Let's Talk About Marketing...February

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

Thanks @"Gord.8654" :-)

 

I am honestly very eager to hear what you think. Friday kicks off the month long campaign. Videos around this specific campaign to follow mid month. Please stay in touch.

[ProfCarson.7124]

So I've been thinking about two marketing ideas that I would love to see from Anet.

 

(1): Animated short(s). I am honestly surprised Anet has not produced any animated shorts for Guild Wars 2. It seems most MMOs and FPSs these days have some form of advertising in the form of a short. Perhaps these shorts could be general and not about the most recent expansion and/or Living World Season. A quick battle or quick adventure from one or more of the different races would be a great way to show off some of the world of Tyria. I know, however, animations are not quick or cheap to do, but I think that could get a lot of people interested.

 

(2) Steam. I have no idea how getting a game on Steam works or costs. But being able to find Guild Wars 2 on one of the most used websites for gamers can't be bad. Since Guild Wars 2 is free-2-play I'm sure many people will download it just to try it out, especially if they see something like "Very Positive" or "Overwhelmingly Positive" on the store page. I worry, however, with there being in-game purchases if Steam charges a royalty fee for X amount of money out of every X amount of sales. The other problem is I do not know if Anet even has that option due to contracts with other companies.

 

Those were just a couple of thoughts I've had since the last a marketing talk.

[mocceb.9842]

Hey @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" seeing as you're celebrating your fans, I hope we get some sweet free items through the TP. :p :3

[Arlette.9684]

> @"mocceb.9842" said:

> Hey @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" seeing as you're celebrating your fans, I hope we get some sweet free items through the TP. :p :3

 

Too easy and uninspired, a cool event would be better suited as it pets the farmers and thrill hunters alike.

[ReaverKane.7598]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> Hi @"Gord.8654"

>

> Not rude at all. When I say Marketing in the Subject and speak about celebrating the community I do mean both. I ask for an open mind for the month of February when you see what we have planned. This is about the community in a way that I think will give our community something they can point out to there friends and say **"this is why I play GW2".** I really hope you will see the value of everything we are doing in February.

>

> We are ALSO putting together new creative, videos and trailers that will market and promote the gameplay, art, and beauty of the world. This is already in the works and I promise it is exactly what you are describing as a need for the marketing. :-)

>

> As the February campaign rolls out please let me know your honest constructive feedback while keeping in mind that we are going to give you everything you have detailed over time and then some.

 

A renewed manifesto video?

I'm actually curious to see what you guys are working out...

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

Hi @"ProfCarson.7124"

 

The animated short is a super appealing idea. I don’t know if we can make this a reality but I would love to explore this. :-)

[Vegeta.2563]

You know what would be great for marketing.. Super Bowl commercial. However it's probably too late for that this year. However any type of TV commercial at this point would really help. WoW even being over 10 years old still has commercials.

[Fenom.9457]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> Thanks @"Ardid.7203". More will be understood beginning Friday and throughout the month of February. We are celebrating our fans and we really hope to enjoy what we are doing for the month.

 

 

Does this imply more than episode 2 and lunar festival?

[GDchiaScrub.3241]

> @"Endelon.1042" said:

> AAAAHHHHH!

 

Yep, that's the consensus.

[Grampybone.3716]

For content I eagerly await what is coming, for me Living Season is all free bonus.

 

For Gem store I really hope ArenaNet cares for people with small to big wallet. I'm done buying inventory/bank slots, now I'm focusing on costumes and Home instance nodes. Sometimes it's expensive but I love this game and support it. After playing WoW since release and LOTRO and others this is where I feel at home.

 

But my most important advice is keep it interesting for everyone. Cheap skin items should be looking just as good as an expensive one. Give the expensive one an extra, some animation/effect. Like some card games have the default card and the golden one with animation. Please don't neglect the cheaper options, make the Gem store like a candystore, where everything looks nice, some stuff costs more than you currently have but there's plenty of other nice goodies to choose from. It should be a place that makes you smile instead of blindly focusing on items you cannot afford because the rest is bad.

[shippage.1983]

Why does the community need to interact with you guys about the marketing at all? Why can't you guys just hire a professional like every other company! Saying the game has "mounts" doesn't mean anything to anyone, they want to see it as a living breathing world of customization and combat that is incredibly deep.

[necrofarmer.9704]

Lets talk about marketing

 

I read there is a lot of interest in videos, from marketing point of view (and my experience) there is 3 parts of the video. 1 is the anticipation to the video (Hitchcock) 2 the part of the esthetic pleasure from watching the video (rhythm and effects) 3 the content (new information). I will start from the last one. ways to develop community content: (casestudy buzzfeed)

 

1. Emotional Gift: videos have to do with things that evoke emotional responses. This content is both internal and external as it typically uses external factors (puppy!) to affect us internally (awww!). We watch and share Emotional Gift content because when we feel an emotion like joy we want the people we care about to feel joy as well. This is the root of human connection. Things that affect how you feel. (KITTENS!!)

