NINJA RUSH

ABANDONED GAMES

MARKETING PLAN

MARKETING NOTES

MARKETING

MARKET- SELLING POINT (A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE BUY AND SELL ITEMS)

- CONSISTS OF BUYERS & SELLERS IN ORDER TO WORK

“PROCESSES FOR CREATING, COMMUNICATING, DELIVERING AND EXCHANGING OF OFFERS THAT HAVE VALUE FOR CUSTOMERS”.

MARKETING CONSISTS OF THE STRATEGIES & TACTICS USED TO IDENTIFY, CREATE AND MAINSTREAM SATISFYING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS THAT RESULT IN VALUE FOR BOTH CUSTOMER AND MARKETER.

MARKETING NOTES

FOUR P’S OF MARKETING

PRODUCTPLACEPRICEPROMOTION

SAM KING FTWYOUTUBE

FREETWITTER

THESE ARE THE 4 P’S THAT MARKETING IS MADE UP OF.

MARKETING NOTES

MARKETING PLAN AIMSTHERE’S ONLY 4 AIMS SET INTO A NUMBER OF TARGETS

GROWING REVENUE MAKE MORE MONEY THAN WHAT YOU BEGIN WITH

GROWING AUDIENCE MORE PEOPLE USING PRODUCT THAN BEFORE

GROWING AWARENESS ADVERTISEMENT AND PROMOTION

GROWING REPUTATION CREATE & MAINTAIN SATISFYING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS

MARKETING NOTES

SMART TARGETSTHE TARGETS HAVE TO BE:

SPECIFIC TARGET A PARTICULAR AREA FOR IMPROVEMENT

MEASURABLE QUANTIFY AN INDICATOR OF PROGRESS

ASSIGNABLE SPECIFY WHO WILL DO IT

REALISTIC STATE WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED WITH YOUR RESOURCES

TIMELY SPECIFY WHEN RESULTS CAN BE ACHIEVED

MARKETING NOTES

MARKETING PRODUCTSTHE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PRODUCTS THAT ARE GOING TO BE PRODUCED:

X1 DIRECT ADVERTISEMENTPROMOTING PRODUCT USING ADVERTISEMENTS

X1 INDIRECT ADVERTISEMENTSUBTLY ADVERTISING THE GAME

X1 PROMOTIONOFFERS & COMPETITIONS TO ENTICE CUSTOMERS

ALL ADVERTISEMENTS HAVE TO BE LINKED TO THE TARGET AUDIENCE!

PRODUCT

The product i’m marketing is the new entertaining platform game, Ninja Rush.

Ninja Rush is an action game where you are located in a warehouse full of ninjas who must be wiped out to clear each level. To pass through each level you must carefully jump over platforms making sure you avoid flying ninja stars and falling into gaps whilst simultaneously shooting at ninjas. You collect points for each kill and there is bonus content too. The game does have a back story and could possibly be incorporated within the marketing of the product.

The game is aimed at children/ teens and is seen as a game more for socialisers so could be seen on somewhere like Facebook.

PRICE

The product will be free of charge, we’re not so much interested in how much we can profit from purchases, it’s more about the branding of Ninja Rush and how much public exposure we can generate. Hopefully by promoting the game as free of charge this will attract more publicity from a wider audience but the main reason being that our target audience is of the younger generation and are unlikely to have access to credit/ debit cards, so this makes for easier accessibility.

PLACEThe game will be available on the App Store also located on itunes. This is a huge market place with a very large consumer rate full of diverse custom, the chance of the game getting noticed is high, but depending on how the game is marketed depends on whether it will attract the correct audience/ attention or not. By putting it on the App Store it’s then available for anyone to download and will hopefully produce a higher download rate.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES

- To raise awareness over my game.

- To develop a community around my game, Ninja Rush.

- To attract a new audience of indie games and add to an existing fan base.

- To create promotional products and prizes/ gifts for people who play my game, which will also further spread the word on our game.

TARGET AUDIENCE

From data collected from Rovio’s Angry Birds, males are 35 percent more likely to buy an Angry Birds game than females and 18-24 year old males are 76 percent more likely to buy an Angry Birds game as compared to females 25 and older.

If our app is also a game and we are targeting a similar demographic, we took this data into consideration when planning our marketing strategy. Competitive insights can provide direction for how to best package our game for mobile users, as well as a recommendation on what strategies haven’t worked.

To incorporate this into my research for who my demographic our I made a questionnaire which would give me an idea of an accurate age range and also gender.

MALE & FEMALE

PRIMARY RESEARCH

RESULTS

GENDERFrom the feedback it has become clear that this game appeals slightly more towards a male audience because of the use of weaponry and v iolence . Although, the entire feedback group both male and female have mentioned it has the appeal of a highly addictive game.

