MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Hardcore gamer parents and creative professionals Joey and Rey Tiempo grew up playing video games. Naturally, they are now raising an avid gamer. Drawing from their experiences of listening and learning with their 13-year-old daughter and her gamer friends, they serve as allies in navigating this vast, complex, yet fun and engaging world. With this, the couple introduces Keri Kita, a podcast specifically created as a guide for non-gamer parents.
This project is in response to what has been called today’s “golden age of Gaming,” with the Gaming industry far surpassing the engagement, viewership, and revenue of the more “traditional” entertainment platforms like music, films, and TV combined. Hence, why are advertisers and brands even looking into tapping into video games to expand reach and engagement for their campaigns? With three billion people in the world either playing games or contributing to the collective 25 billion hours watching and consuming gaming content, one’s child is likely part of this demographic — these are the stats that Joey and Rey have discovered in producing their podcast.
In the Philippines, where upholding the value of close family ties remains vital in daily life, knowing where one’s child spends most of their time in virtual worlds has become more important than ever. These worlds can be uncharted and can be very fun with their unprecedented interactive nature, but also sometimes can be very dangerous. Are they equipped with the proper values to avoid the dangers they might encounter? Your child knows these worlds better than you do – isn’t it time to be an ally to your child’s adventures in these virtual worlds?
As gamers themselves, Joey and Rey even took this passion to work. Joey balances parenting, gaming, and leading the country’s first gaming-focused advertising agency, Octopus&Whale. Meanwhile, Rey leads the Creative Gaming conversation in Asia Pacific through Game On, the first and only ad industry column and portal on Gaming X Marketing. As creative leaders, they’ve collected in-game trophies and garnered creative awards in local and global advertising shows.
This makes them confident enough to “carry” fellow parents who feel lost in the gaming multiverse. In gaming, especially online multiplayer games, one “carries” the team by being the strongest, most dependable ally — the team’s most valuable support in the toughest in-game challenges. In Filipino, the colloquial keri can mean the same thing: being strong enough to “carry” life’s burdens and make it through challenging situations.
Keri Kita means, “We’re here for you.” Joey and Rey have created this podcast to support parents who may be confused, overwhelmed or challenged because they no longer understand what their children are into. They will learn about the current most popular games and gamers, the communities, their motivations, and the most valuable parenting insights through real stories and experiences from various guests and resource people in the world of gaming, psychology, marketing, and parenting.
Moreover, the podcast provides valuable insights for individuals in the marketing or advertising space, offering a look into responsible communication with young players, and cultivating and engaging an impassioned community of gamers, including children and their parents.
The show is currently in Filipino, but plans are underway for more international content, because they do recognize that non-gamer parenting challenges transcend cultures.
Keri Kita is being produced in partnership with The Pod Network Entertainment, the team behind other podcast hits, like comedy shows Koolpals and Bago Matulog with Red Ollero, horror show Book of Bad Ideas, motorcycle talk Tunay na Rider, and personal development show You Can Do This. Listen to the episodes and follow the shows on Spotify.
