Posts Tagged ‘game’

Golden Tee Video Game Extends Experience with YouTube

Friday, November 6th, 2009

golden tee youtube

A few weeks ago I was having a beer with a friend at a local watering hole, and something caught my eye in the background. It was a YouTube logo that flashed on the screen of the Golden Tee virtual golf video game machine behind our table. Being a passionate meaningful marketer and always on the lookout for a new blog entry, I ran over to the game to check it out. I discovered a very cool add-on to this ever-popular bar game.

One of my personal goals in my job as head of strategy at digital agency Bridge Worldwide is to convince my clients that they don’t necessarily need a “social-media strategy.” Yes, heretical as it might sound, social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are all important and offer great marketing opportunities, but that does not necessitate a specific “strategy.” Rather, we should stick to strong overall marketing strategies, and discover ways in which new social-media tools might fulfill a need or take advantage of an opportunity. A few months ago I made this point here and used an example from New York’s Museum of Modern Art to show how great social-media ideas can deliver on a solid marketing strategy. Let me try that exercise again here in an effort to continue to make my case.

Background

Golden Tee is a coin-operated (i.e., arcade-style) golfing game that was introduced in 1989 . The game is produced by Incredible Technologies, the largest producer of these types of games in the world. Golden Tee is its biggest platform, and there is an update to the game system each year. Just like producers of home sports games such as Madden NFL and Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Golden Tee must add must-have features to its game system each year in order to keep players and bars interested.

Business Objective

Like real-world golf, Golden Tee (GT) is not for everyone. It is played in bars, standing up, with loud music in your ears. It takes some time and skill to master the roller ball used to hit the ball. It also sucks a lot more quarters from your pocket than what casual users are used to. In my personal experience, it normally attracts two or three guys who spend hours at a time on the machine pumping dollars into it.

My assumption would be that the company has a very thin number of customers who are responsible for a vast majority of the playing time. So GT’s business objective is likely something close to: Increase the playing time and occasions among regular customers. This puts more dollars into the machines for GT, and bars love their share of the cut and added drink and food sales, ensuring that they make the move to the annual game upgrade. And it is a business objective that is very easy to measure.

Customer Insights

First, these regular players are very competitive. They spend hours on the game going against close friends, and I’ve seen rampant wagering (often for the next round of brews). There is even a national tournament for GT players. One thing you have to know about competitive players of ANY game is that they love to remember and share the stories of their greatest feats. Basketball players remember their greatest shots. Regular golfers love to talk about their longest drive or first birdie. I will never forget taking the lead for my team at 5 a.m. in the Bourbon Chase run a few weeks ago. That’s the key insight for passionate players of any game or sport. The more we remember and share, the more the game becomes a special part of our lives, and the more we will (pay to) play.

Strategy/Execution

Put these together and the strategy is simple: Find ways to help regular users remember and share their greatest shots. But how do we deliver on this idea? Back in my days of playing at arcades this would be a real head-scratcher. The closest thing I can remember from those days was that Activision had a program in which if you got a certain high score on one of its Atari 2600 games, you could take a photo, develop it, and mail a copy to the company, and months later they would send you a commemorative patch. I still have a towel that I sewed all my patches on somewhere (unless my mom or wife has disposed of it by now).

Here’s where digital and social media come in: They give marketers unprecedented tools that allow them to deliver on strategies in amazingly rich and cost-effective ways. Golden Tee now flags certain “Great Shots” in the game (holes in one, for example) and provides players with a code that they can use to see and save a replay of the shot on their computers back at home. GT uses YouTube, a free, ubiquitous service that allows the company to organize all of its videos and provides players with a way to share them on their personal websites and social-networking profiles. Here’s one completely random example of a Great Shot from a player named “sixfootsixbrad”:

Results

The folks at Golden Tee have not shared results that I can find about the program or how it has affected their sales, but that won’t stop me from trying to measure it. On the Golden Tee YouTube channel, more than 58,000 videos have been uploaded by players. Most videos have anywhere between a handful and 100 views, and the most-viewed one has more than 7,000. My guess would be that there have been at least 1 million collective views of these user-generated videos in the year or so that the tool has been in use. If this is compared to the many other user-generated video contests, it would be at or near the top in terms of total participation and views. Not bad at all.

More evidence of success of the program is seen in the recent upgrade to Golden Tee 2010. Now the game maker has added the ability to update your Facebook status through the game itself.

The Lesson

The folks at Golden Tee might or might not have gone through my specific steps to come up with the idea of integrating with YouTube. However, I would bet a lot of quarters that they also didn’t pay an agency to “come up with a social-media strategy.” The company might very well have simply come up with this idea out of the blue, but it was a deep understanding of their marketing strategy and consumer needs that led them in this direction.

Brand managers don’t need a social-media strategy. They need to understand what social media is and what it can do for brands and their customers. Then, by laying out strong marketing strategies, they might find new and powerful ways to deliver on them.

