Originally posted here:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=525546
Merric:
One of the latest turns in the ongoing ENworld Gary Gygax Q&A thread has me wondering about how D&D is promoted these days.
I came up with the following things I've seen or heard of recently:
* Magazine ads. (e.g. Playing an Elf in your Basement). How many magazines or comic books run these things? I can only assume that the "Buy the PHB" ad that turned up in Dungeon magazine was there because it was part of a global run.
* TV commercials during the D&D movie. (Do you run them at other times?)
* The Library Program "Afternoon Adventures with D&D" (Are people involved with that?)
* The "Win a D&D Basic Game" part of the History Channel/Crusades promotion.
* Worldwide D&D Day. (Oh, how I wish I had a FLGS that would get involved...)
* Hasbro Delegates (dependent on them actually playing D&D, but there are probably some)
Obviously, last year with the "30 Years of D&D" there was quite a bit of promotion as well.
Related to this, of course, is the age range at which D&D is being promoted; much of what I've seen seems more aimed at older players (late teens or older) than the 10-14 range. Of course, being in my 30s (and being in Australia) would mean I saw a lot more of the material aimed at older people...
Indeed, does advertising have an impact on D&D sales at all? Or is it more a case of having people out there playing the game and bringing in their friends?
Charles Ryan:
You've put together a decent list of initiatives, but our overall marketing efforts in 2005 are much broader. Rather than go into a laundry list of details, which would take too long and probably bore you to death, let me give you an overview of what we've done (and are still doing) in 2005:
Advertising: We primarily advertise in print and online, with an emphasis on publications/sites that will help us acquire new players. This year we had ads in about 15 or 20 magazines and a like number of web sites, with multiple insertions in each. Magazines range from MAD, SI for Kids, and EGM to Dragon and Scrye. As you pointed out, we've done some TV advertising as well, but we tend to be opportunistic with TV, looking for ideal programming.
PR: This is another big area for us. We drive product reviews not just in core media (like EN World) but also increasingly in more mainstream press. We ensure plentiful and positive media coverage for events like WWDDGD, and for the D&D brand in general. (Don't have the numbers yet for 2005, but we picked up something like 100 million impressions in 2004). And we take advantage of opportunities to seed key influencers in the media and the public eye.
Events and OP: I probably don't have to tell you much about this. GenCon, Origins, the GAMA Trade Show, Comic Con, Winter Fantasy, RPGA, the Delegate program, WWDDGD, etc. A lot of OP is focused on keeping existing D&D players engaged, but some elements, like the Delegate program, are entirely focused on bringing in new players. Others, like WWDDGD, are dual-purpose.
Web: Again, I don't have to tell you much. We have a huge and active web site with zillions of visitors and very respectable click-through and linger rates--most businesses, even megacorps, would kill to have web stats like ours. Most of what you are probably familiar with is geared toward supporting the community of existing players, but a lot of effort also goes into drawing in new players and giving them what they need to migrate into deeper involvement.
Other stuff: There's a ton of other stuff that happens regularly (materials for retailers, catalogs, the hundreds of spinner racks we've put in Barnes & Nobles and other book stores, giveaways, and so on) or opportunistically (cross-promos with other companies (like the History Channel), etc.).
Hopefully that'll give you some sense of how hard we work to grow and sustain D&D. The proof is in the results: 4.6 million Americans claim to be regular tabletop D&D RPG players, up 15% from last year.
Let me give you one last data point: Last year, in celebration of D&D's 30th Anniversary, we gave D&D one of the biggest (perhaps the biggest) marketing budget it had ever had. This year, rather than cut back to the smaller budgets of yore, we basically kept it just as big--and we spent more of it on general marketing, and less on 30th-specific events (like a huge party at Gen Con). We're keeping the budget about the same in 2006. So you can expect to continue to see a lot of effort put into the continued growth of D&D!
Hope that answers your question. Let me know if you have more!
