Task 1: exemplar response

In task 1 of the exam, you need to demonstrate your knowledge of videogame marketing and promotion. You have 20 minutes to answer the question and need to aim for at least three good paragraphs. It is also essential that you refer to at least two and ideally four videogame marketing campaigns - the four case studies you have researched.

The question will be in a format like this:

1) There are many different ways to market videogames. We think the best campaigns:

• Use all three media platforms (print, broadcast and web)
• Make an emotional connection with their audience
• Use social media to maintain interest in the game following its release

From your work on videogame marketing and promotion, explain how each of these ingredients can contribute to the success of a campaign. Give examples from at least two campaigns. (15 marks)

A sample top-grade answer will look something like this:

Through my research into videogame marketing, I have looked at many campaigns that use a cross-platform approach very successfully. A game such as Grand Theft Auto V – one of the most successful games in the history of the industry – built a stunning marketing campaign that created a huge amount of excitement about the release. The print aspect to the campaign included billboard advertisements across the UK and magazine and newspaper adverts. In addition, the game was on the front of many videogame magazines, an important part of the promotion of a new game. However, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the campaign used the broadcast platform – with the game marketing more like a Hollywood gangster film than a videogame. TV ads, movie-style trailers and a lot more broadcast content available online created a huge buzz about the game in the weeks leading up to release. Finally, the target audience for GTA V is between teenagers to 30-somethings and therefore very likely to use social media, probably through their phone or tablet. GTA V used the brilliantly creative idea of creating a Facebook-style social network within the game called ‘Lifeinvader’. People could then create accounts in Lifeinvader as if they were in the game, sharing content with friends and inadvertently creating incredible word-of-mouth marketing for the game. The overall campaign was incredibly successful with the game making $1 billion worldwide in just three days.

An emotional connection is absolutely essential for a successful videogame marketing campaign. Often this will be through characters or narrative – creating a strong desire in the audience to play the game. However, Wii have developed outstanding marketing campaigns that make an emotional connection with the audience using celebrities and offering an attractive lifestyle. The Wii Party television adverts with the Redknapp family (following on from successful Wii game campaigns featuring Ant and Dec, JLS and more) offer a very attractive representation of happy family life that will offer a strong appeal to the Wii target audience. The campaign idea of showing the audience celebrities in their own homes and with their own families is an extremely clever concept. If we apply the Uses and Gratifications theory (Blumler and Katz) we can see a strong appeal is through the personal relationships that the audience already feel they have with the celebrity and also the personal identity in recognising and desiring the lifestyle on show in the adverts.

Finally, social media is a major aspect of any new marketing campaign. FIFA14 is a brilliant example of how social media can be used to maintain interest in the game and continue the promotion of the brand long after the game has been released. Most videogame marketing campaigns end shortly after the game is released but the FIFA14 Twitter feed and Facebook page continue to be updated daily, commenting on real-world football events such as Champions League games or the Premiership title race. The posts deliberately ask for audience involvement (‘Can Liverpool win their first title in 20 years?’) and mix real-world football news with video content from the game that users have submitted. This user generated content (UGC) is now a major part of videogame marketing campaigns and makes the audience feel like they are part of the game. Of course, when someone posts their FIFA14 goal of the month video to Facebook, it also promotes the game to all of their friends because the post appears on multiple timelines. This keeps the game in the forefront of the audience’s minds which is very important with a game like FIFA – before long, they will be promoting the next release in the series (FIFA World Cup 2014 and then FIFA15 in the autumn).

Great link - GTA V marketing breakdown

If you're not sure of what game campaign to focus on for your final case study, there's a brilliant link you can use that discusses Grand Theft Auto V's e-media marketing campaign. This marketing blog is definitely worth reading and revising for the exam - both for task 1 and for creative ideas for tasks 2-4. (Remember you may need to open the link at home due to the school blocking gaming-related websites).

Phone and tablet gaming

The major growth market for the videogame industry in recent years is mobile gaming – games we play on phones and tablets.

In 2014 it made up 17% of the gaming market but it is estimated it will reach 27% by 2016.

Why mobile gaming is taking off

1. Accessibility: consumers can play at any time and anywhere.
2. Global reach: developers can launch titles into any country they choose.
3. Free-to-play: Pioneered on PC, free-to-play is the dominant business model for mobile taking over 90% of global revenues.

How mobile games make money

1. Paid-for apps
2. In-game purchases (extra lives/add-ons/ access to higher levels etc.)
3. In-app advertising

In-app advertising and purchases
Advertisers traditionally buy app ads according to eCPM, which means effective cost per thousand impressions—the price to show an ad to 1,000 players. The average cost for a standard eCPM is $3.

In 2012, 75% of app-store revenue came from in-app purchases. Of the top 50 highest-grossing games in the iOS app store, only two aren’t free to download.