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Posted in Connection, Contests, Experience, Games, Social Networking | 3 Comments »

Bayer Creates Nintendo Game for Diabetes

Friday, July 24th, 2009

A few weeks ago I was alerted through buzz-tracking site Boing Boing of a new Nintendo plug-in from Bayer called Didget, which helps encourage children with diabetes to build good blood glucose testing habits. It is an incredible example of meaningful marketing and I hope the first of many such examples in the healthcare industry.

While I’m not a child with diabetes, I know a little something about the disease through work with one of our clients, the Glucerna brand at Abbott Nutrition. Several years ago we helped launch a program called Diabetes Control for Life, which helps people manage their disease through better eating, exercise, and regular glucose monitoring. And I have learned how important regular blood glucose testing is for people with diabetes, as it helps people learn about how their body reacts to food and activity. I have actually pricked my finger a few times to test my blood—and I can tell you that it’s not fun for an adult, much less a child. So anything that makes it easier—and even fun—for children to manage their diabetes is a huge opportunity to improve lives through marketing.

Bayer created this program with the help of a parent, Paul Wessel, who noticed that while his son was constantly losing his glucose meter, he always had his Nintendo Game Boy close by. In its final product, Bayer has done a lot of things well. First, it has developed an add-on to an already very popular and widespread Nintendo DS game system. Nintendo was likely very helpful in the development, both because of the revenue upside and chance to do good work. Second, the company created new games that tie into the monitor and reward kids with virtual credits that can be redeemed at a personalized website online. I know my own kids have improved their math and language skills through the educational games we have bought them with similar benefits.

Bayer’s Didget tool lies somewhere between the definitions of “product” and “marketing.” It is a new device that sells for around $50 in the U.K. and comes from Bayer’s family of glucose testing devices (including the Contour brand). I consider the online site and digital prizes part of a meaningful marketing program, much like the Webkinz online experience that is unlocked by purchasing a stuffed animal.

It will be interesting to see if Bayer will quickly expand this program to the U.S. and other countries around the world. I would be interested to see the company commission and share research showing that this device is helping kids learn to test regularly. This could help drive other healthcare companies into a new way of encouraging education, testing, and treatment by making it more fun for children of all ages.

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Posted in Games, Uncategorized, healthcare | 4 Comments »

Sanyo Recharges Brains

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Yesterday I wrote about how next-generation gaming consoles are allowing for meaningful marketing by brands that figure out how to add value to the gaming experience. Over the weekend I discovered a current-generation advertising platform that hosts an added-value game for readers.

While enjoying my Saturday ritual of coffee, bagels, and The Week magazine, my eyes stopped at a crossword puzzle in the middle of the issue. A crossword puzzle is fairly unusual in this magazine, and while I’m not really a crossword guy, seeing it here with the headline “Recharge Your Brain!” certainly earned my attention. I soon discovered that this puzzle was actually a paid advertisement by Sanyo in support of its new line of ready-to-use rechargeable batteries under the sub-brand “eneloop.” Far from being a gimmick, this was a legitimate crossword puzzle that sent readers to theweekdaily.com/eneloop for answers.

Overall, I think it’s a pretty clever marketing idea for a new product coming into a crowded category. The idea of a free crossword puzzle as a way to recharge your brain certainly opens people’s minds to learn about a new type of rechargeable battery. It got my attention and made me respect the brand in a way that “just another battery print ad” could never do. There’s also a nice tie to positioning Sanyo rechargeable batteries as “smarter” than the existing competition.

I do wish Sanyo would have gone farther with its “recharge your brain” idea. A trip to its website leads the interested consumer to just a regular piece of brochureware. For very little cost, Sanyo could have invited readers to participate in other mental challenges or to sign up for something like a daily trivia contest. The brand could have invited people to challenge their friends–thereby spurring word-of-mouth.

But at the end of the day it took a lot of guts for Sanyo to launch its new battery with a national print ad that gives more than 90% of its space to consumer enjoyment.

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Posted in Entertainment, Games | No Comments »

Leapfrog Marketing into Gaming

Monday, August 11th, 2008

I’m not too ashamed that I have become a fairly serious gamer in the past couple of years. I was raised on Atari 2600, spent college with Sega Genesis, and recently jumped headlong into the Xbox 360. You could say I have a relationship with games such as Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Call of Duty 4. I find these games to keep my mind sharp while providing me a disconnection from what went on at the office all day. Of course, I cannot completely disconnect from my day job in advertising, which means I have been a close observer of how these games have tried to inject advertising into my field of vision.

The marketing world is becoming extremely interested in the rising amount of time people are spending with video games. “Interested” in this case means both: (1) worried about the fact that eyeballs are moving away from ad-supported media (e.g., young men are watching less Monday Night Football and playing more Madden ‘08); and (2) excited by the chance to put a marketing message into a gaming space where people are extremely passionate and paying close attention. Video games join new media options such as mobile and podcasts as a place where different marketing strategies are playing out quickly. I believe these approaches are breaking down broadly into interruptive vs. meaningful marketing.  Today I share two examples of companies that are taking these different routes, and show us that the meaningful path makes more sense to both players and brands.

