setting the right goals for your pr & marketing / game industry conference 2016

SETTING THE RIGHT GOALS FOR YOUR PR & MARKETING

Deloitte Digital CE © 2016. All rights reserved.

Game Industry Conference, 22.10.2016

MY BACKGROUND

IN MARKETING, MOSTLY IN BIG NETWORK AGENCIES

20 years

16campaigns

7clients

4years

SERVED ON REGULARBASIS DURING CAREER

IN DIGITAL, SOCIAL AND TRADITIONAL CHANNELS

OF GAMING IN SPARE TIME(ALSO SOME ESPORTS)


WHAT’S UP WITH GAME MARKETING?



CAN AN AD MAN UNDERSTAND A GAME DEV?

CAN AN AD MAN UNDERSTAND A GAME DEV?


Advertising industry• Often working extra hours• … so effective pay per hour could be better.• Still you’re expected to move mountains• … in very short time periods.

But you’re doing it because you are driven by passion.

Video game industry• Often working extra hours• … so effective pay per hour could be better.• Still you’re expected to move mountains• … in very short time periods.

But you’re doing it because you are driven by passion.

LET’S USE GOOGLE TRANSLATE



You have to market your game.

We live in world where lots of new games arecoming out every day, technology is available for free to all and consumers have access to allinformation before buying the game.

My first hypothesis was that to suceed in suchmarket you need to put great emphasis on marketing efforts. This seems to be quite a common conclusion from indie game developers’ confessions: they lacked great marketing strategyand execution.

MY FIRST APPROACH


HOW TO DELIVER GREAT CAMPAIGNS

TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION | THE COLLAPSE


https://youtu.be/4rvm5DKO-N0


TOM CLANCY’S THE DIVISION | POLISH CAMPAIGN

Fake news site

Campaign strategyThe distributor decided to launch own campaignregardless of global materials. The key pillars werecooperation with popular Youtube influencers, fake news site & Twitter account, native ads and a premiere event which all started around the game launch.

Campaign summaryThe promo movie was met with massive critcism due to its low creative quality. The fake news had minimalengagement, as well as the PR event that was supposedto be the big finale. The messaging wasn’t consistent and the activities weren’t sufficiently supported with paidmedia or linked with each other. In result most of the campaign potential and budget were not used effectively.

Promo movie with influencers

Native advertisement Premiere event

RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER | SURVIVAL BILLBOARD


https://youtu.be/Tcx29R3e_Co

TITANFALL| ARCADE


https://vimeo.com/107541641

MADDEN NFL 2015 | GIFERATOR


https://youtu.be/yMgG1iWv2ow

The website offered great personalised (geolocalised) experience where anyone could conduct a simulation of the events leading to the game world state and share their score with peers. The game was perfectly placed in the reveal of simulation.

The event had a niche offline audience, but it was greatly promoted online through Twitch, Youtube and other video media. Also the live aspect of the experience made it more unique and worthwhile for young audience.

The arcade character of the game was strengthened with mini game homages to the classical era. They worked as a great entertainment content, cleverly placed on dull display banners and led to an extensive brand exposure. The game marketed itself genuinely.

Instead of trying to force interest on non-gaming NFL audience, the game offered a useful tool for their social communication. Simple but powerful GIF generator spurred huge amounts of user generated content and convinced audience to give game a try.


• Leverage of digital channels• Focus on inbound (indirect) marketing• Backed up with great ideas• Made by great video game brands

CAMPAIGNS SUMMARY

Deloitte Digital Copyright © 2015 Deloitte Digital LLC. All rights reserved. Deloitte Digital CE © 2016. All rights reserved.

TIPS FOR DOING GREAT CAMPAIGNS

1. Adapt all activities to a higher creative idea or story your game stands for.

2. Make sure all activities connect to each other, best if there’s a cause-effect relationship.

3. Focus on unique content (videos, live stream) that people can engage with and share with their friends.

4. Try to align with people lives and add something valuable to it.

5. Always support main activities with paid media, influencers and PR.


WHAT ABOUT INDIE GAMES?


WHAT ABOUT INDIE GAMES?

Consulted with friends, not with focus groups

Success is measured in won hearts, not wallets

When thing goes bad, you’re on your own.

Game design based on gut feeling, not market research

Often done after hours, not during office hours

Made because of passion, not for revenue

Production is self-funded, not backed by corporation


DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAMPAIGNS

Brand campaignsMaking people love a brand

product campaignsMaking people buy a product


You don’t have to market your game.

When talking and listening to video gamedevelopers I realized that they not always want their games to be best sellers. They would ratherthey lived up to their expectations, that peopleloved them and understood their meaning. That’sbecause when you are guided by passion, youdon’t care about commercial rewards.

So my second hypothesis is that you don’t have to market your game. And some great indie gamesproves that it’s still possible to be wildly popular and succesful. But you need one thing: branding.

MY SECOND APPROACH

WHAT IS A BRAND?

Set of associations evoked among consumers.



