Funs Jacobs | Senior Director Innovation
Media Monks

Funs has been in entertainment for over a decade, specializing in different industries from music to sports to gaming. He believes that creativity has the power to solve almost every challenge, no matter the industry. Born and raised in the Netherlands, Funs has traveled all over the world throughout his career, living in Amsterdam, Lisbon, Toronto and Los Angeles. As Senior Director Innovation at Media.Monks, he focuses on utilizing new trends and technologies to help brands seize the attention of new, diverse audiences worldwide, particularly emerging generations. With AI, blockchain and more new technologies now being at the forefront of the ongoing transformation of digital, Funs focuses on helping companies navigate this shift in brand building. As part of Media.Monks’ global innovation team, he is actively working to connect Fortune 500 brands with fast-growing trends in tech. Furthermore, Funs regularly shows up as a speaker and panelist at international industry events such as IBC, Amsterdam Fintech Week, Total Telecom and Dutch Media Days, and his thought leadership on the topics of gaming, AI, the metaverse and Web3 has been featured in various important publications, including Campaign US, PR Week and Emerce.

Having been a fan of video games ever since he was a young boy, Funs entered the gaming industry in 2018 looking for business opportunities. He soon came across FaZe Clan and saw great potential in the competitive esports group. He became an investor in 2019 and has seen it grow into one of the biggest brands in the world. Furthermore, Funs has co-founded several creative companies with his business partner and professional athlete Gregory van der Wiel, including Block Party and Bare Knuckle. Besides his strong entrepreneurial spirit, what drives Funs is delivering top-notch creative work that tickles people’s senses. Every day, he pushes to create entertainment that is better than yesterday.