Phone and tablet gaming: tasks

Read this BBC News article about Candy Crush Saga. Answer the following questions:

1. How much money is Candy Crush Saga estimated to make each day from its users?
2. How does it make this money?
3. How many people are estimated to have installed Candy Crush?
4. Where do people play?
5. When was the game released?
6. When did it reach 500 million downloads?
7. Who is the typical Candy Crush gamer?
8. What percentage of gamers have spent money on Candy Crush, buying in-app purchases etc.?
9. What percentage say they are addicted to the game?
10. What is your own experience of playing Candy Crush? Have you played it? 

Now read this Daily Mail article about Candy Crush addiction. What does it suggest about the target audience for the game?

Extension task:
This report on mobile gaming has many important statistics regarding the mobile gaming market. Read it and summarise the key findings from each page. 

Homework: final case study research

Complete the following questions and tasks on your blog to create your final independent case study on a game advertising campaign of your choosing.

Name of game:

Release date:

Institutions behind the game (game studio/publisher):

Gaming platforms it is available on (e.g. PS4, PC, Wii etc.):

Print

1. What print adverts were used to advertise the game? Find examples and post them on your blog.
2. What key conventions of print adverts can you find on the example you have chosen? Product name? Font? Slogan? Central image? Colour?
3. Find three reviews for your game that were originally published in videogame magazines. Are they positive or negative about the game? Copy and paste one quote from each review.
4. Did your game feature on any videogame magazine front covers? Find examples and explain why a front cover feature is so successful in promoting a game to its target audience.

Broadcast

1. Did your chosen game use a TV advert to promote the game? Embed it from YouTube if it did and explain how it fits the key conventions of a TV advert.
2. Is there a game trailer on YouTube? Embed it on your blog and explain why it is effective in promoting the game to its target audience.
3. Can you find any other broadcast features on the game - interviews, launch party events, video reviews, clips of the gameplay on YouTube etc. Write about how they effectively promote the game to its target audience.

E-media

1. Visit your chosen game's official website. How does it attract and maintain the interest of its target audience?
2. Are there any creative or interesting aspects to the game's official website?
3. Does the game have a YouTube channel?
4. Can you find any examples of user-generated content on YouTube that players have created and uploaded from the game? Embed any examples on your blog.
5. How does user-generated content such as gameplay videos help to promote the game?
6. How many 'likes' has your chosen game's Facebook wall had?
7. Choose five of the posts on the Facebook page's wall, screengrab them and explain how they appeal to the game's target audience.
8. What is your chosen game's Twitter hashtag?
9. How did the campaign use Twitter to promote the game?
10. Can you find any other creative uses of e-media to promote the game? This might include hashtags, competitions, Instagram, user-generated campaigns or anything else that is designed to draw attention to the game.

Pre- and post-release

1. What was the game's release date?
2. What is the earliest reference you can find to the game before the release date? Was it announced at a gaming conference (such as E3)? How did the publisher get a potential audience excited about the forthcoming game?
3. How did the institution promote the game after it was released? 
4. Does the game have any way of making the publisher additional income post-release (such as in-game purchases)?

Other

1. Who do you think is the target audience for this game? Make up a potential target audience demographic and explain why you think it fits the game. What psychographic groups would be attracted to this game?
2. What else can you find from the marketing and promotion of your chosen game? A launch event? Stories appearing in newspapers? Celebrity endorsement? Scandal or controversy?
3. How does the campaign make an emotional connection with the audience? What is the audience appeal of the advertising campaign?
4. Can you find any images of how the game was promoted in-store - displays, point-of-sale promotions, window displays etc.?
5. Write down anything else of interest at the end of your case study blogpost.

Due: Wednesday 14 May.

Exam preparation: homework checklist

Over the last couple of weeks, your teachers have been working flat out to make sure everyone's coursework is top quality and in line with your target grade. Due to that, we haven't been able to check your blog homework as much as we would like. You now have five days to make sure everything is complete and up on your blog for Wednesday when we'll be checking everything is present and correct. The full list of work is as follows:

1. FIFA14 case study questions
2. Easter homework: independent case study questions
3. Wii Party case study questions
4. Institution questions/tasks
5. Target audience: Planetside 2 questions
6. AIDA exercise: marketing a new game

All the work should be clear on the blog but if you're not sure then do come and speak to us.

Good luck and make sure everything is done by Wednesday 7 May.

AIDA exercise: marketing a new game

You will be allocated one of the games below and have to come up with a 10 minute marketing plan in a pair. Remember, you need to create an emotional connection with the audience. Plan the following:

Task 1
Summarise who might play the game and what platform they will play it on. Give it a title.

