A while back I was the marketing manager for a 400 person sports bar/nightclub and there was a continuous challenge to keep the place busy during off-hours. For example, outside of football season and before baseball season there were a lot of weekend days that there were no events to drive traffic in to our business.
That's when I found that video games could not only attract an adult crowd but bring in big profits as well. It started off like most promotional ideas sitting around the bar talking to customers (this should never be overlooked since they are the one's who ultimately decide on whether or not your promotions will be successful.)
We started with a group of guys who were excited to get out and golf but the weather wasn't cooperating so we decided to do a Tournament-style Tiger Woods tournament. The first weekend we had about 10 people sign up. We started getting phone calls for it and soon started getting requests for Madden Football tournaments. About two months in, suddenly we had about 25 people every Sunday coming in for a Tiger Woods golf tournament. We also had a Madden tournament every Tuesday night (another slow night) and had about 40-50 players showing up. Not bad when you consider two beverages and an appetizer equal about $15 dollars. Right there we just added $600-750 a night on a Tuesday.
Eventually, we started doing a Halo tournament on Saturday mornings and had filled some of our vacant revenue slots with a good, steady and loyal, crowd following.
Now, as I watch Sony open up their in-game advertising platform, I can see that they have been foaming at the mouth because of the increasing popularity of online gaming.
What does this mean? Now Sony's Playstation3 system will allow outside companies to sell ads in to the PS3 games that people are playing online.
This isn't exactly new. Many games sell sponsorships, especially sporting games (For example, Madden 2007 has their "Snickers" player of the game.) But, with the video-game industry now worth about $400 million dollars annually now and a growth rate of 23%, it seems the stakes are getting a little higher (according to a recent article in Advertising Age - "Game-Ad Boom Looms as Sony Opens Up PS3 by Abbey Klaasen.)
It seems a far cry from our sports bar and nightclub promotions pulling in crowds and this is, by far, much more appealing on a larger scale.
The major difference is the two types of advertising that can be done now on the PS3. There are dynamic in-game ads and ads that are a permanent marker of the game (Snickers "player of the game.") The dynamics of the dynamic in-game ads are that marketers can purchase buys for multiple games and not have to make the final decision while the game is in production. Companies can sit back and wait to see how the consumer feels about the new games and then run the numbers to find how many are playing it and who the buyers of the games are (most likely the impressive 18-34 adult male that makes over $40,000 annually).
Seems like the Internet and gaming industry are about to get in to a very competitive advertising dual. The good news right now is that there is no lock on any one company owning this advertising channel as of yet with PS3.
So, next time you're playing some guy in a match game of Tiger Woods 2008, make sure you have your player equipped with the Nike hat and shoes, the Slazenger three iron, and the Ray-Ban sunglasses but then sit back and wait as you turn on the back nine for a little word from your "other" sponsors.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
My tickets to Opening Day
Please understand. I skip work every year for one early afternoon in April to breathe in the spring air, have an excuse to swill a beer at 1:35 p.m. on a Monday afternoon, and hear how the Baltimore Orioles will have another outstanding, albeit building, year.
It's probably the greatest time of year outside of the NFL Draft, Wildcard weekend, March Madness, and the World Cup.
But still, I wouldn't miss it.
So, this year I think I'd like to get tickets to the "real" opening day between the Oakland Athletics and the Boston Red Sox. Thanks to technology, I already eyed up a destination package (all the goods: Airfare, hotel, tickets, etc.) for only $4,999. Barring my current reality, I'm really looking in to it.
No matter. Even though the game will go off at around 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, I'm sure I can access it. I looked over the web to see if there is indeed a market for people like me and to no surprise, there is. I can get two different packages this year thanks to mlb.com.
Mind you, I'm not a Red Sox fan so my money will be well spent trying to help the Orioles find their way out of the AL East this season. The Baltimore Orioles and Major League Baseball want my fandom to be appreciated and recognized. They are offering season packages to watch all of the 162 Baltimore Oriole games online. I called MLB.com to ask about pricing and packages and it sounded like a great deal (and also like they have a very sophisticated online purchasing system. With all of this, it surely takes a great information system to make sure when the first pitch is thrown, everybody who signed up for these packages are getting their baseball fix.
Packages were $119 per year or $19.99 per month for the 700k streaming video that the guy on the phone guaranteed me would be worth it. Or, for all you turtles out there: Only $89.99 per season or $14.95 per month for the roughly 350-400k streaming video. I'm sure you'll lose a bit on your fast ball watching on that one.
Of course, then again, if I'm watching the Orioles play the Red Sox on my 350K streaming video that may mean the scorching fastballs might lose a bit and we'll actually hit some of that Red Sox pitching this season.
Play ball.
It's probably the greatest time of year outside of the NFL Draft, Wildcard weekend, March Madness, and the World Cup.
