on other games and projects. In a short series of blog posts, we take a closer look at our presence in the region, the people working there and what they do. This time we are diving into the merchandise process, with some key figures shining a light on the operation from start to finish.
An excited streamer unwraps a fresh new package that has landed on their doorstep. It’s uniquely boxed up; their eyes immediately dart to the iconic “PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS” branding. They open their gift, it could be an ancient newspaper cutting from an in-game map, a cool new plush toy, a tailor-made PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS football… or some fresh new clothes. They share it on social media and their chats and DMs start to explode, the fans want a piece of the action!
KRAFTON makes bundles of products every single year for reasons including e-commerce merchandise, welcoming packages for employees or – as described above – thank you gifts for members of the community.
Excited community members sharing their gifts on social media is often how the merchandise process ends, but how does it start?
“First and foremost, we are all big fans of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS”
“It starts with planning, lots and lots of planning,” says Julia Smolewska, KRAFTON EMEA Merchandise and Licensing Manager. “To begin with I check the key beats for the upcoming year and discuss budgets with our headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. And key beats can be anything and everything, from esports events to brand new maps for our games, or perhaps new game launches or national holidays. We consider it all.”
She continues: “Once I identify areas we want to mark, I’ll start thinking about ideas and talk to others throughout the business to gather their thoughts.”
And those thoughts can come from anywhere, explains Julia “We have so many passionate people working here in Amsterdam and across our global offices, from the esports team to the developers to the product managers, so it is really helpful to discuss my ideas for merchandise with them and hear their insights”
She continues: “First and foremost, we are all big gamers and fans of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS. That makes things easier as we are essentially designing merchandise that we ourselves would like to have in our homes.”
The next port of call for Julia will then be the EMEA Creative team, a collection of – you guessed it – creatives based in the Amsterdam office. The team comprises of various types of digital designers and is managed by KRAFTON EMEA Lead Creative Joseph Jensen who is responsible for ensuring that the team produces high quality content. In addition to quality control, Joseph also ensures all work is staying true to KRAFTON’s strict brand guidelines across many different products.
Julia meets the Creative team to discuss merchandise, and it is in these meetings where the process picks up a notch, brainstorming sessions are booked in and she collaborates with the team to put plans in action which result in the creation of a wide range of KRAFTON merchandise.
“We have meetings with Julia because the merchandise process moves at a really fast pace, so one meeting isn’t enough,” explains Joseph. “Sometimes Julia has firm ideas about how she wants us to support one of our key beats – for example we may be working on an esports event, and she needs branded jackets – and sometimes she asks us to interprete her ideas in our own way.”
He continues: “We are very collaborative in our thinking. The meetings are an open forum where we share ideas that interest us and together, we will settle on designs that we want to produce. Of course, the meetings are super varied as we create so many different products, from jumpers to bags to mouse mats – we’ve produced a lot!”
One challenge for both Julia and Joseph is the short timelines that they have to work with. Often Julia is liaising with vendors, logistic companies, and product manufacturers simultaneously, all whilst trying to hit hard deadlines which cannot be moved. “We often have to send merchandise all over the world, to different regions with totally different shipping laws. In those cases, we need to make sure our preparation and admin is perfect, the last thing we want is a shipments being held up.”
After the hard work there’s a real sense of satisfaction that the team take from creating unique and exciting merchandise.
“Whether it is for PUBG Partners, esports players or staff here at KRAFTON, my job is to create things that make people happy – and that is what I really like about it,” says Julia. “Sometimes we will send out merchandise to streamers, and years later I will watch them on Twitch and our product is still hanging up on their wall. Then you know it’s a job well done!”
“They’ll often ask if they can get more for their friends.”
But what about those on the receiving end of KRAFTON merchandise, do they enjoy the gifts as much as the team enjoys producing it?
For that we have to ask Iva Balavajderova, KRAFTON Steamer Partnership Manager EMEA – whose role is to work with PUBG Partners to support their content creation. She collaborates closely with the Merchandise team, helping them to send out Partner exclusive items.
“Partners really love it, which is always good to see,” says Iva. “I think they appreciate that we take the time to create exclusive and fun merchandise that we know they will enjoy. We receive lots of messages of thanks, where they’ll often ask for extra packages. ”
And the merchandise isn’t just for the Partners either, the Partnership team regularly supplies them with unique products that they can share as giveaways with their fans. This is one way the efforts of the Creative and Merchandise team help to grow the PUBG community further and strengthen bonds with those who are already members.
Iva says it’s a way to give back, a token of the company’s thanks for those who make PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS so special and unique.
“Our Partners put in so much of their time to create amazing content, we want them to know that we are watching and we enjoy it.”
There are many different aspects to the merchandise process, with colleagues collaborating cross functionally and internationally to make the process run smoothly – after all their efforts, seeing the community appreciate our physical products, this is a truly fulfilling reward!