2. Information: (do better on YouTube.) Videos are centered on things that are typically external. Informational and utility videos are often transnational in nature, where information is exchanged from one party to another. We watch and share Informational/Utility content because it has value to us in the form of better understanding the physical world around us and because it can educate us and the people in our lives. Things about your world. (19 Facts about gw2 gamers)

3. Identity: (do better on Facebook) Identity videos, therefore, connect with us internally. We watch and share Identity videos because it allows us to better understand ourselves and those around us, and makes it easier to tell those around us who we are. Things about You. Who/What/Where/Why/When/How You Are. (Kitten owners that play gw2)

 

the second part of the video strategy you do very well, the trailers are well made.

 

The first part, here the things get interesting. you have really good reward system in gw2, why not implement it in the marketing?

Drucker’s concept is characterized by mainly two new moments. Firstly, a different attitude toward people and variable rewards. He insists on communicating and motivating instead of ordering and controlling. And secondly, emphasizes the qualitative and measurement of achieved results. To add nuance, however, different reward schedules tend to produce different kinds of activity, and there are many different types of games with just as many different systems of rewards. Within the context of videogames, four different types of reward schedules can be described:

1. Fixed ratio schedule: the community receives a reward (really cool trailer) after a fixed number of actions (likes\shares\stream views)

2. Variable ratio schedule: the community receives a reward after a random number of actions

3. Fixed interval schedule: the community receives a reward after a fixed interval of time

4. Variable interval schedule: the community receives a reward after a variable interval of time

 

I wrote an article about gaming community, in short "The future of gaming in its online multiplayer potential. The new meaning created with the "with" of online multiplayer. As much there will be more repeatedly shared - there will be more meaning to it. It can be also by a viewer. Just like sitting at basketball game and excepting the meaning – the realness of the event – the "with" which acquires in it. Inspired by French contemporary philosopher Jean Luc Nancy. Being-singular-plural in video gaming."

So what is the communities in gw2? it is not only the individual - it is servers and guilds. why to promote only gamers? there can be stream for a guild, server or location. I really like the part of wvw, I think what is special about gw2 is the guilds, it is not "lonely-player-farming-alone wars 2" it is GUILD (micro communities) wars 2. so why dont you promote guilds? for example stream guild raids. competition for the best guild trailer. There are really developed communities for wvw servers and individual websites for guild, and now new discord communities (you can stream there too). GVGs are fun too. but not every guild is gvg focused. The thing in wvw is also that guilds raid in different times, there is always a change in gamers on the server, 1 wvw guild raid finishes the second starts. or there is a leaders that lead for a few hours and then burn out and another change them. so the promotion needs to be micro communities, guild/raids/events/location. USER GENERATED CONTENT - give the community to do the animated shorts/trailers/other content ideas.

 

Part of building the anticipation for is that more viewers will watch the videos, so the video SEO need to be optimized on youtube. Is there optimized tags for the channel and individual videos? is there a seo optimized video and channel description?

 

well I can write about it forever:) I should stop....

 

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

@"Vegeta.2563" agreed :-)

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

@"Fenom.9457" anything I am implying is specific to how we are marketing the game.

[Mike Silbowitz.1827]

@"shippage.1983" you’re right. I don’t need to interact with you about marketing and if you don’t want to interact about marketing I suggest you interact on a different thread that is unrelated to marketing.

[necrofarmer.9704]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> @"shippage.1983" you’re right. I don’t need to interact with you about marketing and if you don’t want to interact about marketing I suggest you interact on a different thread that is unrelated to marketing.

 

Please do interact. maybe he dont know you - we all have a lot to learn from you about marketing and interacting with users. I respect arenanet as a business because of this approach.

[Fenom.9457]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> @"Fenom.9457" anything I am implying is specific to how we are marketing the game.

 

 

Thanks for clarifying, and I look forward to the improvements!

[kermq.6258]

Now thats something i plan on watching when i get back after integration party with workers

[MrMouser.6583]

> @"Mike Silbowitz.1827" said:

> Hi @"MrMouser.6583"

>

> Very helpful feedback. We've heard this from quite a few of the members of our community and you are absolutely right. We need to be better at detailing what is a part of our Living World Episodes. When the next LW Video drops there will be further detail then we have shared in the past BUT I want to continue to hear how we can do better so please keep the feedback coming.