But still, I wouldn't miss it.
So, this year I think I'd like to get tickets to the "real" opening day between the Oakland Athletics and the Boston Red Sox. Thanks to technology, I already eyed up a destination package (all the goods: Airfare, hotel, tickets, etc.) for only $4,999. Barring my current reality, I'm really looking in to it.
No matter. Even though the game will go off at around 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, I'm sure I can access it. I looked over the web to see if there is indeed a market for people like me and to no surprise, there is. I can get two different packages this year thanks to mlb.com.
Mind you, I'm not a Red Sox fan so my money will be well spent trying to help the Orioles find their way out of the AL East this season. The Baltimore Orioles and Major League Baseball want my fandom to be appreciated and recognized. They are offering season packages to watch all of the 162 Baltimore Oriole games online. I called MLB.com to ask about pricing and packages and it sounded like a great deal (and also like they have a very sophisticated online purchasing system. With all of this, it surely takes a great information system to make sure when the first pitch is thrown, everybody who signed up for these packages are getting their baseball fix.
Packages were $119 per year or $19.99 per month for the 700k streaming video that the guy on the phone guaranteed me would be worth it. Or, for all you turtles out there: Only $89.99 per season or $14.95 per month for the roughly 350-400k streaming video. I'm sure you'll lose a bit on your fast ball watching on that one.
Of course, then again, if I'm watching the Orioles play the Red Sox on my 350K streaming video that may mean the scorching fastballs might lose a bit and we'll actually hit some of that Red Sox pitching this season.
Play ball.
Monday, February 11, 2008
How to make sure your favorite player makes the All-Star game.
Here's what the City of Cincinnati wanted the the all-star ballot to look like in 1957:
Johnny Temple, 2B
Roy McMillan, SS
Don Hoak, 3B
Ed Bailey, C
Frank Robinson, LF
Gus Bell, CF
Wally Post, RF
Stan Musial, 1B
Interesting? Only that everybody listed there outside of Stan "The Man" played for the Cincinnati Reds at the time. Good power move by the fans, yet the commish stepped in and raised a heavy hand. The Commissioner, Ford Frick, decided there were two other player in the league that might also deserve a chance to participate in baseball's mid-summer classic so he added Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Subsequently, Bell and Post lost their spots.
Now. Outside of that being good fodder, it's a nice set up for the here and now. There are several things that can be learned from this. They are:
1) Ballot box stuffing has been around for a long time;
2) Fans are loyal and rabid;
3) The players don't have to be the best at that point in the season to be elected to the all-star game.
And, now we have the internet. Don't worry about getting caught and realize you are not the only one doing this. You just have to have the will and a little time on your hands.
It also helps if you are from a big market like New York or Boston. Two years ago, the American league only had one starter that was not a member of either of these juggernauts.
And it helps if you are really good at working with computers. If you can use internet technology to fool the MLB's information system to let you vote multiple times, all the better. Somebody pulled that trick off in 1999 for Nomar. Yup, gave Nomar Garciaparra 14,000 automated votes. Don't worry though. You can match that with a little resourcefulness. Just start a chain email that "cannot be broke" or everybody will get "seven years of bad luck" or it will snow seven feet in seven hours like they claim it does in Oswego, New York. Just make it really serious and remind them that your guy would NEVER do that kind of stuff and attach a link to some nice non-profit website that he donates money to.
The point is, with the internet, the fix is in already. Big market teams have more fans than your team probably does. (I am one of the few believers that actually believe you small market teams even know how to use the internet.)
With it being a good possibility that over 20 million people will log on worldwide this year to vote on the all-star balloting, it is going to take some unfair play to ensure your guy gets in.
O.k., so, if you've read this far it's fair to assume I can up the ante and we can add on some severity here. Major League baseball teams use their ad dollars, their stadiums and their mascots to push their best players up in the balloting but it's going to take YOU the fan to break that horizon line. Here it is: you gotta take your plight to YouTube. Get on there and do whatever it takes to get your guy in the all-star game and, do me a favor, drop me a link in the comment box beneath this so I can see how good it is. You got from now until May 2008. Get on it little Paduan.
***
(Thanks for my fact-collecting resources. They're great for any and all about the great game of baseball: www.mlb.com, www.about.com, and www.wikipedia.com)
Johnny Temple, 2B
Roy McMillan, SS
Don Hoak, 3B
Ed Bailey, C
Frank Robinson, LF
Gus Bell, CF
Wally Post, RF
Stan Musial, 1B
Interesting? Only that everybody listed there outside of Stan "The Man" played for the Cincinnati Reds at the time. Good power move by the fans, yet the commish stepped in and raised a heavy hand. The Commissioner, Ford Frick, decided there were two other player in the league that might also deserve a chance to participate in baseball's mid-summer classic so he added Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Subsequently, Bell and Post lost their spots.