Task 2
Use AIDA to plan a 10 minute marketing campaign for the new game:

A: How will you create marketing materials that attract audience attention to the game?
I: How will you generate audience interest?
D: How will you stimulate audience desire to buy the game?
A: How will you promote audience action?

Task 3

Write up your notes on your blog and be prepared to share your ideas with the class.

The games:

Game 1
Side-scrolling platform game, in which a red bug has to avoid the accidental and deliberate actions of larger animals and insects in order to survive.

There are 50 levels of play, with an increasing variety of friends and dangers. The red bug can jump, attack, and fly if it eats enough energy-giving nectar from the flowers along the way.

Game 2
Role-playing adventure and survival game, with elements of puzzle gaming.

The main character is the son of a wizard, but does not yet know the extent of his own powers. He needs to unlock information from a variety of locations using the help of the creatures and people he meets, in order to access the magic within him. Not everyone gives up their secrets easily. The newly found magic will help the fledgling wizard to protect the realm from a series of mortal enemies.

Downloadable content (DLC) provides other characters for up to 4-person play.

Game 3
Classic sports and fitness suite of games. The player can choose from a range of celebrity sports opponents for one-on-one coaching when they’re not feeling competitive, and for one-on-one or team competitions.

Currently available in four different packs: winter sports, racquet games, Olympics, and dance. All include at least five different individual games with a choice of celebrities for each one.

Game 4
Tactical RPG game, in which a crew who have crashed on the red planet have to work out how to survive in this new and hostile world. Energy, water and food are in short supply unless the crew can work out how to tap into local resources. They have competitors for the limited stocks but also have skills and knowledge to trade.

What should they do first to ensure their chances of survival are highest?

Game 5
Brain training games that allow the player to map their progress on a chart, and compare their progress with others online. They can choose specific people, by logging in through Facebook and other social networking sites, or be allocated a group of anonymous brain trainers who will compete for a month.

Game 6
Casual game. The player must select the best pieces from an ever-changing selection to complete a bridge over increasingly uneven terrain. Pieces can be rotated, flipped or even cut in half, to fit the growing structure.

The player must be careful as some pieces are booby-trapped and will explode if handled incorrectly. Optional game play includes selecting only pieces of a specific colour or texture, or working against the clock.

Game 7
Co-op RPG game, based on classic American TV series ‘Alias Smith and Jones’. As those who remember the series will know, Smith and Jones are two outlaws who are trying for amnesty by staying on the right side of the law. A series of encounters encourage them to stray back into crime, but the two must work together to outwit the bad guys, stay alive and stay legal.

Game 8
Extreme sports challenge game, bringing skateboard, BMX and scooters into the same locations. Players can choose their mode of transport and the level of difficulty. Can be played individually or split screen as two player game. All locations are based on real places across the world, loved by extreme sports fans.

Game 9
Music game. Players use a special microphone to pick up their own musical sounds, and play along to a series of tracks. They can use any musical instrument, or sing, and the game will interpret the notes they produce and check them against the original track. Their ability to play / sing in time and in key will be assessed for each song. Play can be in rehearsal or gig mode. In gig mode, the higher the score, the better the venue for the next gig.

Expansion packs of new songs are available.

Audience: making a connection

For videogame marketing to be successful, it needs to make an emotional connection with the audience.

Remember, we want videogames, we don’t need them.

Therefore emotion, narrative and passion are the essential ingredients to good marketing.

“Gamers are an emotive, passionate and loyal bunch. So tap into their emotions, tell a story, try and give your campaign a narrative and purpose.

“Marketing and feelings seem like uneasy bed-fellows but if a campaign can be delivered with an element of heart and, dare I say it, soul, then you’re already on track to capture the emotions of your target.”

Richard Benjamin (quoted in ‘The New Rules of Video Games Marketing’ by James Batchelor)

Audience and genre

One of the ways marketing can connect with an audience is by using established genres.

Gamers are attracted to familiar genres so marketing campaigns will use media language that makes the genre clear. However, the advert will also often try to show how the product offers a new twist on the genre.

AIDA

Remember AIDA when creating a marketing campaign.

A: How does it attract audience Attention?

I: How does it generate audience Interest?

D: How does it stimulate audience Desire?

A: How does it promote audience Action?

Marketing involves the 4 Ps:

Product

Price

Placing

Promotion

According to market research company EEDAR, marketing of videogames breaks down into:

Advertising (TV, billboards, print etc.)

Direct media (email, text etc.) 

Editorial (magazine reviews etc.)

Social media (YouTube, Twitter etc.)

Channel circulars (Game store mag; Amazon homepage)

Channel point-of-sale (in-store displays)

Finally, marketing materials don’t work unless they prompt audience action in some way:

Are the materials there to raise awareness of the brand?

Are the materials designed to create positive brand associations?

Are the materials working to persuade the audience to buy the product?