Mohammad's Blog: December 2013

Wednesday 18 December 2013

New game for Eat Sleep Play LTD - Fun Town

Name for the new brief - Fun Town

How will it be marketed (marketing campaign):

Fun town will team up with a mobile advertising service to spread the word of the game through advertisements on popular apps such as Temple run or on Social network sites. Fun Town will be on different platforms such as the PC but will mainly be on the tablets, internet or mobile. This is because it is essential for a game with an open world to be on these platforms as these devices require less of a hassle to use than PlayStation or Xbox and can be taken with you everywhere (excluding the PC). Also, word of mouth will be an important way to spread Fun World to as many people as possible.

Five creative ways to promote the game to boys and girls ages 12-18:

1) School meeting - Set-up a school assembly and announce the game with interaction from the audience about the game.

2) In a fair - Set-up a small fair with games and wallpapers to be sold and won regarding the game.

3) Host an event - Host a local event with a demo of the game for consumers to try out.

4) Social Networking Sites - Teens at the age of 12-18 use a variety of social network sites such as Twitter or Facebook and even Tumblr!

5) Broadcast it on TV - Most teenagers are interested in Television so add an advertisement regarding Fun Town after things like EastEnders.

Successful game on internet, tablets or mobile phones - Angry Birds

Angry Birds

How were they promoted?

Angry Birds was initially promoted primarily through word-of-mouth. One player got

hooked and from there it moved on. Its promotion has taken on quite a dramatic turn lately. From Halloween costumes to birthday cakes, Angry Birds can be found everywhere now. It also tied-up with the animated movie RIO to develop a theme based game for the movie

How did Angry Birds make money?

There are ads in between levels on the free version. The free version does not give the full version of the application, so you need to pay a couple of pounds or less to get the full version. They are making lots of money out of the application as many people play it. Apple makes money by getting 20%-30% of the profit.

What is it that makes a mobile game a success?

Mobile games such as Angry Birds are successful through different ways. One way is through addiction. Angry Birds for example became popular through word of mouth as stated above and so people started being addicted to the game by either the competition of reaching higher then there friends or by the fun of tossing cute birds into pigs.

Another way an app is successful is by marketing it before it is developed! This way the consumers will have time to think about the game and see whether they would buy it or not.

Friday 6 December 2013

Fifa 14 - Electronic Arts Promotional Campaign In Depth

Fifa 14 - Electronic Arts

Marketing:
Fifa 14 from EA games was marketed in a unique way as they struck a partnership with the mobile advertising service Mobsta to create a geo-technology campaign for the Fifa 14 game targeting football fans with stadium range on match days.

The campaign enabled advertising for the new Fifa game on iOS and Android devices. It works by using a ‘smart fence’ technology to identify smartphone users within three kilometres of football stadiums to target the relevant advertising.

Promotion (Pre-Release):
Fifa 14 promoted the game before it was released by the means of hosting events to attract the audience and leaving the thought of Fifa 14 in there mind. An example of an event hosted was at Gamescom where whoever won a few matches earned a pack of Fifa 14 sleeves.

Also, Fifa 14 was discussed globally through the means of social network sites such as Twitter/Facebook where football fans could see small clips or adverts about Fifa 14 that announced new leagues (Irish for example) and championships that are added to the game.

Promotion (Post-Release):
After Fifa 14 was released, a launch party was hosted to celebrate the extraordinary game where Irish football fans around the country are given the opportunity to participate in the EA Sports Fifa 14 Airtricity League cover vote campaign. Some of the countries top football players from the Premier Division Teams have been included such as Luke Byrne.

On addition, after the games release, special FIFA 14 sleeves where released to be downloaded for free from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation stores which is somewhat like additional content for crazy football fans.

Notes:
Events were hosted after and before the release of the game.
EA sports partnered with Mobsta to market the game.
Exclusive League of Ireland featured in Fifa 14.
Social networks were buzzing about the critically acclaimed and best selling football franchise game Fifa.

Trailer:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Bethesda Promotional Campaign In Depth

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Bethesda

Marketing:

In the first 11 months of the campaign, Bethesda only released three video trailers. This is so people get 'hungry for more content' according to one of the marketers of the game. One key to getting marketing and development to work together is co-location. The developer, Bethesda Game Studios, and the publisher are located in the same building. This is so they can discuss there ideas faster and more often.

Here are adverts produced for Skyrim's marketing;

Promotion (Pre-Release):

Skyrim was promoted globally throughout the means of social media. Twitter, Facebook and other social websites such as Google+ went crazy with the people tweeting and posting about Skyrim. A Twitter page named 'SkyrimNews' had 39 million tweets related to it.

Also, events were hosted before the game was released at conventions where gamers can try demo's of the game or tasters. This gave a small hint of the game so they want to buy it. An event was hosted at Gamescom 2011 for example.

Promotion (Post-Release):

Even after the outstanding game Skyrim was released, there were still updates related to the game, whether sit from the games or the developers. For example, people on social networking kept posting stuff about the game that spread the word to people that did not know about Skyrim. This kept the sales to stay high for a while.

Furthermore, the developers after the game was released started working on DLC (Downloadable Content) which is additional game play to sprout the interest of other gamers that didn't buy the game and to extend the time of when people focused on Skyrim.

Notes:

Many adverts were made for the game as shown above.

There were pre and post release events/promotion.

The social media was filled with the idea of Skyrim for a while.

There were a few trailers at pre-release but when the game was close to coming out, the number of trailers rocketed up to attract gamers one last time so when Skyrim came out, there will be a fresh idea of the game in there head.

Here is a trailer of Skyrim;