Final revision session

Thanks to everyone who turned up to this afternoon's final revision session - I know many of you had a Chemistry exam but hopefully most people got something out of the session. If you couldn't make it, here's what you missed:

The basics:

• Notes cannot be taken into exam
• 1hr 30mins total
• Four tasks worth 15 marks each

Be equipped:

1. Pens
2. Pencils
3. Coloured pencils
4. Fine liner
5. Ruler

The tasks we are expecting:

1) There are lots of ways to market video games. We think the best campaigns:

• Make an emotional connection with the target audience 
• Use different media platforms to get their message across (including print, broadcast and e-media)
• Use different strategies pre- and post-release.

From your work on video game 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)

2) Tell us about the promotion and marketing campaign you have planned for your chosen game. Make sure you include the following:

• The unique selling point (USP) of your chosen game’s marketing campaign
• How you will generate a buzz and anticipation about the game before release
• How you will target families 
• How the campaign will reflect TR Interactive’s mission statement: Games for the body and the mind

 (15 marks)

3) How will your campaign use social networking sites and e-media to support the television advertisement? 

(15 marks)

4) We need to know what the marketing materials for your campaign would look like. Create a 30 second television advert to promote the game you have chosen, using the ten frame storyboard sheet enclosed.

(15 marks)

Task 1 case studies

• FIFA14
• Wii Party
• GTA V
• Planetside 2
• Candy Crush
• Your own independent case studies
• Wii Fit / DS Brain Training

Note: specific details from campaign required

Curveballs

The tasks that might come up - remember, we need to be prepared for anything because the questions could test any aspect of our campaign ideas or knowledge of the topic.

Task 2: curveballs

Task 2 could ask you anything about your campaign:

• Plans for pre/post-release
• The exam answer booklet may have a campaign grid or planning sheet you need to fill in with activities
• Slogan/tagline
• Celebrity endorsement
• Cross-platform plans (print/broadcast/e-media)
• Focus on health/lifestyle

Task 3: curveballs

Task 3 could cover anything else the brief suggests:

• How the campaign taps into TR Interactive’s mission statement: Games for the body and the mind
• How you would target a family audience
• The USP of the game/campaign
• How e-media can be used for sharing content / audience interaction

Task 4: curveballs

Firstly, Task 4 (the design task) may not actually be Task 4 – it could appear anywhere in the exam.

Secondly, it could ask you to design any aspect of the campaign:

• A print billboard advert (landscape design)
• A print magazine advert (portrait design)
• The website homepage for the videogame

Remember, whatever it asks, you will have planned most of the design elements anyway: logos, game cover, celebrity etc.

Final thoughts

We have produced some incredible work in Media this year. Regardless of what comes up in the exam, if you have prepared well, revised the case studies and developed an outstanding, creative campaign for EITHER Dancefloor OR The Detectives you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Good luck and go and get an A*!

GCSE Media: anonymous survey

At the end of the course, we like to ask students to complete a survey to tell us what they thought of GCSE Media. This allows us to reflect on how we teach the course and make improvements for next year. The survey is completely anonymous so we will have no idea who writes: 'Mr Halsey should really look to get another job if he still can't teach after all these years. Give up!'

Please click on this link to access the survey and be completely honest - we need to know any detail that will help us improve our teaching for next year.

Thank you for your time and for being fantastic Media students. We hope to see you in future studying A Level Media in the sixth form!

Final exam preparations - GTA V feature

We are now down to the last few days before the exam. By now you should have planned a comprehensive, creative marketing campaign to launch either Dancefloor OR The Detectives for an Autumn 2014 release.

For Task 1 of the exam, you will need to refer in detail to your case studies of existing videogame marketing campaigns. In class, we have looked at FIFA14, Wii Party, Planetside 2 and Candy Crush. You have also completed two independent case studies on marketing campaigns of your choice. Luckily, issue 47 of Media Magazine has an excellent feature on the marketing campaign for Grand Theft Auto V - which gives us another example to use in the exam next week.