THEMEThe theme has a high amount of positive feedback. Every member of the feedback group have appreciated the characterisation we have used and they feel that the ninjas are a fun and promising concept in the game.

CASUAL & COREFrom the feedback group half were core gamers who also happened to be male and the other half were casual. The core gamers picked up where they thought the game needed enhancing and also other games that are similar to ours. whereas the casual gamers liked the involvement of unlockable content and achievements included in our game.

MARKETING SCHEDULEDAYS MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

WEEK 1

Plan the schedule and base it on three main

marketing ideas include direct, indirect and

promotion.

Create a Twitter and Facebook page (direct

marketing) where we will post various information

on game details.

Create a main web/blog site that will be linked to the Twitter/ Facebook

page.

Research various Indie game sites where the game may advertise.

Create a blog site made for indirect advertising on the

game ‘Ninja Rush’.

WEEK 2

Twitter and Facebook page now public ready for direct marketing to

begin.

Game details such as release date now viewable on Indie games sites and

blogs (indirect advertising)

Planning for promotional products begins. (stickers/

events)

New game artwork released on social network

sites.

WEEK 3Release games character information and game

synopsis

Character profiles released on social

network sites and blogs.

Promotional stickers, web banners and posters

designed.

WEEK 4More artwork released

on Twitter, Facebook and blog sites.

Stickers printed and released.

Create more awareness by posting on social network sites and create work of mouth on various blogs.

NINJA RUSH IS RELEASED

WEEK 5

First 15 people who download the game

receive prises such as t-shirts, poster and

stickers. Plus web banners released.

Reviews on the game posted on blog sites plus fans post high scores on Twitter and screenshots

on Facebook.

Social networks updated with a first look on the

game.

All promotional Products for Ninja Rush are available

to buy online including stickers, posters and t-

shirts.

YEARLY SCHEDULE OUR DATES

MARKETING PRODUCTAPP LOGO DESIGN

APP ICON ANALYSIS

INDIVIDUAL APP ICON ANALYSIS

This App Logo when broken down with a

App Guideline grid can be determined into

different sections, it a conventional method

used on all Apps and is used within the design

process to help with perspective.

When the grid is applied you instantly see

how the design has

been broken down into

sections. The imagery is

symbolic and central, the

text is prominent but works

with the focal point and the background is

discrete but revealing too.

The text runs to the same themes as the main imagery through positioning, colour and style. When creating an App design that uses symbolic imagery, it’s good to use text just to link ideas, it needs to be clever but also understandable. The A matches to the theme of the image and the colour is bold but not metallic. It’s positioned within the grid guidelines

creating a balanced design.

The background is discrete but does link to themes of gameplay, it gives subtle hints as to what the game content will include without giving too much away. The colour doesn’t just change the over

all mood but also puts emphasis onto the main image. As you can see above, the horizon line follows the grid guideline and dips towards to middle just above the centre shape. This is to guide your eye towards the focal point and give a

3D illusion also.

This image is clearly the main focal point, the

shapes link directly to the game and every

other asset leads your eye directly this image.

The colours are bold and textured whilst

following the sci-fi genre. The positioning is

directly centred within the circular grid and

follows the lines to balance the triangular proportions perfectly. This type of App logo

should capture the curiosity of potential

consumers whilst targeting the correct

audience.

INITIAL APP IDEAS

FINAL APP IDEA DEVELOPMENT

FINAL APP DESIGN

MARKETING PRODUCTWEB BANNERS

MARKETING PRODUCTSWEB BANNER

RESEARCH

I began by looking at basic web banner advertisement for computer games.

uccessful banner ads lie somewhere between direct marketing and traditional print work. "Good design and good marketing are totally different," said Kenneth Dotson, Vice President of Marketing with SportLine USA.

1. Use colour.2. Use animation that doesn't slow downloading of the ad can attract

attention.3. Use keywords.4. Keep it simple.5. Keep it relevant.

When executed correctly, banner ads can be a powerful way to drive traffic to your offers. Unfortunately, many marketers don’t have the time and resources to devote to “correctly executing” banner ad campaigns. What they need is a formula for designing banner ads that produce results.

In a recent test, our researchers found that by designing a banner ad to accomplish three key objectives, they were able to drive a 285% increase in conversion on the landing page.

What’s even more fascinating about the test is that the winning banner actually received less clicks than the competing treatments.

Essentially, the winning banner weeded out unqualified clicks by matching the messaging on the landing page.

