"Everything is more fun when it's gamified." - An interview with Toan Nguyen

He learned early on how subcultures work. He knows their language, aesthetics and platforms and uses his knowledge to develop tailor-made campaigns with his team - we're talking about Toan Nguyen. Whether film studios, game publishers, comic publishers or streamers - the list of potential clients is long. We spoke to Toan about the first five years of NERD and took a look at both his entrepreneurial and personal development.

nextMedia: Hi Toan! You founded Jung von Matt NERD five years ago. What goes through your mind when you hear that?

Toan: When I look back now and see at what time, in what market environment and under what conditions I founded the company, I have to say: I was actually crazy.

nextMedia: That's interesting. What made you come to this conclusion?

Toan: We founded NERD and then came Corona straight away. Since then, there has been one crisis after another. Setting up an agency with a focus on nerd culture at this time is something very daring. But that's exactly what I wanted to do. And because I was so in love with the idea, I just went for it.

nextMedia: What has changed for you since then?

Toan: I've grown up together with NERD. I see it like this: for me, the first five years are kindergarten age - you can experiment, try things out and play a lot. You can do anything, there are no grades. But now we're in a phase where other criteria are becoming more important. In other words: I am observing a development from a founder to an entrepreneur with responsibility.

nextMedia: How does this development go hand in hand with that of the company? Is it now more about scaling, output and expanding customer relationships?

Toan: Absolutely. What we did at the beginning was characterized by a lot of curiosity, playfulness and a large dose of naivety. We had lots of ideas, a large playing field and more or less tried everything once. At the end of the day, however, a company is most successful when it can do certain things very, very well while retaining other things. For us, this means a combination of excellence, coupled with continuous enthusiasm and a drive for innovation. And this must always be in balance.

nextMedia: What are the challenges you are facing at this stage of your company's development?

Toan: When you start a company, everything is new. We have implemented things that no one has dared to do before. We were the first German agency to do an AI case. We were the first to develop an Apple Vision Pro app for a brand and to implement a crypto project. We often did things for the very first time - not just in our lives, but in everyone's lives. That's great, of course, but also very challenging because you can't ask anyone for advice, you have to develop solutions yourself. I'm extremely proud of that. But you can't do completely new things every day. You'd go crazy. It's far too much stress.

nextMedia: What does that mean for you specifically?

Toan: You need a mechanism that transfers the learnings and experience into processes and structures. The topics of customer loyalty and management are also becoming more relevant. For example, this is something that wasn't important at all in the beginning, when everyone approached us. We still have a high level of inbound today, but we want to intensify our collaboration with existing customers and expand it in the long term. That's one side. The other, internal side, touches on classic HR topics such as employee promotion, development and recruitment.

nextMedia: I understand what you meant by "growing up"...

Toan: Yes. That's why it's crucial for us to find a good balance between services with clear outputs and creative test balloons that we let fly. It's crucial that there are customers who are going into unknown territory with us. The normal marketing world works like this: there is a problem, there is a task, we develop something, a campaign is created and the problem is solved. When we enter new territory, it's like this: we approach a brand, we present our idea of what the brand could possibly be like. We don't know 100% whether it will fit or work and we can't say 100% which problem we will solve with it. But come on, let's try. It's fun, but you have to be willing to do it.

nextMedia: Is it already becoming apparent whether you are receiving more orders from the gaming or entertainment industry? Or is it evenly distributed?

Toan: Well, at the beginning in the start-up phase, I would have said it was 30% gaming and 70% film. Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings - these are all brands with extreme reach. But the gaming industry has grown considerably and is now an important industry that is closely intertwined with the film and other industries. In the meantime, I would take stock and say that 75% of the things we do are actually closely related to gaming - be it for a game developer's game or for a brand that is building its own game or is taking place in one.

nextMedia: How do you explain this development?

Toan: Gamification works. We are convinced that everything in life is more fun, works better and is more successful when it is gamified. Think of your language learning app: it's more fun to learn if you have quests and achievements. Think about your fitness app, where it's all about filling up scores and bars. We realize that gaming is highly motivating. And that also works internally: When I tell you that you have a new mission next week, it makes a difference. Internally, we don't talk about a presentation, but a boss fight (laughs). In this respect, we realize that gaming is actually a philosophy that can even be used to manage a company.

nextMedia: How has the importance of the location changed for you?

Toan: Totally for the better. Razer, one of the largest hardware producers in the gaming industry in the world, has its European headquarters here in Hamburg. Many small video game developers in the casual gaming sector are here. But other nerd institutions such as Warner Brothers are also here. Polaris takes place in Hamburg, one of the biggest fandom conventions. We notice that Hamburg is emerging as the second strong pillar in Germany - alongside Cologne. We feel very comfortable here because the basic idea of gaming and nerd culture is community-centered marketing. This means that the role of the community always plays an important role. And being part of a gaming community here is just great.

Thank you for the interview!