Now. Outside of that being good fodder, it's a nice set up for the here and now. There are several things that can be learned from this. They are:
1) Ballot box stuffing has been around for a long time;
2) Fans are loyal and rabid;
3) The players don't have to be the best at that point in the season to be elected to the all-star game.
And, now we have the internet. Don't worry about getting caught and realize you are not the only one doing this. You just have to have the will and a little time on your hands.
It also helps if you are from a big market like New York or Boston. Two years ago, the American league only had one starter that was not a member of either of these juggernauts.
And it helps if you are really good at working with computers. If you can use internet technology to fool the MLB's information system to let you vote multiple times, all the better. Somebody pulled that trick off in 1999 for Nomar. Yup, gave Nomar Garciaparra 14,000 automated votes. Don't worry though. You can match that with a little resourcefulness. Just start a chain email that "cannot be broke" or everybody will get "seven years of bad luck" or it will snow seven feet in seven hours like they claim it does in Oswego, New York. Just make it really serious and remind them that your guy would NEVER do that kind of stuff and attach a link to some nice non-profit website that he donates money to.
The point is, with the internet, the fix is in already. Big market teams have more fans than your team probably does. (I am one of the few believers that actually believe you small market teams even know how to use the internet.)
With it being a good possibility that over 20 million people will log on worldwide this year to vote on the all-star balloting, it is going to take some unfair play to ensure your guy gets in.
O.k., so, if you've read this far it's fair to assume I can up the ante and we can add on some severity here. Major League baseball teams use their ad dollars, their stadiums and their mascots to push their best players up in the balloting but it's going to take YOU the fan to break that horizon line. Here it is: you gotta take your plight to YouTube. Get on there and do whatever it takes to get your guy in the all-star game and, do me a favor, drop me a link in the comment box beneath this so I can see how good it is. You got from now until May 2008. Get on it little Paduan.
***
(Thanks for my fact-collecting resources. They're great for any and all about the great game of baseball: www.mlb.com, www.about.com, and www.wikipedia.com)
Monday, February 4, 2008
2.4 million dollars later and what do they have
And there it was for all the world to see: Danika Patrick and her beaver. Very impressive. Not really the fact that Danika Patrick was talking about her beaver but the fact that GoDaddy.com played it pretty well during the SuperBowl. Considering that GoDaddy got all of their ads nixed by the FCC, they found a way to use modern technology to actually DO something.
For a cool 2.4 million dollars (that's like 42 zillion peso's, right?), GoDaddy bought their ad space and submitted their 11th and 12th ad creations to the FCC for their SuperBowl ad and used it to generate web traffic to www.godaddy.com.
They were dubbed, "Spot On" and were a television teaser to get the audience to actually go online to watch their ads that didn't make the FCC-approved cut list.
GoDaddy is no newcomer to SuperBowl controvery and has used this opportunity to, again, create word-of-mouth water cooler talk and web visits to their web hosting website.
Just go to www.bobparsons.com where GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons runs his own website. You can catch yourself up on all the details of this story there.
If anything is to be clearer the day after, it's that perfection isn't easily achieved... GoDaddy knows it, The Patriots know it, and the general public knows it. That's why over 100 million people (that's my guess since the numbers aren't in yet), watched the SuperBowl and why advertisers are now turning to the masses to push their products (i.e., Dorito's and their "create a commercial" and "American Idol" type ads).
With advertisers searching to find that elusive visceral connection with their audience, we are beginning to see the most hands-on advertising yet.
Just ask Kina Grannis. She saw herself playing guitar during the Super Bowl thanks to Doritos.
For a cool 2.4 million dollars (that's like 42 zillion peso's, right?), GoDaddy bought their ad space and submitted their 11th and 12th ad creations to the FCC for their SuperBowl ad and used it to generate web traffic to www.godaddy.com.
They were dubbed, "Spot On" and were a television teaser to get the audience to actually go online to watch their ads that didn't make the FCC-approved cut list.
GoDaddy is no newcomer to SuperBowl controvery and has used this opportunity to, again, create word-of-mouth water cooler talk and web visits to their web hosting website.
Just go to www.bobparsons.com where GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons runs his own website. You can catch yourself up on all the details of this story there.
If anything is to be clearer the day after, it's that perfection isn't easily achieved... GoDaddy knows it, The Patriots know it, and the general public knows it. That's why over 100 million people (that's my guess since the numbers aren't in yet), watched the SuperBowl and why advertisers are now turning to the masses to push their products (i.e., Dorito's and their "create a commercial" and "American Idol" type ads).
With advertisers searching to find that elusive visceral connection with their audience, we are beginning to see the most hands-on advertising yet.
Just ask Kina Grannis. She saw herself playing guitar during the Super Bowl thanks to Doritos.
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