In this Web clinic replay on banner ad design (originally held on August 31, 2011), Dr. Flint McGlaughlin taught about this discovery in detail, along with the three key objectives every banner ad must accomplish to drive maximum conversion. In doing so, he also taught the (until now) unpublished heuristic – or problem-solving thought tool – we use to optimise banner ads.

MARKETING PRODUCTSWEB BANNER

DESIGN DRFATS AND IDEAS

When beginning my design I went back to the layout and background used in the game for a basic design. I then incorporated the title text and character art from the game and began some drafts.

TEXT POSSIBILITIES

MARKETING PRODUCTSWEB BANNER

INITIAL IDEASWhen designing my final web banners i made sure to keep it a simple design by including themes form the game g iv ing any viewers of the advert an idea on what the game is about. I used scenery from the game which fitted well with the long layout of the banner and text colours. I have also added additional information (text) which is quite essential to a web banner plus it gives it an effective Finnish.

MARKETING PRODUCTSWEB BANNER

INITIAL IDEAS FEEDBACK

The colours work well together and do not over complicate the banners. In the rectangular web banner the text seems to fill up most of the space allowing for a lot of information to be included, but it also looks very clustered.

The backg round i s ve r y effective being from the original game but when used with other images it gets sl ightly to compact and does not leave space for much text.

OVERALL-Use the background from game the design.-Make sure there’s a large title (bold)-locate the App Store logo appropriately.-When incorporating images don’t oversize.

MARKETING PRODUCTSWEB BANNER

FINAL DESIGNS

MARKETING PRODUCTSTICKERS

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

STICKER RESEARCH

As you can see there are so many different sticker designs/ styles you can take inspiration from, it’s just finding the right one to fit my product. Text/ image based, logos, puns, referencing, symbolic/ iconic; these are just some popular design ideas shown. Colour, shape, text, imagery purpose, content: there is so many different things to consider when within the design process. These designs are more generalised but do give an idea of what’s more popular at the moment. Designing a sticker for our game may not just be a good way of marketing our product but may also generate a new target market, to get a more specific idea of what I should be looking for it would probably be good idea to look at game inspired stickers in order to know what to create.

GAME STICKER RESEARCHHere are some more specialised stickers directed at the gaming industry, theses different styles, genres and designs will hopefully help me to develop and influence my initial ideas. Some display iconic replica game play, or a new twist on an old theme (connecting new & old influences) and sometimes can even promote an illustrators/ graphic designers unique art style. This is what i’d hope to be doing when creating my own design; take inspiration from our game but involve my own drawing style.

STICKER MARKET PLACEHere are some different web based

market places for stickers, some specifically game based, these web

pages are dedicated to selling stickers and would be a perfect place

to get our product seen although there are so many possible market

places stickers are sold. For our product it would have to be either a gaming website/ blog or shop, a dedicated sticker selling page, or something more niche. Also what type of sticker are we making is another to think about as there is so many new ideas; laptop stickers, car stickers, window stickers, street stickers ect. just creating a more generalised sticker that can be placed anywhere may be more popular.

STICKER INITIAL IDEAS

STICKER IDEAS FEEDBACKThese are the two designs that have the most potential to be adapted using different colours, shapes and so on. They’re only on early stages so a lot of work needs to be done in order to get them to a presentable stage. I prefer to work on paper when starting a design and then once that idea is there, begin to develop it in Photoshop as it gives more control and freedom as their’s no limitations when experimenting.

The top idea links to the ninja theme without being direct to game play, it’s a different interpretation which could possibly attract a new/ different target audience. The over all shape and design is good but feel the head shape needs to be adjusted to stay away from the whole ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’ franchise. By having a ninja as the sticker design links to the name but doesn’t give anything way, hopefully people don’t miss interpret the game though.

Unlike the first, the bottom idea links directly to the game; using the main character ‘Agent Slick’. It’s actually a still from the game start page, i thought it did look good and has possible potential to be developed but it’s not very original neither creative.

PAPER PROCESS

Using tracing paper, printed images for inspiration and a black ball point pen I began to redefine my ideas. The tracing paper and dark pen helped create a clear and precise outline that could be scanned into Photoshop and used as a template.

PHOTOSHOP DEVELOPMENT

Now I have the outline for the design completed, I can now develop the design further through the experimentation of colours, textures, text and even backgrounds. As the design is quite simple but versatile it could also be used as a template for a stencil on Photoshop or even on paper.

It began with a tracing, once put in Photoshop it could be used as a template. I defined it further and repositioned the lines to create a more balanced shape. The head shape was completely redesigned to appear more serious and the flowing headband was removed as it would be to out of place and fiddly when cut out.

