An Interesting Promotional Strategy

[M. J. Young]

My son and I stumbled into something that was worth sharing with other independent game publishers. Here it is.

We were at UNY-con, and the seminars were wonderful but poorly attended, so the amount of promotional value the offered was not so great. However, after the Saturday morning seminar we hiked out to the mall to find lunch, and discovering as we consumed our Burger King sandwiches that the mall was closing at five and not opening again until Monday (and there were precious few inexpensive food providers in the neighborhood otherwise), we decided to hunt down something we could buy now and eat later, heading off for Luca's Pizza as something that might potentially have food that wouldn't be so bad at hotel room temperature in a few hours.

Luca's was closing; he offered us a whole pepperoni pizza he of which wished to rid himself before he went home, but neither of us are big on pepperoni (and even pizza is iffy with my heartburn). But as we ambled down toward Arby's, Kyler commented that you'd think pizza would be selling well with a gamer convention just up the street.

For five bucks, we bought that pizza. He gave us a stack of paper plates and napkins to go with it. We bought Arby's for dinner, took it to our room, and then planted ourselves at a vacant table on the main concourse. The simple sign Kyler created said, "Ask M.J.", with an arrow pointing toward me. Then exchanges went something like this:

How much is the pizza?

The pizza's free; you just have to talk with us for a few minutes about our game.

Tell me about the game.

Here, have a slice of pizza.

Eight slices of pizza; one game store now has Multiverser books on the shelf, and another may be considering it; three kids have heard of the game and think it's neat who'd never heard of it before; an older gamer is fascinated with the idea and putting it on his wish list; and two hotel employees are looking at it, one as a kind of game he'd never imagined before and the other as a Christmas gift for her brother.

I wish Luca's had had two leftover pizzas.

For that matter, for what pizza usually costs, I could probably buy two or three pies at regular price and give them away slice by slice at a convention to drum up attention. I heard you were giving away free pizza was the comment of at least two of those who came our direction (one the girl who's going to get it for her brother). One of the convention staffers who heard us say the pizza was free if you talk to us about our game said that was the best hook he'd ever heard for getting gamers to stop.

If you're at a convention with me sometime and want to go halves on the pizza, I'm sure we can work it out.

--M. J. Young

[Daniel Solis]

Nice!

College events here, and I imagine everywhere else, have known that the way to attract twenty-somethings is through their stomachs. It reminds me of the scene from the South park movie where Cartman insists that people will only attend the Resistence meeting if it's advertised as offering "punch n' pie." :)

[Dregg]

Actually a very good idea, but I also see it having a "Bear" backlash, if you run out of Pizza the gamers will either leave or eat you... metaphoricaly speaking.

I think if any good theory behind alot of the ideas on promotions, is thus... People like free things, period! If it is something the people want or like, it will draw them like flys. Gamers like food, they also like Dice, note books, character sheets, and other stuff they can add to thier arsenal.
Besides Pizza, what else would draw a gamer? what could you give that would be useful, and be free advertising at a convention?

So far I have Heard
Pencils
Stickers
Afro Pics (Me)
Buttons

Dregg

[Christopher Weeks]

Besides Pizza, what else would draw a gamer?

It seems that Hot Chix(tm) is a long-time favorite at the big cons.  And sadly, it works.

Chris

[Dregg]

Besides Pizza, what else would draw a gamer?

It seems that Hot Chix(tm) is a long-time favorite at the big cons.  And sadly, it works.

Chris

Chris,
Now that you have my full attention, I must know how this works?
Did you have a Hot Chix(TM) at a booth flashing cleavage? A Buy a book take a peek tent?

The reason I am into this thread is because I will be promoting myself soon at local NJ cons, and need some ideas and suggestions from experience.

[Mike Holmes]

The problem with Pizza (and otherwise I agree that it's an excellent idea) is that you don't have a lisence to distribute it. At GenCon, this was a big enough deal that we dropped our idea of serving coffee because the convention restricted this sort of thing. At the very least, check with the convention to see if it's OK. I wouldn't want to buy a load of food, and then be told that I couldn't give it away. There may be all sorts of local regulations that apply of which one might not be aware.

Booth Babes just hang out, and/or hand out materials. They probably are effective to some extent, but I'm also as sure that their rates are exhorbitant. And there are probably hidden costs as well. If you need to have them wear something particular, that'll cost a bunch. You may have to put them up overnight in some cases. Many BBs are actually friends of the guys who own the booth volunteering to help out. If you know an appropriately attractive person and can get them to help, then lucky you

I've been wondering how to approach some of our Forge Booth women about wearing skimpier outfits. You know who you are! If I was an attractive female I'd be doing my part to help!  ;-)  

Other than food or women, we've brainstormed on this subject a few times. One thing that is usually allowed is music (but, again, check with the staff on limits there). And, of course any visual medium is allowed. Other giveaways are only so successful. That is, gamers are bombarded by flyers, buttons and leaflets, etc. CDs would make a better giveaway, I'd think, assuming that you had something to fill one reasonably. We even thought about providing messaging or storage functions for attendees.

None of these really jump out and grab you, however. In the end I think that our "demo on demand" is the best way to engage potential buyers.

