NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 2555251" data-attributes="member: 20741">I have mentioned this before in another thread recently, but I do think it’s the best way to market the game so I’ll say it again in hopes that someone who works at Hasbro will pitch it to a brand manager.The fundamental problems which WotC faces when trying to sell its products is that it is difficult to sell the product to someone who does not know what it is.  It is even more difficult to sell a complicated game that takes place in player’s minds to a player who has never played before.The result – as I am sure we all know – is that gamers tend as a rule to be recruited into existing gaming circles.  They learn the rules from the books and osmosis, but they learn how to play from others who already know how to play.  It is, in the end, a largely oral tradition.  A new player is, in effect, recruited and inducted into the hobby.This makes D&D a game which is dependent on a person’s social contacts in terms of being able to learn how to play and to play the game.WotC knows this (as did TSR) and much of their marketing efforts behind the game reflect this.  The RPGA exists as an organization of first contact, a way to learn how to meet other players to learn to play, largely in a public space.  The suggestion to move “learning the game” outreach sessions to libraries similarly focuses on bookish kids and mentoring programs to accomplish the introduction to the game.  It’s principal strength is that it is a very cheap marketing program.While the above is better than nothing, it falls way short of what they should be doing.  All the efforts end with a gamer having to meet up with an existing gaming circle to be shown how to play.  They are, therefore, dependent upon social contacts and prevent one kid out of the blue just starting to introduce his friends to the game cold.  Because it is dependent upon social contacts, it perpetuates the “geeky” aspect of the game and adds a significant barrier to entry.  Socially, you need to hook up and game with the geekier side of the tracks to learn to play and it becomes a self-perpetuating stereotype. Barriers to entry are bad.  Where there are fewer barriers to entry (MMORPGS, say) the same essential game concept (though not game experience) can be sold to a much broader based audience.So. You need to:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> offer a solid method of teaching new players how to play that is easy and fun;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> you need to offer the method in a manner which permits the player to teach his/her own friends the game cold without expanding their social circles or traveling to a convention or other site to play so as to reduce barriers to entry.</li> </ul>Your reward for doing this is to permit the game to be marketed and played by entirely new groups of gamers, increasing your odds of catching a longterm lifestyle gamer while swelling your ranks of temporary revenue customers. Your potential for spinoff sales goes way up and once you got a new group of gamers as customers.  Even if they eventually move away – you get to milk them of their cash before churn eliminates your new market.The SolutionThe solution to this quandary was hinted at in the 3.0 release of the Player’s Handbook,In that volume, at the back, the book contained a CD Rom of software targeted at the new gamer to D&D 3.0.My proposed solution is not software based at all – but it is disc based. Instead of packaging books with CD Roms of introductory software, the book needs to be packaged with a slickly produced DVD movie / infomercial which shows the gamer how to play by showing gamers playing.  You replace that first few sessions of the new player at an established gaming circle where the new player is shown how to play with movies / infomercial showing them how to play. If the movie illustrates rules, than so much the better  - but teaching rules has never really been the problem.  Gamers can read the books for that once they are motivated. A new recruit needs to learn how to play and be excited about learning how – and that’s where your DVD comes in.The DVD removes the barriers to entry to the game significantly.  The player does not need to find existing gamers – he or she is encouraged to recruit their existing circle of friends and is given the DVD as a tool to market to their own social circle. (Viral marketing through word of mouth and spreading of movie) There are no organizations to looks up, no conventions of odd gamers to find, no library to attend – no gaming shop mailing  list or games in the backroom necessary.The DVD removes all of that at a stroke.It also allows WotC to promote the game with some glitz in an exciting way and to depict those who play the game as something other than you typical fatbeard gamer.  Instead, the DVD depicts attractive everyday people of both genders playing the game.  The hope is that by reducing the barriers to entry to pitch to a new type of player, the stereotype becomes somewhat less self-fulfilling and a broader based market can be reached.The DVD is professionally produced and scripted. It is not done on the cheap. It makes use of glitzy graphics, decent actors and lots of miniatures and accessories to make the game LOOK exciting and compelling. The DVD needs to be accessible and entertaining on its own. Most of all – after watching 3 hours or so of this, a viewer should have a very good idea on how to play D&D.  If you like – bundle a Basic Game .pdf with the DVD. Or not (the D&D basic game was a large source of revenue to TSR once upon a time, but those days seem over).So – that’s your DVD.  Now – where do  you put it to get it into the hands of  the people who are likely to buy your game?Simple – put it where people who are most likely to take the bait are going to come in contact with it. That means:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Bundled with D&D Miniatures starter set.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Bundled with Star Wars minis starters;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">– bundled with MMORPG software;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Bundled with CRPG software, especially D&D branded console and PC games;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">– bundled with the D&D movie DVD</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Bookstores, intended to be racked near fantasy and SF;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Magazines where the demographic of the readership justifies the expense.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Dream Spot: Toys R Us at the check out (very, very expensive).</li> </ul>So that’s the plan. Main problem with the plan is that it is expensive. The cost of the movie is substantial and post production could easily push the thing to half a million or a million USD depending on the glitz level without breaking a sweat. That does not touch the costs of printing the DVD, packaging it a la AOL and then rack and bundle fees to get it into the hands of all of those potential customers.  That cost is very large, depending on the degree of market exposure you seek.  Bundle it with PC/Console games and the D&D movie seems the best option right off then decide if it’s working.The nice thing is though that the DVD is a virus in terms of marketing success. By definition, those who watch it and wish to pursue the game will introduce friends to it  - so word of mouth is extremely high for the marketing campaign (where it sticks).Marketing success is similarly viral in nature and one successful DVD viewer tends to spin-off viewing among friends.  The RewardSimple: New Long term lifestyle gamers.  We are extremely valuable customers and add measurably to the goodwill of WotC.  We, not their IP,  are their most valuable asset. They would *love* to have a few hundred thousand more of us – make no mistake.In order to get more of us – they need more newbies.In my submission – this marketing campaign has a high potential of success.  It does, however, come at a substantial cost and is, therefore, a greater risk than perhaps WotC/Hasbro is willing to take.</blockquote>

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