Comments on: Game marketing is three times more important than product quality

By: Sean Bean's Gravy Boat

Sean Bean's Gravy Boat — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:15:35 +0000

Of course they expected to help you sell the game – that WAS your job wasn’t it?

I didn’t think that people that worked in marketing & promotions got to pick and choose what products they actually promoted based on what they thought was good and what wasn’t. The way you have worded that response comes across as though you just couldn’t be bothered to promote the product because you thought it was rubbish.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:13:16 +0000

I built a defence against American / Pop Idol in the article when I said: “(Unless it is a total dog)”
At the time I was almost in shock that they had invested in such rubbish and that they expected me to help them sell it.

By: Sean Bean's Gravy Boat

Sean Bean's Gravy Boat — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:29:52 +0000

I’d be interested to know what the marketing and promotional spend was on American Idol / Pop Idol, and to be able to directly compare that to the sales that it got.

If there was one game that could prove your point, then maybe it would be that one? It was total arse, wasn’t it?

By: Scottie_UK

Scottie_UK — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:22:05 +0000

Yeah what smart person would buy a Lexus?

By: Tight Jeans

Tight Jeans — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:07:25 +0000

I can’t help but be slightly amazed Bruce, that as someone with a significant profile and background in ‘Marketing’ that you continue to confuse ‘Marketing’ and ‘Promotion’.

Promotion is a small part of Marketing.

Where you are spot on, is your assertion that companies invest far too much energy in promotion and often poor, un-innovative out and out ‘advertising’.

Sorry if I’m being unfairly pedantic, but I’m sure you will understand my frustration. You can be brilliant at the wrong product, but it’s still the wrong product.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:09:56 +0000

Developper diary is a very good idea BC. Will get working on that, tnx.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:41:54 +0000

@Christian
Of course word of mouth is key. But you have to propagate it. It has to start somewhere, it doesn’t just happen.
You need people to be talking about you and the only way to do that is to be worth talking about. Which means creating exciting stories and getting them out there.

These days videos are massively important.

By: Christian Watson

Christian Watson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:21:05 +0000

I agree with the original article up until the comment about PS3 sales being driven by improved marketing rather than the price cut. Please — the only thing people complained about regarding the PS3 was the price. It was simply too expensive to begin with.

Also, other surveys (sorry, not sure which) have shown that word of mouth is the most important factor in influencing what games people buy. Where do you place this in relation to marketing spend?

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:09:21 +0000

I thought this was worth commenting on purely because of the picture – haven’t even read the article yet but the picture automatically gives it 10/10!

By: BC

BC — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:25:51 +0000

For something like an iphone game you should be marketing from day one. Anything indie like that, the customer likes to feel he ‘owns’ the game already by feeling involved in the development process. Dev diarys, getting people to see it the game and getting their comments would be a good start.