FONT DEVELOPMENT

REFINED STICKER IDEAS & FEEDBACK

Using the final outline as a template i’ve managed to create these three designs, fill, outline and icon. They could all be possible finals but for the time being i’m only producing one product so a decision has to be made. Using peer feedback i’ve found that the fill/ inverse design is most popular although people said if the the black outline/ stencil design would look good if an interesting colour fill was added. Also the head design is seen as symbolic but doesn’t consist of as much detail. The black fill design works but is still needs a bit of work, currently the design is too simple and the lines appear as too harsh! The name of the game will be added to give context and other feedback suggested running with the Obey inspired theme.

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTURE AND COLOUR

I found the plain black fill too bold, the lines were too distracting and there wasn’t enough going on. Using the select tool on photoshop, i turned the design into a stencil and found textured ‘scratched film’ image to use as a base for my design, this created the grungy weathered effect i was aiming to achieve. Then by using Photoshop brushes began to emphasise this weathered effect, by using the same brush tool colour was then able to be applied discretely and build up the design. The dark red colour was used because of not only did it fit with the theme best but the way in which it’s be applied could be seen as blood, it wasn’t the intended reason but definitely works.

FONT FEEDBACK

The font plays a major part of the sticker, it could make or break the design so it had to be right. I already knew what I was looking for, it was just finding the right one which shared those assets, so I search some of the web but found nothing. There was a limited amount of time left and a font needed to be chosen, by using photoshop i found various different fonts that could relate well to the image, then I print screened each one with the design, presented the best 8 on a sheet and gathered feedback. These were the most favoured 3. The middle font was the most popular though, not only by myself but by everyone else too. The main comments being that it was most bold, fitted to the design the best and the way that the J is dropped in comparison to other letters creates balance and gives it that edge needed.

FINAL DESIGN

This is the final completed sticker design, It’s most probably going to be used as a promotional product. It takes on themes of the game in a subtle manor and hopefully this will create interest and become a popular asset whilst connecting people to the game.

PRINTING PROCESSOnce the design was completed and ready to be produced it was then printed on specialist sticker paper, laminated and each one cut out individually. Six were made as prototypes, these were a complete success and were popular with friends. The next step was to get them out and seen by people, sticking it in places where it’s going to be seen is they key.

STICKERS IN USE

MARKETING PRODUCTT-SHIRT

FINAL T-SHIRT DESIGNS

I continued with the initial idea, the creating process wasn’t too difficult. Tweaking the design to make it the right size and fit with the gradient scale was the hardest part. Sticking to the monochrome design like originally intended and trying out new designs on different t-shirts and colours is how these final 3 came about. Colour was tested on both the design and t-shirt; this unfortunately didn’t work very well and just overcomplicated the over all appearance, sometimes less is more. The white t-shirt definitely being the favourite as not only does it stand out the most but it also the most popular design.

FINAL CLIENT FEEDBACK

FINAL CLIENT FEEDBACK

INDIRECT ADVERTISEMENT

MARKETING STUNTRELATED RESEARCH

This was a stunt performed in Cambridge, A guy dresses up as Batman and ran through the most populated areas, it was recorded and put onto Youtube. The reason as to why it receive so much publicity is the way it was marketed.

BATMAN STUNT

We’re hoping to create a similar marketing stunt, but one that will obviously fit our game. The plan was to find willing people who special in martial arts (maybe a group) to run through cambridge Town handing out leaflets (in the shape of a ninja star) with information about a special event, this will hopefully be an interesting way of promoting the event and will attract attention from all types of people. The event will take place outside of Cineworld and the Arcade, here there will be promotional stickers, t-shirts to buy, martial arts class, the game on demo, and a competition,

IN-DIRECT ADVERTISINGMARKETING STUNT RESEARCH

You can promote or advertise a product/ event via Facebook by creating a Facebook page or website advertisement. By creating

a page, you can get your product/ marketing stunt seen for free but this relies on ‘likes‘ and, actually getting the page

seen by the appropriate audience can be difficult.

Now, if you have a budget then there are two ways you can promote your product on

Facebook; you can either choose a set amount to promote the product’s Facebook page for a chosen amount of time or/and you can create an advertisement for the

products website that will be seen on various points of Facebook hopefully being

exposes to the desired audience/ target market.

Promoting a Facebook Page promotion is quite simple (as seen on the top right image)

where there is a choice of budgets and duration periods whereas promoting a

website is a little more difficult due to their being various different factors you have to consider before generating a fixed price

and two types of duration periods to base your budget on, these are explained more

clearly on the following slide.

