Barry McLaughlin and Jason Lautenschleger on why inventors should embrace the world of content creation

Guys, it’s always great to catch up. How has 2024 been for you so far?
Jason Lautenschleger: For us, 2024 has been about partnerships. We’ve always gravitated towards working well and playing well with others, but we’ve branched out even further this year – and that goes for our services too.

How so?
Jason: Alongside invention, we’ve been doing more content creation for clients – and that’s something we’ve done together for years. We helped write the TAGIE Awards in the Fall last year and we’ll be doing that again this year. That was a step outside of what we’d become known to do. It’s been a lot of fun… We look for moments when the one plus one equals three – partnerships where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Barry McLaughlin: And now we’re actually finalists for a TAGIE award for Most Innovative Supplier. At first that category was a surprise to us, but it quickly made sense – and we love the versatility of that! Speaking of, this year has also seen us act as a licensing broker for the first time too… We have a Chuck E. Cheese game on the way with Wilder. We’d befriended Chuck E. Cheese, got Wilder on board and were essentially a licensing agent and games consultant on that project. We’ve also done more game show development for Mattel and Spin Master, as well as some more on camera antics. So we’re not just inventors anymore – we’re Inventertainers! And now suppliers too. Supplinventertainers? Rolls right off the tongue.

Ha! You’ve been busy! Is this what you expected when you dropped the manufacturing side of the business and embraced the inventor life?
Barry: To some degree, but there are certainly surprises as well. One interesting thing is that we thought we’d be leaving the marketing stuff behind by making that move – but we’ve realised we do it even more now. There is a need within a lot of companies for extra support when it comes to marketing, and we do all we can to promote our games… That’s led to us being hired by other companies to create content to promote their toys and games – games that we’re not involved with from an invention or design point of view.

Spin Master sponsored the series we did with Ellen DeGeneres, along with Solid Roots – and we’ve created videos for other companies as well. It’s something we love to do. We’ve always loved making silly content and you can’t stop us from playing games, so it’s been a no-brainer. No brains involved!

@barryandjason Lets play First to Worst from @Dyce Games! ‍♂️ #partygame #game #familygame ♬ original sound – Barry & Jason Games

When you’re making content for games, what makes for effective content?
Jason: The first word that comes to mind is authenticity. Any audience, with the choice of content they have today, will turn off the second they realise something is fake or manipulated. It’s important for us to be true to ourselves when we’re playing the game, rather than be surrogates of the game company. That’s where you have to delineate between the brief and the execution. That’s also where the magic is too.

Barry: We authentically have fun playing these games in a way that’s useful to different companies. Some even use our videos on their amazon pages. We also add in a lot of ridiculous comedy, because that’s just in our genes. And our jeans. It’s everywhere.

@barryandjason So fun!! #partygame #boardgame #twoplayergames ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – dg cria

Your videos absolutely do show games off in their best light. Do you now invent games with an eye on how they’d translate into effective content?
Jason: 100%. You have to envision how a game will fly off the shelf somehow, so I think it’s incumbent on the inventor to have that in mind. You’re pitching a game concept to someone who will be tasked with pitching it to a buyer – and buyers expect a marketing plan to go along with any game. It’s a key part of that pitch, so why not take ownership of that from the very beginning as the inventor… Share that epiphany with the inventor relations person, along with the great gameplay. “This would also make a great TikTok challenge… This would look great as a segment on this show…”

Barry: With our first batch of games that came out of us being inventors, we were very focused on gameplay and branding. Now we look more at the ‘TikTok-ability’ of our concepts right from the start of the process.

Jason: It comes back to having content in mind when creating a game and you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage if you aren’t doing that.

@barryandjason How many turtles would you say? #partygame #questions #turtle ♬ original sound – Barry & Jason Games

Do you think more inventors should try and get involved in the marketing of their games?
Jason: Absolutely. There often aren’t strong links to between the marketing folks at companies, their IR teams and the inventors who have games with those companies. Inventor Relations is the line of communication, but once a game is brought in, it can become quite an insular process.