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=525546
Merric:
One of the latest turns in the ongoing ENworld Gary Gygax Q&A thread has me wondering about how D&D is promoted these days.
I came up with the following things I've seen or heard of recently:
* Magazine ads. (e.g. Playing an Elf in your Basement). How many magazines or comic books run these things? I can only assume that the "Buy the PHB" ad that turned up in Dungeon magazine was there because it was part of a global run.
* TV commercials during the D&D movie. (Do you run them at other times?)
* The Library Program "Afternoon Adventures with D&D" (Are people involved with that?)
* The "Win a D&D Basic Game" part of the History Channel/Crusades promotion.
* Worldwide D&D Day. (Oh, how I wish I had a FLGS that would get involved...)
* Hasbro Delegates (dependent on them actually playing D&D, but there are probably some)
Obviously, last year with the "30 Years of D&D" there was quite a bit of promotion as well.
Related to this, of course, is the age range at which D&D is being promoted; much of what I've seen seems more aimed at older players (late teens or older) than the 10-14 range. Of course, being in my 30s (and being in Australia) would mean I saw a lot more of the material aimed at older people...
Indeed, does advertising have an impact on D&D sales at all? Or is it more a case of having people out there playing the game and bringing in their friends?
Charles Ryan:
You've put together a decent list of initiatives, but our overall marketing efforts in 2005 are much broader. Rather than go into a laundry list of details, which would take too long and probably bore you to death, let me give you an overview of what we've done (and are still doing) in 2005:
Advertising: We primarily advertise in print and online, with an emphasis on publications/sites that will help us acquire new players. This year we had ads in about 15 or 20 magazines and a like number of web sites, with multiple insertions in each. Magazines range from MAD, SI for Kids, and EGM to Dragon and Scrye. As you pointed out, we've done some TV advertising as well, but we tend to be opportunistic with TV, looking for ideal programming.
PR: This is another big area for us. We drive product reviews not just in core media (like EN World) but also increasingly in more mainstream press. We ensure plentiful and positive media coverage for events like WWDDGD, and for the D&D brand in general. (Don't have the numbers yet for 2005, but we picked up something like 100 million impressions in 2004). And we take advantage of opportunities to seed key influencers in the media and the public eye.
Events and OP: I probably don't have to tell you much about this. GenCon, Origins, the GAMA Trade Show, Comic Con, Winter Fantasy, RPGA, the Delegate program, WWDDGD, etc. A lot of OP is focused on keeping existing D&D players engaged, but some elements, like the Delegate program, are entirely focused on bringing in new players. Others, like WWDDGD, are dual-purpose.
Web: Again, I don't have to tell you much. We have a huge and active web site with zillions of visitors and very respectable click-through and linger rates--most businesses, even megacorps, would kill to have web stats like ours. Most of what you are probably familiar with is geared toward supporting the community of existing players, but a lot of effort also goes into drawing in new players and giving them what they need to migrate into deeper involvement.
Other stuff: There's a ton of other stuff that happens regularly (materials for retailers, catalogs, the hundreds of spinner racks we've put in Barnes & Nobles and other book stores, giveaways, and so on) or opportunistically (cross-promos with other companies (like the History Channel), etc.).
Hopefully that'll give you some sense of how hard we work to grow and sustain D&D. The proof is in the results: 4.6 million Americans claim to be regular tabletop D&D RPG players, up 15% from last year.
Let me give you one last data point: Last year, in celebration of D&D's 30th Anniversary, we gave D&D one of the biggest (perhaps the biggest) marketing budget it had ever had. This year, rather than cut back to the smaller budgets of yore, we basically kept it just as big--and we spent more of it on general marketing, and less on 30th-specific events (like a huge party at Gen Con). We're keeping the budget about the same in 2006. So you can expect to continue to see a lot of effort put into the continued growth of D&D!
Hope that answers your question. Let me know if you have more!
