Throughout the lifespan of this column, I’ve had numerous friends and readers ask me, “Aubrie, I know you write about the video game industry, but what exactly is it that you do?”

Well, for one thing, if you had been reading carefully, you would know. But, I’ll try not to take it personally; I’m a reasonable woman.

Over the course of my college experience, my career goals have shifted, but they’ve remained centralized within the same industry — obviously. I originally pursued a career as a video game producer, which is essentially comparable to a project management role. Producers work on the development side of the business and are stereotyped as being constantly stressed by deadlines, scope creep and publishers breathing down their neck.

During the past two years, however, I actually pivoted to the publishing side. But this change wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy working as a producer; I hope to return to that type of role in the future. I simply started landing roles in marketing and rolled with it. But, I can’t complain — I find marketing, or at least brand management, a happy medium between development and publishing.

Despite my ultimate goal of returning to production, I wholeheartedly enjoy working in video game marketing — it allows me to be both creative and analytical, which are aspects of my expertise I enjoy tapping into in my professional life. It should be unsurprising that marketing has been central to my experience while working in the industry for the past two years, given my extensive writing on different approaches to game promotion in this column.

The nature of video games as a product should, in theory, afford marketers boundless creativity in how they approach their go-to-market, launch and post-release strategies, which means “viral” marketing moments shouldn’t be uncommon in the industry.

However, as marketing in games has become increasingly formulaic and rigid, these moments are, in my experience, becoming less common. Companies prefer to cater to their usual audience through tried-and-true methods, rather than shooting for praise for artistry. Who needs a Cannes Lion if the product the campaign aims to promote flops?

Executives don’t want to approve risks, especially those proposed by creative marketers. This isn’t unique to the video game industry, or frankly, this decade. Being a member of Generation Z working in marketing means being brought onto a team for your “fresh perspective,” only for most of your innovative ideas to be shot down by risk-averse managers because they float in uncharted waters.

Personally, I’ve been very lucky with my marketing positions. In my roles, nearly all of my weird, unorthodox strategy and activation pitches have been given at least half a tick of consideration. However, this isn’t the case at most video game companies. Many AAA studios, especially those marketing live service titles, stick to a formula, one they can churn out once every one or two months, see moderate success and rinse and repeat.

Last week, Epic Games pleasantly surprised me, breaking out of this typical formulaic approach with its pre-release campaign for its new Chappell Roan Fortnite Festival collaboration. Did they employ guerrilla marketing tactics? No. Did they partner with an unexpected influencer? No. Did they execute a top-tier in-person activation? No.

They released a trailer worthy of attention, not just from the usual straight man Fortnite demographic, but from the queer Fortnite community as well.

Directed by Raman Djafari, a Berlin-based creative, Epic Games birthed a stunning, eclectic animated ode to Chappell Roan and her whimsical aesthetic, all while maintaining the cartoonish Fortnite charm. 2-D, 3-D, stop motion and mixed media animation were all present in the trailer’s stunning visuals.

This trailer was a clear departure from what could be considered “safe.” In crafting something with a true creative vision, rather than relying on a formula or artificial intelligence, Epic Games drew the attention of the world — showing that the internet is ravenous for unique takes on product promotion. The video may not be Epic’s most viewed on YouTube, but it made far more noise than most promotional content it’s released in the past year.

The Chappell Roan skin trailer isn’t just an anomaly; it sets a standard and teaches a lesson to the rest of the industry: Stop focusing on what is semi-working and explore other avenues, other audiences and other mediums.

When corporations allow their marketing teams to take risks, to cater to under-tapped segments of their audience, to manifest their creative daydreams into something tangible — that’s when magical, viral marketing moments happen.

Aubrie Cole is a senior writing about video games in her column, “Downloadable Content,” which runs every other Friday.