If you're not in the lesson, you can find the article on the school's VLE at the following location:

VLE > Departments > Media Studies > Shared documents > Media Magazine > MM47

The article is on page 54 and is entitled 'Trails and Teasers: Marketing Grand Theft Auto Five'

Once you have read the article (and underlined/highlighted/annotated if you have been given a printed copy) answer the following questions on your blog:

GTA V campaign questions

1. How long before release did the GTA V campaign begin?
2. How did the institution want existing GTA fans to react to the early trailers?
3. How did the steady release of trailers build excitement and hype about the game?
4. How was the launch used to generate news coverage?
5. What effect did the strict embargo have on the audience?
6. In your opinion, why was the campaign for GTA V so successful?

If you don't complete the questions in the lesson time you are given, make sure you finish for homework BEFORE the exam next week. Good luck!

Half-term homework

You need to complete the following sections of your revision pack over half-term. The exam is approaching quickly so we really need to step up our preparation! Note: you will need the exam equipment (pen, pencils, coloured pencils, fine liner, ruler) for the lessons in the first week back because we will be doing timed exercises to ensure we can complete each task in the 20 minutes available.

Half-term work:

1. Complete Section 1 of the revision pack (Task 1 and Task 3 practice questions)
2. Read, highlight and annotate Section 2 of the revision pack (page 49-86)
3. Get equipment for exam: pens, pencils, coloured pencils, fine liner, ruler.

Due: Wednesday 4 June

Exam brief: initial planning

Now we've seen the brief, we need to start planning our marketing campaigns for EITHER Dancefloor OR The Detectives. We don't know what the questions will be but they MIGHT be something like this:

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

• Use more than one media platform (print, broadcast or web)
• Make an emotional connection with their audience
• Offer alternative marketing strategies before and after the game is released

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)

2) Tell us about the marketing campaign you have created for the game you have chosen. Make sure you include the following:

• Slogan or tagline for the campaign
• The unique selling point (USP) you will use in the campaign
• How your campaign will be different before and after the game release date
• How you will target families

(15 marks)

3) How will your campaign use social networking sites and e-media to support the television advertisement? 

(15 marks)

4) We need to know what the marketing materials for your campaign would look like. Create a 30 second television advert to promote the game you have chosen, using the ten frame storyboard sheet enclosed.

(15 marks)

You need to work on these tasks initially to start your planning:

1. Re-read the brief picking out the key words
2. Choose which game you will create a campaign for: Dancefloor or The Detectives
3. Start brainstorming creative ideas for your campaign across the different platforms
4. What USP or creative event/stunt could you use to get publicity for the launch?

Task 1 exemplar: today's question

I have written an exemplar answer for today's Task 1 question. This was typed so there is probably more than if it was handwritten but you still need to be aiming for the detail in this answer for your Task 1 response. A reminder of the question:

There have been some superb videogame marketing campaigns over the last few years. We think the most memorable campaigns:

• Feature marketing material on a variety of media platforms (print, broadcast and online)
• Use imaginative methods to reach their target audience
• Offer alternative marketing strategies before and after the game is released

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)

Exemplar answer:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to apply for this position - I'm confident I have the skills and knowledge you require to market this videogame.

Using all three platforms is essential for a successful videogame marketing campaign. For example, the GTA V marketing campaign was a slow-burning success that resulted in the game making its $300m production budget back in pre-sales alone. A long time before the release date, announcements at the E3 gaming convention and teaser trailers made sure anticipation built up amongst fans of the earlier games. The use of print material such as gaming magazines was also built into this with interviews and ‘sneak previews’ of the game while still in development. Once the major release day approached, a huge international cross-media marketing campaign was launched with billboards featuring characters from the game, TV ads that mimicked Hollywood film trailers, and significant social media promotion. Arguably, it was the success of GTA V’s viral marketing online that really captured the imagination and caused such a hype surrounding the release. Amongst many other creative online approaches, the campaign offered the audience to create ‘Lifeinvader’ profiles – a parody of Facebook – that meant the lines between the game world and the real world were blurred and users could almost feel they were ‘inside’ the game. In the run-up to the release, it meant users felt part of the game before they even owned it – a brilliant example of creative marketing.