WHAT ARE SOME GREAT BRANDS?

WHAT BRAND IS IT?



WHAT ARE SOME GREAT INDIE VIDEO GAMES?

HOW VIDEO GAMES BECOME BRANDS?


Games that are a combination of human passion, high quality and good branding stand out (and sell well).

Such games have a potential to become brands.

SOMETIMES IT JUST HAPPENS…BUT DON’T TAKE YOUR CHANCES



HOW TO MAKE YOUR GAME STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

1. BE DISTINCT


What does it meanAs a future brand you need to have your own, uniquevisual style and language. You must be unambiguouslyrecognized on the basis of a group of symbols, colors, sounds, words.

How to do itWhen working on a game design have in mind the wholespectrum of assets like logo, font, art style, wording. Keep it simple, cohesive and easily remembered. Don’trush - when it’s published, it’s done. And most peoplewill only have 1-5 contacts with your creation.

ExamplesSuperhot (on the right), Firewatch, Bound

2. WORK OUT A STORY


What does it meanIf you want publicity, you need a great story. From a userperspective you’re not exactly making a game, but a medium for a specific experience one can have. Usersneed to believe and love it from the beginning.

How to do itThink what does your game represent and build a story around it. Make it unique, but don’t try too hard. People crave for a combination of what they know (need for comfort) with a twist (need for change). Then write itdown in one sentence and make a great trailer for it.

ExamplesThis war of mine (on the right), Darkest Dungeon

3. BE ACCESSIBLE


What does it meanThe most succesful games are the ones with universalappeal and the biggest customer base. It makes moresense to interest everyone in the market rather thanlimitating to a small, segmented audience.

How to do itFocus on similarity to other games (X meets Y), show how easy anyone can start it, make it clear that there aremany ways to play your game and definitely limit the nerd buzzwords.

ExamplesGwent (on the right), Starbound

4. BE ALWAYS ON


What does it meanCommunication with a fanbase is a real discussion, not a periodic announcement. People want to experience the human touch in games, want to be heard and when yougot them excited - not kept waiting.

How to do itReach out to community as often as you can. Maybeconsider hiring someone to help you with that. Growyour own fan channels like forums, subreddit or closedgroups. Send them updates and encourage to share the opinion. In fact you may learn something on your game.

ExamplesStardew Valley (on the right), Divinity Original Sin

5. KEEP CHANGING


What does it meanGetting something right the first time is tough. But doingit the second time is even more difficult. Most indiegames don’t get a sequel or don’t enjoy playersretention. That’s because you need to redefine the offeron the fly.

How to do itLook closely to how people interact with the game and what they talk about it. Think how you can meet theirexpectations before your competitors do it.

ExamplesRocket League (on the right), Don’t Starve

6. BE TRUE TO YOURSELF


What does it meanYou can earn a lot of money by not telling the truth, but eventually you will lose something else - trust.

How to do itBeing honest and truthful will win you more hearts in the long run. And you plan on doing some more games in your life, don’t you?

Anti-ExamplesNo Man’s Sky (on the right), Star Citizen, ARK: SurvivalEvolved


TIPS FOR WORKING OUT BRANDING

1. Be distinct. Have your own, unique style. People needto recognize you without hesitation.

2. Work out a story. You’re offering people anexperience and it needs a good story to back it up.

3. Be accessible. You can’t underestimate how differentpeople may want to play your game.

4. Be always on. Game is like a service and you have to show people that you’re there for them.

5. Keep changing. Remember that whole market evolvesand so do the expectations of people.

6. Be true to yourself. The award will come later.


THE WRAP UP


GOALS PRIORITIZATION

3. EXECUTION

2. MARKETING

1. BRAND

Start of development

Game release

• Game/brand concept• Rules of good branding

• Marketing strategy• Digital campaigns planning

• Cooperation with agencies• Communication in channels


GOALS PRIORITIZATION

3. EXECUTION

2. MARKETING

1. BRAND

Start of development

Game release

Most indie game developers focus on marketing perspective not long before releasing a game. In fact, it may already be too late to achieve greatresults. Choosing a PR agency won’t help much.

You may want to make a step back and thinkabout your game as a brand. You can find a lot of beginner materials on how to do branding. Then if you want, think how your game can addvalue to people’s lives and use digital channels as leverage. Only then should you move to tacticsand cooperate with PR agency, do some socialmedia, send codes to influencers.


WHAT YOU SHOULDREMEMBER FROM TODAY

Mainstream and indie games are different, but rules are mostly the same. Allbig games earned their success and now are treated like valuable brands. You canlearn quite a lot by studying their successes and changing your approach..

Don’t wait with marketing till the end. Because most often it will be too late. Start at the beginning of game development and start figuring out what is thatreally you want to offer to people.

Be yourself. We all make mistakes but the most persistent and the most truthfulachieve great things. And people always respect that.

Half measures give quarter results Take responsibility for branding and marekting, but if in doubt reach out to professionals (even freelancers).