Chris Stephenson, global CMO of media agency Network PHD, thinks the marketing community has a weird and massive blindspot around gaming.  That may be because they are buried in admin rather than doing actual marketing. Per PHD’s latest research study, 1,700 marketers around the world say their biggest time allocation is spent on reporting, not strategy, innovation and idea development. Those unable to shake off administrative shackles risk being overtaken by a marketing function overhaul now fast approaching – at least according to the group’s new book, ‘SHIFT: a Marketing Rethink’.  In the short-term, it forecasts that key marketing and media roles will span influencer programmatic teams, game commerce, clean room development teams and decision scientists through to ‘layer designers’, VR world designers and ‘brain-computer interface developers’ in the mid- to long-term. Within 20 years we could see ‘quantum simulation developers’ “simulating the entire media universe” for brands. But for now, Stephenson thinks those rushing headlong into the metaverse and Web3.0 are barrelling into the trough of disappointment.