The first example comes from Guitar Hero 3.  In case you just landed on the planet a few days ago, Guitar Hero and its close follower, Rock Band, have become the biggest brands in the gaming universe over the past few years. They have given millions of players the chance to take a tiny taste of what it feels like to rock, and they now have a channel directly into the home through Internet connections that provide a way to play with friends or download additional songs. This is a very, very tempting target for marketers. Since its beginning, Guitar Hero used real musical equipment brands such as Gibson in the game. It’s a modest type of product placement marketing that makes sense. But a few months ago I noticed something different in my field of vision – an advertisement. See if you can find it in the screen shot below:

It’s hard to find in this shot in the upper left corner, but it doesn’t look that much clearer on my 50″ HD plasma either. This is an ad for Microsoft’s Sync in-car audio system. The brand has bought ad space in the display monitor at a concert venue where your Guitar Hero song is being played. I saw another ad for the new Fox TV show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The ads are barely visible on screen, and even less so when you’re concentrating on hitting notes that are coming down your screen (i.e., playing the game).

This in-game ad approach is hardly offensive and barely interruptive, but it sure isn’t meaningful, and I cannot see how it drives sales. These ad examples are likely targeted perfectly, but they are unrelated to the game itself.  Just as experts are saying with mobile marketing, I believe in-game marketing must add value to the experience in order to be tolerated by players and drive sales. This is no fun for the advertiser, the game producer, or (especially) the consumer.  At best, it’s ignored wallpaper.  At worst, the game owner feels that he needs a refund on the $60 he paid for the product.

On the other hand, a friend pointed me to another compelling approach where the in-game marketing adds value to the customer’s experience. Paramount Pictures has partnered with Ubisoft to “inject” a scavenger hunt into the game Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 in support of the release of its movie Tropic Thunder. In this game-within-the-game, players are invited to search for a series of nine branded clues. Those who complete the mission get a chance to win prizes such as a VIP game map and other Ubisoft games. Here’s a screen shots from the game:

Unlike the Guitar Hero example, Ubisoft and Paramount have created an experience that adds value to their customers’ lives. They understand the insight that many first-person-shooter gamers love the chance to try new missions and maps. And they know that word of such freebies travels fast among the connected game communities. Of course, they’ve also nailed the demographic targeting for the movie, and timed the promotion perfectly to start the critical release weekend buzz.

Leapfrogging Interruption into Meaning

The term “leapfrog technology” is increasingly used to show that developing nations may skip intermediate steps of technology use and go straight for the best-in-class standard. In Africa, for example, villages are going straight from no phones to mobile phones, not bothering to put up telephone lines. In Brazil, consumers shifted straight to debit cards. In Pakistan, rural villages are going straight to solar. In these and other cases, it simply makes sense to go straight to the most advanced technology.

Perhaps new media will similarly represent “leapfrog technology” for marketers. Instead of going to the old way of interruptive advertising when these new media options arise, we will “leapfrog” straight to meaningful marketing because it simply makes too much sense for consumers and companies.

(Side note: Look me up on Xbox 360, screen name: Barbobus.)

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Posted in Contests, Entertainment, Games, Leapfrom Media | 2 Comments »

Publishing with Meaning

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Over the past few weeks, my team has been speaking with publishers about our plans to develop a book around meaningful marketing. I’ve had the chance to chat with some of the top business-book publishers in the world. One of the topics we have hit on a few times is how meaningful marketing is not just for the large, traditional marketing companies such as P&G and GM. Instead, we believe that any business size or type has an opportunity to grow sales by uniquely adding value to its customers’ lives.

In speaking with publishers, we end up introducing our own meaningful marketing plan for the book, and we discuss how each publishing house can similarly add value to its bookstore customers. Ironically, I recently discovered an interesting campaign from Penguin that shows how even publishers are thinking differently and meaningfully.

I learned from one of our employees (and a good link from PSFK) that Penguin launched a digital marketing campaign in April ‘08 called We Tell Stories. Over six weeks Penguin launched participatory stories by six of its fiction authors across a range of genres to create an entirely new form of literature. One story, The (Former) General in his Labrynth, is “an unholy cross between a text adventure, choose your own adventure, and dungeon map.” Some stories unfold as the “reader” answers clues by searching the Net and using Google Maps, for example. Another story was written and posted “live” during the week. There is a hidden seventh story that brings together clues from the other six, and offers a prize of more than $25,000 in books from the Penguin Complete Classics Library.

I believe this campaign has a lot of potential to deliver for Penguin and its target readers. The free online game is a chance to connect people with the works of authors they may not have heard about before. In a way, it is a free sample that gets readers’/players’ blood pumping and makes them ready for more. While the grand prize is available for a limited time, this online game experience can stay online for years. It is impossible to judge the actual business impact, but a look at site traffic on Compete.com shows that traffic spiked to 35,000 visitors in April. I’d like to see higher, but it’s not bad based on campaigns I’ve seen of this type.

There is room for improvement, of course. I would have loved to see Penguin keep this site going for the long-haul versus just a six-week promotion. The stories could have been released once per month to spread the impact out further and allow for the gradual build from word-of-mouth.

We’ll have to wait and see if this meaningful marketing paid off for Penguin and whether it and other book publishers continue in this direction. For now, please try one of the stories for yourself – and let me know what you think in the comments section.

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Posted in Games | No Comments »