Ann Arbor entrepreneur brings home $1 million award for new approach to video game ads

For all those kids who grew up with parents who called video games a waste of time, you might finally be able to prove them wrong.

It starts with Max Albert, the founder and CEO of Adrenaline Interactive, who turned his childhood passion into a solution to replace ads that interrupt your favorite mobile games.

Albert says he is using concepts of product placement to put brands right into the top games on the market, without interrupting play. The idea that sprouted from his passion for gaming now earned him the $1 million grand prize at Michigan's top startup competition.

"I've never felt richer than standing in GameStop with my $100 gift card as an 8-year-old that I won," Albert said.

Albert won the grand prize at PitchMI for his video game marketing company, which he had only started 15 months earlier.

"Ended up taking home the grand prize of $1 million, which felt surreal to be honest with you. I really didn't expect to win," he said.

Breaking away from pushing out frustrating pop-up ads that interrupt games, Albert's company weaves their clients' brands into them on some of the biggest platforms.

"We used our technology to reskin Fortnite characters to give them acne, and in order to clear the acne, they had to interact with these soap products around the game, and they got a speed boost as a result," Albert said.

His company didn't just come up with this solution; it's also creating the tool that shows companies it works.

"Advertisers spend about $8.5 billion yearly on in-game ads, but the attention that gaming garners is about $197 billion to advertisers. Advertisers want to be spending more in games. The problem is they don't have the data, the measurement, or the trust to really invest. So, it's cool to show their product placement into my game actually worked," he said.

Albert says finding a way to help advertisers market their brands without ruining the experience of gaming is not just a solution for his clients, but also for people like him who love gaming.

"It's especially important in the gaming environment that the ads are not interruptive because gaming is all about power and choices, right? Interrupting a player's agency is not good for the advertiser," he said.

Albert says he first got into gaming because of the social aspect, and that holds for his business.