Mike

[LordSmerf]

Mike's mention of giving out CDs sparks an incredibly interesting (maybe even useful) idea that segues nicely with my obsession with mix CD's.  Would it be effective to put together a CD of music that you feel represents the way your game is played?  I know that not everything will allow this, but i'm sure that most people could come up with at least a few songs that they feel have the right "flavor."  You probably couldn't distribute these (copyright and such,) but you could have a list...  And you could definately have them playing in the background...

Just a thought.

Thomas

[Dregg]

Would it be effective to put together a CD of music that you feel represents the way your game is played?  I know that not everything will allow this, but i'm sure that most people could come up with at least a few songs that they feel have the right "flavor."  You probably couldn't distribute these (copyright and such,) but you could have a list...  And you could definately have them playing in the background...

These is a good question! I would love to put out a CD with some FUNK! tunes on them, but copyrights would not allow this right? Even if you are giving them away for free?

[LordSmerf]

I'm pretty sure that copyright disallows this since when you purchase music you get a "personal use" style liscense (if i'm understanding things, standard "I'm not a lawyer" stuff).  Anything beyond personal use is disallowed, especially if you were to be using it for promotional purposes.  Comercials have to liscense music, even though they aren't selling anything.

However, you could just play the soundtrack for the game for demos and at a booth, and you could include the song list for the soundtrack with the game...

Thomas

[Mike Holmes]

God I'm a downer. And not a lawyer either, but...

Even playing it at your booth would technically be an infringement, as you're using the music for personal gain. If this were not true, then people could use music in ads without paying.

OTOH, there's always music in the public domain. If your game has a feel that's old-school enough, you may be able to assemble enough stuff for even a givaway CD. Further there's the fact that I highly doubt that you'd get prosecuted for playing music at a booth. I'm not advocating doing anything illegal, but well...

Also, there are probably musical or audio artists here who would be willing to work with you to produce original music for the CD. Now that would be cool.

Mike

[LordSmerf]

Well then, i stand corrected.  Thanks Mike, i appreciate it when someone points out that i'm horribly wrong in some statement i make.

That said, has anyone ever produced a CD for something like this?  Ideas on cost for production and especially for music itself?  Just curious.

Thomas

[Cemendur]

Concerning the music for personal gain. The bookstore where I received my training received a notice from a music trade organization. I am not sure if it was RIAA, it was before they had received national attention. The notice said that we needed to stop playing music in the store or face a fine. However, a permit could be bought.

The owner of the store consulted a lawyer. It turns out that the law only applies if more than 4 speakers are playing the music AND the size of the store is over a certain restriction; I do not remember the size but it was larger than your typical friendly neighborhood bookstore. Otherwise, it is legit to use the music. This applied to both radio and personal CDs.

I do not know of any clause for booths.

As for promotional mix music, consider consulting musicians on independent (non-RIAA) labels. Their are many independent labels that give much of their music for free over the internet. Their are many artists that do the same. Some, including some of my favorite musicians, even give their whole catalogue for free. (No, I am not talking about p2p, I am referring to official approved legal websites.) Their are a lot of musicians who would appreciate the publicity. Consider approaching it as a sort of co-op advertisement. You will pay for the cost of printing, they provide the music.

[Mike Holmes]

Check out: http://www.holycow.com/thickets/

Seems the Thickets have put out a soundtrack for Spaceship Zero (in addition to all the Cthulhu stuff.

Mike

[AdAstraGames]

This seems a more appropriate place to put this discussion:

My booth demo is "Hey, wanna blow up some chocolate?"

Which is just weird enough that people blink, stop, and go "Wha?"

I then show how to fire a weapon in a 3-D combat environment for AV:T, hand them a flyer, and tell them where to find the full game demo if they're interested.

If I get a live one, I show how my products integrate together.  If they ask about RPGs, I show the planetary maps I have done up, plus the pretty star map.

The trick here is that i've got about 4 interrelated games using the same setting (and more in development) so that my marketing pitch cascades together.

But mostly, it's the chocolates that get them...

My advice on doing a demo:

1) Script it.  No, really.  Script it.  Inflict it on your friends.  Rehearse it.  Time it.  

You get about 30 seconds to get someone into it, and then you need to be done with the main part of your demo in 7-10, with an extended demo taking 15 minutes.

15 minutes should be enough to show the specifics of your Kewl Combat System, or your Spiffy Mechanics, and enough of the setting to get someone interested.

2) Never ever ever talk smack about someone else's competing products.  It will eventually bite you in the ass.  Even if it's (legitimately) a festering pile of dog poop that even the flies are abandoning, if someone brings it up as a comparison, find something neutral, if not nice, to say about it, and segue into a feature that you can show your game doing better.

3) If someone walks away, smile.  Hey, not all games appeal to all people.  If the person isn't interested (or their store isn't interested) it's not a fault of your product.

4) Talk to people.  Be friendly.  Smile.  Use deoderant, brush your teeth and comb your hair (or wear a hat).

5) Booth babes:  Pretty is better than gorgeous.  Pretty and will be outgoing and talk to people is vastly better still.  You're better off having a pretty girl on your cover than in your booth.