So first we would need to create a website for our game displaying the correct and relative information referring to a marketing stunt that the public can become involved with. Then, in order to get this seen we could create a website advertisement to be promoted on Facebook which would hopefully be seen by and attract the correct target market.

Things that have to be considered when creating a website promotion for Facebook:

IN-DIRECT ADVERTISINGCREATING A FACEBOOK ADVERTISEMENT/ PROMOTION

If you have a lifetime budget then your ad can run for however long you want it to, it’s the budget amount that depends on what type of

exposure it gets .

As we don’t currently have a website and the desired exposure we’d like to gain from advertising our game to promote a marketing stunt

wouldn’t be possible within our price range, we’ve decided to find alternative ways of promotion that doesn’t consist of extortionate

rates. The different processes are complicated and confusing and

working out a set cost is almost impossible.

DIRECT ADVERTISEMENT

APP LOGO

WEB BANNERS

Cineworld group meet up and merchandise giveaway (fancy dress ninjas/ ninja star leaflets)

MARKETING STUNT

Images, short videos, information and news will be posted on the Twitter page. There will be the use of pictures and hash tags to help boost the rate

of re-tweets as well as requested shout out’s from popular pages.

TWITTER PAGE

PROMOTIONAL

T-SHIRTSThe t-shirts are planning to be sold on the marketing meet up day on a stand as advertisement. The designs aren’t targeted at a specific age range but will probably be most popular with the older generation of our

target audience as they are inspired by the Obey theme. They may also be used with

in the ‘Shirt Ninja’ Competition; who takes part gets to keep the shirt they use and the winner for best effort will be awarded with other promotional prizes

too.

STICKERS

BUDGETWeb Banner Ads £100- 1,00 impressions

Printed Stickers £165- 400 stickers

Cineworld Marketing Stunt/ costumes/ leaflets

£30 per costume + £20- 1000 leaflets

Pax Demo Released £470- released demo

T-shirt Design £330- 100 printed t-shirts

TOTAL BUDGET £1170

EVALUATION

Questions Answers

How can we improve the marketing stunt to help reach out to the public

You must do further research and show various

examples. Look up examples such as; ‘Batman in

Cambridge’ an& ‘Shirt Ninja’

Do you think the assets we have created are appropriate for the

marketing plan?

You have produced very strong graphic design work

for the products.

Have we added enough advertisement to help

attract the correct target audiencewho range from

agae 9.25?

Try to focus on age groups of your target audience, the

difference between younger and older generations needs to be identified clearly and

visually.

CLIENT FEEDBACK

Client Feedback

• Look into how to use the banner ads most effectively

• How can social media be used for the Indirect marketing

• Clarify how the promotion will work effectively.

EVALUATIONThe stunt was a good idea but we needed to

research into how we’re going to get the most coverage possible, for this we research into how

things go viral.This a visualisation of how meme or vines go Viral on

Twitter - the blue representing key tweeter and the yellow dots being retweets from this we can learn the following.

1. Twitter users love videoTweets containing video have strong engagement rates, with 42% likely to retweet, reply, or mention brand Tweets that contain a fun or interesting video.

2. Videos are easily shareableVideos integrate seamlessly into a Tweet, and every Tweet is instantly shareable. Make sure you devise a hashtag to organise the conversations around the video campaign and messages.

3. Vine is importantVine lets you create six-second looping videos that are instantly shareable on Twitter. And if you really love it you can Re-vine!

What we can learn from this is that after the ninja stunt day we must get as much as possible from it in terms of social media. This is our strategy:

1. Plant member of the public to take images and shoot camera footage and upload immediately under the hashtag #ninjarush

2.Attempt to bring it to the attention key tweeters: such as PewDiePie, Yogscast and key Lets Play community members.

3. Use vine creativelyThese are screenshots from a vine that amassed over a million retweets due to its creativity - we would attempt to create a disappearing ninja (using After Effects) but within the realistic setting.

This chart show the click through rate throughout out the world - it shows that it is far more effectively in the South East Asian territories, especially compare to the US and Canada. What we learn from this is more money could be spent in terms of coverage in the JAPC territories and only look at relying on the UK and US for creating awareness that might be able to be recorded.

This chart looks at the different shapes of banners ads and click through rates. The stand out stat is the large rectangle non-video click through. The product we have created is the correct size which is encouraging. Also we could at incorporating video as well probably from the flash mob event day.

PROMOTIONThe use of the T-shirts was an issue especially in terms

of a promotion. The decision is to use them as a

competition prize with gamers encourage to mail a screenshot of there highest game score to the twitter

page will receive a t-shirt. In terms of budget this would be limited to the first 50

entries. In return we would ask for a shot of them

wearing the t-shirt with the ninjarush hashtag.