India-based gaming festival and esports tournament organizer NODWIN Gaming announced Wednesday the appointment of Atin Suri as its new global head of experiential marketing.
In this new role, Suri will be responsible for NODWIN’s worldwide expansion efforts in experiential marketing, formulating marketing strategies, and handling the company’s white-label events and activations, among other duties, according to a release.
“For me, experience is everything, and I’ve always wanted to push the envelope when it comes to the intersection of technology and immersive experiences,” said Suri. “At NODWIN Gaming, I see endless opportunities when it comes to experiential marketing especially when the company is expanding further towards youth-focused experiences across the world.”
Prior to joining NODWIN, Suri founded several companies including The Experiential Hub (described as a firm specializing in “experiential marketing, events, activations, and BTL”), events services company Esports Experiential, and research firm Mypackplace—though all of these companies are listed as active on LinkedIn, their official web pages appear to be offline, as of this writing.
In addition to its entrepreneurial endeavors, Suri spent more than seven years in various roles at experiential marketing firm Geometry Encompass, including client servicing, account director, senior account director, and senior account director. Prior to that, he served as BD & CS manager at Thyme Advertising & Services for more than a year.
Over the years Suri has worked with NODWIN Gaming and its Co-Founder and Managing Director Akshat Rathee on important esports projects in India including Dew Arena, bringing the DreamHack gaming festival to the region, and playing an important role in helping to organize major esports events with NODWIN including ESL One, PUBG Club Open, PMPL South Asia, and many other esports competitions.
NODWIN operates esports competitions, gaming festivals, and other entertainment-focused events in India, South Asia, and the MENA region. In July NODWIN announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Berlin-based esports and gaming marketing agency Freaks 4U Gaming to acquire its outstanding shares, giving the company access to the European esports ecosystem and the expertise of its executives.
If you are unfamiliar with the term, experiential marketing focuses on creating experiences that focus on the consumer or fan, with the end goal of connecting them with brands—this might include a pop-up store or a virtual event, as examples. Sponsors and partners are an integral part of gaming festivals, esports competitions, and entertainment-focused events, and connecting with customers in a way that raises awareness or converts to actual sales is the end goal for all of these companies.