Here's a article on game marketing containing a quote from ELBO VP
Copyright 1999 CMP Media, Inc.
TechWeb News
July 16, 1999
LENGTH: 883 words
HEADLINE: Game Marketers Adopt Hollywood Tactics
BYLINE: Mitzi Waltz, Computer Retail Week
BODY:
Movie studios have learned while big early box-office returns are crucial to a movie's success, staying power is also important in earning a return on investment.
And that is where specialty marketing comes in. After the first wave of promotion aimed at regular movie-goers, targeted campaigns attract specific audiences, encourage return visits, and bring in less-frequent attendees.
The success of these strategies has not escaped the notice of software publishers, especially those dependent on mass-market outlets.
Several companies report they have extended profits by stealing from Hollywood's playbook, a trend that is benefiting their retail partners.
After its initial launch of Independence War, Infogrames North America, in San Jose, Calif., began targeting potential players outside the hard-core gaming community, said David Riley, director of product marketing for the software developer.
Riley said trying to extend shelf life is the new frontier for software developers and his company was taking several new approaches to the market, using targeted demographics data.
"We did some advertising in the sci-fi community, which is outside the core gaming market, with banner ads," he said. "We'll go out to some of the Star Trek sites andadvertise Independence War with a message that they like: 'the ultimate starship simulator.' "
The advertising is tailored to reach people with messages they are already familiar with, he said.
Interplay Productions, in Irvine, Calif., is taking a similar approach. "As a marketer, I'm happy that we're getting past that 90-day syndrome," said Cal Morrell, vice president of marketing for Interplay. "We try to do our marketing according to the genre of the game, not to one mythical gamer.
"Gaming is moving much more to the mass market, and it particularly needs to do so on the PC side. You need to get in to the mass merchant." -- David Riley Infogrames North America
"To go beyond the built-in gaming audience, we try to capture players by going to the young men's publications: Maxim, Spin, Rolling Stone," he said.
Riley said targeted magazine surveys on the personal habits and interests of various types of gamers may prove invaluable to marketers as they target specific niches.
"I know when I start looking at a marketing plan, I'm looking for that kind of information," he said. "Gaming is moving much more to the mass market, and it particularly needs to do so on the PC side. You need to get in to the mass merchant."
Doing that means thinking about a broader potential audience, Riley said. " We're looking at marketing to female gamers, especially with our adventure RPG, Silver," he said. "I've learned that there is a magazine for everything, and we're going to look at what are the appropriate magazines that are geared toward women."
Hard-core gamers will continue to rely on specialty retail shops, including online game retailers, said Jerry Madaio, vice president of PC merchandise for Electronics Boutique. Marketing campaigns targeted at new audiences are unlikely to produce big behavior changes in these novelty-hungry gaming customers.
Demographics marketing is "more of a trend for the mass marketers, the Wal- Mart and Target stores," Madaio said. "It doesn't necessarily change anything for the specialty retailers, or even the computer superstores. I think everything they're doing for the hard-core gamer-demos -- early reviews, beta testing -- seems to work."
Companies that rely on mass-market outlets, such as Hasbro Interactive, already think long term when they release new products. For example, Hasbro has extended the life of its Monopoly game by making it available on CD-ROM for PC users, Windows CE, and various console systems. Launched in September 1995, it still makes Top 20 game-sales lists.
Hasbro also stretches out its marketing campaigns over a long period of time. With Hasbro's Mech Warrior III, for instance, the game was released in the summer, but television ads will not air until the fall. Rabid gamers do not need TV to find out about new games, but secondary audiences do.
Game developers also said they are doling out advertisements, previews, review copies, and other promotional tools over a longer period of time, and with greater precision.
"When you have a launch, you have a PR swell that you work on so that six to nine months out you're getting some bits and pieces of press, then a preview, then a review," Riley said. "We time the preview so it's hitting just as the product launches, then have the reviews hit later, about two or three months out."
The traditional game sales pattern is to introduce the game at full price, then discount it after a few months. Discounting is still a potent sales tactic, of course, but less necessary when taking a longer-term approach to the market.
Seasonal ad campaigns, a tactic frequently used by movie marketers, is also under consideration.
"With Independence War, we gave some thought to taking our launch ad, which has this massive starship, putting Christmas lights on it, and having it chasing Santa in his sleigh instead of the enemy ship. We do spend a lot of time mulling this sort of thing over," Riley said.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: July 16, 1999
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