Advertisements for Movies, Video Games, Board Games...but not RPG's?

wherwrthal · Mar 30, 2008

With the announcement of 4th Edition, I was surprised to see the lack of television advertising for 4e.
I realize I am not a marketing genius, but given the popularity of video games that reflect the RP mindset, recently and the size of Wizards of the Coast, and thereby Hasbro; wouldn't this be a good way to bring in new players?
They have a commercial for the POKeMON card game for goodness sake.
Why not my favorite game?

The Little Raven · Mar 30, 2008

TV commercials are expensive and D&D wishes it had the popularity/selling-power of Pokemon.

xechnao · Mar 30, 2008

wherwrthal said:
With the announcement of 4th Edition, I was surprised to see the lack of television advertising for 4e.
I realize I am not a marketing genius, but given the popularity of video games that reflect the RP mindset, recently and the size of Wizards of the Coast, and thereby Hasbro; wouldn't this be a good way to bring in new players?
They have a commercial for the POKeMON card game for goodness sake.
Why not my favorite game?

D&D is supposed to be a deeper game. TV short spots could be considered unsuited.

mach1.9pants · Mar 30, 2008

Yep it is all about money, as much as we love RPGs they are not financial giants. And IIRC WotC is first aiming to convert 3E etc gamers to 4E where TV etc is not going to work. Stuff a FLGS, on the net etc are going to get current players to move. Then latter they will try and bring new players to 4E (i.e. new to DnD) when they have converted the current ones, or at least the chunk that they ever are going to convert

Glyfair · Mar 30, 2008

Mourn said:
TV commercials are expensive and D&D wishes it had the popularity/selling-power of Pokemon.

I agree. Also, roleplaying is a unique enough experience, I don't think commercials would bring in enough new blood to justify even a a fraction of the cost.

The closest I can see to a D&D commercial now would be a focus on the D&D Miniatures line. Create a simpler version of the DDM rules (sort of like WizKids upcoming Batman Heroclix set) and advertise that. It's much more accessible to the average person.

I do think if the D&D TV show gets made, and is successful, that we would have an ideal place for a D&D commercial. We had a few with the 2nd D&D movie, even if they were mostly teaser ads.

small pumpkin man · Mar 30, 2008

xechnao said:
D&D is supposed to be a deeper game. TV short spots could be considered unsuited.

Umn, no, I'm fairly sure it's the money thing

And I never expected to see any ads until a month before release anyway, with some obvious exceptions most games/movies/"things" don't have much advertising earlier than that.

The Little Raven · Mar 30, 2008

xechnao said:
D&D is supposed to be a deeper game. TV short spots could be considered unsuited.

I recall spots for Vampire and Werewolf back in the mid-1990s, and plenty of people would argue that those games are deeper than D&D.

am181d · Mar 30, 2008

I would expect magazine ads in places like EGM. I believe there were ads leading up to 3.5. We might also get radio ads, and maybe some online banners. I suspect that WotC will also make a play for free media (newspaper articles, little spots on news shows or 5 seconds on Colbert, etc.).

xechnao · Mar 30, 2008

small pumpkin man said:
Umn, no, I'm fairly sure it's the money thing

Suppose you had the money what short spot adversiment could you do on TV about D&D? Who would it be referring to and how?
As someone else said you could do it for the minis but I do not think you could for D&D 4e. It could also be considered a disservice to the brand's lifestyle value by fans.

xechnao · Mar 31, 2008

Mourn said:
I recall spots for Vampire and Werewolf back in the mid-1990s, and plenty of people would argue that those games are deeper than D&D.

Haven't seen them but I can imagine it. WW thematic and kind of novel background style is much more feasible IMO to advertise in TV with some kind of a spot.