Another game that uses imaginative methods to reach its target audience is Planetside 2. The successful MMOFPS sci-fi game attracts slightly different strands of its main target audience by inviting them to join a certain faction (or army) when they sign up to play the game. Each faction (such as the New Conglomerates) appeals to a different aspect of the audience’s values and beliefs, picking out key words such as ‘Duty’ or ‘Freedom’. This allows the game to market to slightly different psychographic groups – such as aspirers, reformers or mainstreamers. All three of the trailers marketed the key aspects of the game using trailer conventions such as in-game footage, voiceover and dramatic music. The different factions then allowed the game to target different audiences depending on their political beliefs and individual motivations – thus making it more likely that the audience feel like they ‘belong’ in the game. Like GTA V, the more involved and at home the audience feel in the game, the more likely they are to invest time and money in it. For Planetside 2, a game that is free to play but then offers monthly subscriptions, this feeling of belonging in the game is absolutely crucial.

FIFA14 is a part of the hugely successful EA football franchise that has been running for years. One of the reasons the game is so successful is the use of different marketing strategies before and after the release of the game. FIFA14 ran a major international marketing campaign in the weeks leading up to the release (and shortly after it) produced by advertising agency W+K Amsterdam (who also produced previous FIFA marketing campaigns). The cross-media campaign featured Lionel Messi dressed in casual clothes driving a van with hundreds of people behind playing FIFA on their sofas with the brilliantly simple slogan ‘We are FIFA14’. The TV ad was particularly effective, with celebrities such as Drake and Gareth Bale playing FIFA14 on their sofas behind Messi’s van alongside ‘regular Joes’ of different ages, genders and ethnicities. Like GTA V and Planetside 2, they make the audience want to feel part of the game (hence the casual clothes for the superstars and the slogan ‘We Are FIFA14’.) This major marketing campaign was obviously a key reason for the success of the game. However, after the release of the game the marketing doesn’t stop, with Twitter and Facebook accounts updated daily with references to real-world football events such as the Premiership title race and Champions League matches. Mixed in with this is user-generated content such as ‘Goal of the week’ where players send in YouTube clips of their best goals and FIFA14 shares it online. This ongoing marketing means the buzz surrounding the game continues even after the game has been released and maintains momentum leading up to the next release of the game (which is currently FIFA World Cup 2014 and then, later, FIFA15).

Long-term campaigns: Star Trek videogame

We need to learn two key aspects about how marketing campaigns work:

1. Most campaigns actually stretch over months if not years.
2. Most campaigns use different marketing strategies pre- and post-release.

Most paid-for marketing will be concentrated before the release date to create a buzz and excitement about the game.

After a game is released, reviews and word-of-mouth is the most influential form of marketing.

If a game is terrible, it can be ‘Twitter bombed’ – with so many bad reviews people avoid it.

Star Trek: videogame marketing campaign

The Star Trek videogame is a great example of a long-term marketing campaign designed to create a huge buzz before release.

UK release: April 2013

Promotion campaign started: June 2011

June 2011

E3 announcement and teaser trailer

February 2012

Press release to maintain interest

April 2012

New teaser trailer released

June 2012 – E3

Website and Twitter feed launched

Updates on Facebook

Game enemy (Gorn) announced

Gameplay footage posted online

Game producer Brian Miller interviewed

August 2012

New trailer

December 2012

Trailer posted on Paramount website

Release date announced

February 2013

Retailers post circulars online

‘Making of’ video released

UK launch event at the Science Museum

March 2013

Official advert released

Pre-order promotional boxes arrive in stores

Game co-promoted TV and radio adverts

April 2013

Previewed in game magazines

Gadget Show live game available to play

Gameplay footage on YouTube

Interview with Brian Miller released

Star Trek: blog tasks

1) Pick out the five most significant aspects of the Star Trek campaign from the list above and explain why they were important in creating a buzz about the game.

2)Watch the following YouTube trailers and explain why they might appeal to an audience:

• Teaser trailer
• Xbox teaser trailer
• Full trailer
• Comedy trailer with William Shatner

3) How many views did these trailers receive in total?

4) Why did the Star Trek videogame publisher develop the marketing campaign over such a long time?

5) What other examples can you find online from the Star Trek marketing campaign? Print? Reviews? Broadcast? E-media? Do you feel the campaign as a whole was successful?