I think it’s safe to say that there are marketing campaigns that succeed and others that fall flat. What many underestimate though is the effect that marketing can have on a game, movie or other form of entertainment. When it’s good, it’s good but when it goes bad…it really goes bad. And then there are times when the initial point was to have it go bad because in some strange ways bad is actually good.
I’m sure that was confusing but work with me. There’s an old saying that goes ’any publicity is good publicity’. In some cases it’s hard to argue that it isn’t that way. Dante’s Inferno anyone? In my opinion I think the marketing around Dante’s Inferno has been very effective.
That brings me to my question. Think about your favorite game/movie or your least favorite game/movie. Think about a game or movie that you intend on purchasing or viewing in the near future. Did the marketing help or hurt when it came down to a) finding out about it, b) buying the game or tickets or c) totally wiping it off of your list of games/movies to pay attention to.
What say you?
October 16, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
Well it depends on the marketing or the lack there of sometimes. Some games just don’t have a budget to do proper marketing and that hurts them. Sometimes over marketing might hurt some games because they give away all the information of what the game is before it is in stores.
October 16, 2009 @ 2:50 pm
For me it wasn’t a game but an expansion for Oblivion, the marketing for Shivering Isles definately helped move me to buy it. But for a solid game, I think the marketing for Soul Calibur IV and GTA IV definately infuenced me positively when it came time to purchase them.
October 16, 2009 @ 2:51 pm
I think the marketing can play a huge role in the way people look at a game or movie. Most times a unique marketing campaign can really help to successfully sell a product. Or in the case with some marketing campaigns conceal the fact that the product might be of poor quality.
October 16, 2009 @ 2:54 pm
good point on your last statement @jackburton
October 16, 2009 @ 3:17 pm
Talking about Halo 3 specifically and the massive, MASSIVE marketing campaign surrounding it…
It helped. A lot. It got me hyped, and so hyped to the point where I was talking to everyone about the game, getting them more excited about the game. It was like viral marketing, but even more effective because it had ME promoting their product FOR them. And we all know that word of mouth is BY FAR the most effective (in terms of conversion numbers) method of marketing.
If a friend you confide in, or you trust/value their opinion tells you to check something out, and gives you some valid reasons, I’m pretty sure most people would check it out!
And that is exactly what effective and good marketing is supposed to do.
October 16, 2009 @ 3:29 pm
It’s not a game but I want to use this as an example still, the movie The Stepfather that hits movie theaters today. My first impression was “Oh, B-Rated Horror flick, what else is new.” And that was several weeks ago. BUT! I have been seeing it aggressively advertised via TV commercials, background space on major websites like Perez Hilton (and even a few game blogs I’ve visited in the past two weeks) and it made me rethink that opinion, “Huh, if they have the budget to advertise this flick all over the place, maybe it has more potential than I expected!”
I’m going to see it Tuesday with a few people. Haha.
October 16, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
i think i’ll go see that movie because i’m a big Nip Tuck fan and i like Sean McNamara lol
October 16, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
@DjDATZ I was going to use that same example. I am not a big Halo fan.. but I totally got caught up in the hype and for a brief period of time I became a big Halo fan and convinced many others to also be. I think a marketing campaign that engulfs you in the goodness of anticipation is doing something right
October 16, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
I think marketing can be a huge factor in whether or not I buy something. I believe that marketing should be a fun thing that gets the consumer involved.
I particularly enjoyed the immersion marketing for the Nine Inch Nails album Year Zero. The alternate reality game for that was simply outstanding and really made you feel a part of something. That was one of the main factors that lead to me buying the album.
October 16, 2009 @ 3:51 pm
For Me it depends what is being marketed and what they use to market it…Games like Left 4 dead 2 which are getting a HUGE marketing campaign i hear, will surely do well, but its sad because some games are out of some peoples radar because of there bad marketing, despite it being a good game.
October 16, 2009 @ 4:15 pm
It really helped this viral stuff I always really cool.
October 16, 2009 @ 4:20 pm
ok i’m going to vote NuclearPenguins for “post that really made zero sense today” lol
October 16, 2009 @ 4:24 pm
i think that marketing is absolutely essential to a product’s success
October 16, 2009 @ 4:29 pm
I liked it.
October 16, 2009 @ 4:29 pm
When I think of great marketing, I think of pre-Halo 3 launch. The commercials, viral videos, and community interaction Bungie incorporated definitely sold to the game to a wider audience than just Halo fans.