Now, some inventors won’t want to get involved beyond signing the deal and moving onto the next idea – and that’s great. For us, we have offerings that can benefit that marketing of our games, but there often isn’t a system in place for us to interface. It’s not that they don’t want inventors to help bolster the marketing efforts around a game – it’s that there isn’t an infrastructure in place to accommodate that effectively. And inventors aren’t employees, so I understand some of that mentality…

That said, inventors are tied to the seeds of these ideas and that’s always useful to refer back to in the marketing of a product… So I think there are benefits to companies bringing inventors further along into this process.

Barry: We’d love to hear from companies that are open to that way of working. You see it in the tabletop space quite a bit – the inventors value that and I think players value that too. There’s a very public-facing recognition of inventors in that space, and that extends to content. I’d imagine fans of designers like Elizabeth Hargraves will be interested in watching content centered on her and her process.

Jason: It’s interesting with European-style tabletop games featuring the designer’s name on the cover… I imagine it wasn’t solely the designers begging for recognition that provoked that – I think the players wanted to know who designed these games! Fans really love a good origin story and that extends to game design. Why not explore that in great content?

Barry: Look at book tours, or the press tours that happen around movies where directors, writers and actors appear on talk shows and radio shows… Why not do that for board games? Game designers can be the new Benedict Cumberbatches!

That would be fun. We even see it here on Mojo with some designer interviews resonating with fans outside of our core B2B audience. Going back to your role as content creators, do you feel more game designers should try and embrace that role too when it comes to pushing their games?
Barry: It certainly can’t hurt – and there are some great designers out there already doing this. April Mitchell and Ed Gartin are a great example. They have a series together that aims to help new inventors, which is awesome. Azhelle Wade is another one – she does terrific content. Chrissy Fagerholt too; she makes funny snackable videos. Hunch Studios has a huge following – they play games on the street and that’s led to successful collaborations with companies like Spin Master. Tyler Turk of Crated with Love does some cool behind the scenes stuff on TikTok too.

Some inventors reading this might think ‘Well, I don’t have the quick wit, charm or hairline to do content creation in the vein of Barry and Jason…’ Do you feel there’s opportunities for inventor to create content for their games, regardless of their personality or comfort level when it comes to ‘performing’?
Barry: Haha, you’re too kind Billy. Anyone not wanting to “perform” could do a stop-motion animation… You could have friends play your game… You can talk about how you created the game and how nervous you are to talk about it on camera. That might resonate with viewers even more than content from people that are more performative. Or you could wear a Benedict Cumberbatch mask. A Benedict Cumbermask. You know him, right Billy?

Big fan – or at least enough of one to invest in a Cumbermask. So inventors could find an audience by playing to their strengths, rather than feeling a need to ‘perform’ in a way that may feel alien to them?
Jason: It goes back to authenticity. Don’t do something that you’ve seen work for someone else but that doesn’t feel natural to you. We come from the world of entertainment and lean into where our proclivities are and where our shared talents have led us… But other designers have built huge followings – especially in tabletop – and have done so not in a ‘spotlight’ kind of way.

Barry: A nice visual metaphor for this was that pistol shooter in the Olympics from Turkey. Some competitors came to that event with all the eyewear and the gear and the special clothing… And then there’s that dude who walked up with his regular glasses, hand in the pocket, low-profile, and he’s the one everyone is talking about. That’s what resonated.

@barryandjason Ollyball! #games #balls #gift #toy #smash #whack #piano #toilet @Ollyball @target ♬ original sound – Barry & Jason Games

Before we wrap up, for any companies interested in learning more about what you can do for them content-creation wise, what do they need to know?
Barry: We’re always open to a conversation. We can make videos of us playing a game to show off the game in a fun light. We’re also open to creating videos that are more narrative in nature. Jason comes from the world of TV development and I come from advertising, so we have a lot of storytelling experience and love to create entertainment.

And on the games front, what can we look forward to playing from you guys soon?
Barry: A lot of fun on the way! We have the Chuck E. Cheese game with Wilder dropping start of November. It’s the first play-at-home game with a whole prize room included! Then a brand new family game with Hootenanny coming out in January; we’re very excited for this special treat. And we’ve been working on some top-secret creative for Bonkers Toys that will hopefully be on store shelves next year at this time. We’re excited to share it all with the world!

Exciting times. Always a pleasure. Thanks again guys.

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