>

> As far a streamers we do partner in this fashion and we will continue to partner with additional streamers because this is a fantastic way of detailing the game. If there are streamers you would like us to contact let me know and we will see what can be done. :-)

 

I personally talked with Towelliee and asked him if he is interested in coming back to GW2 now that the game has group content such as raiding, fractals and classes have well defined builds and class roles, he was surprised and did not know about this and was interested in trying it out, I remember he left GW2 mostly because of the lack of challenging group content and class roles.

 

I am aware about the partner program and I think its a very nice way to support the people that stream GW2 but from my point of view I would also try to get some big figures on twitch to stream the game because right now if you are doing ok on twitch you will most likely have better success with the game, to an extend I would call it free marketing for the game and I would invest in that at least around the time new patches come out.

 

Part from the streamer thing, as mentioned before, show the world your game, as a professional artist I can say that you guys take no shortcuts when it comes to giving us a new map to play in, you go full out on the environments and they always seem monumental, the issue right now I feel is that there is a bit to much fan service when it comes to marketing and as much as that is good there should be a good balance between how much you show and how much you don't, when you have something new there are more chances that people will start to talk about it because they get exited.

 

Trailers or teasers should not be about recap but about whats new.

 

[Huli.9740]

Here's another games attempt at marketing , went down well

 

[OmskCamill.6412]

> @"Smoaking.6125" said:

> What's the point in engaging with you? The Marketing team already had a thread asking for feedback, received loads and loads of good advice, then ignored it all and continues to use those embarrassing, lousy "ads" all over Facebook and Twitter and who knows where else. You can say however many times you want that you're listening to the feedback but when nothing changes why should we continue to put in the effort to help you do your own job?

 

Except they did not. I, for instance, made about eight points in my feedback, and six of them were addressed.

Current marketing for Anet is nowhere near good, but it would be nice of you to stop lying.

[LampGhost.9658]

If only this happened before the marketing disaster .. like 4 years ago :D...

[Stu Grockalot.2937]

@"Mike Silbowitz.1827"

 

Not sure if the main theme for this post has been covered elsewhere and apologies if it has, but I'd like to provide a (personal) anecdote as to how poor marketing affects player involvement in the game.

 

During the HoT build-up, I was desperately excited about each elite spec. Each video that came out showcased the elite spec, what new skills and mechanics it had, and what it could offer to the battles that you participate in game. As such, I unlocked all of the original Elite specs for each profession in HoT.

 

Fast forward to the PoF Elite specs, and the marketing was lack lustre and rather underwhelming. Admittedly, some could argue that the leaks did a lot of damage to the hype around the Elite specs, but for me (and I assume many others) it was the opposite. The leaks were vague, but were excellent fodder for the endless speculation and interpretation of the minuscule portions we had to chew over. Had Arenanet capitialised with another in depth series of videos on each elite spec then this would really have lit the flames of engagement. Finally, answers to all our wild speculations, how accurate where we? What did we get wrong? What did we get right?

 

Instead, we got none of this, and the elite specs were just dumped on us, with no build up or hype. I was so disinterested, and as a result, I have only fully unlocked Elite specs for the professions I play regularly, and not all of them. Partly because the lack of marketing failed to excite me.

 

I hope that you and arenanet learn from this mistake and use this to maximise marketing for the next expansion. Please share vague screenshots, and/or video clips that hint at something without telling us anything. Allow the community time to speculate and analyze the material, then follow up with a more detailed reveal of what the vague material meant.

 

An ongoing joke is that one of the more prominent Youtube posters; Wooden Potatoes, can make a 45 minute video from 20 seconds of marketing material produced by Arenanet :)

 

I love this game to bits, and would desperately love to see the marketing and hype do this franchise the justice it deserves.

 

Keep up the good work! :)

 

Stu.

 

 

[Randulf.7614]

Will there be a summary blog for those of us who wont see the vid?

[Aldath.1275]

Well, for once, I like that Anet has been more in contact with us about balance updates and the like, which was something truly needed. The more we know of what's going on with our game, the better :)

 

I have a couple suggestions and I pray you manage to read them Mike ;n;

 

First one, I think it would be a good time to revisit old Tyria. The first journey through the pre expansion areas is amazing, but later on I feel like there's no need to go back there for anything, even leveling my alts becomes a chore more than a journey. Many F2P games I know have reviewed their core world in order to attract new players and veterans alike, and Ifeel that maybe it would benefit more than an expansion in order to draw new players in! A fresh, revitalized Core Tyria, inviting everyone to try it out.

 

Second, maybe a little more focus in international affairs. What I mean is, you have many fans worldwide, and when there have been tragedies in the US you've been vocally supportive of the people. Last year for example there was a huge earthquake in Mexico, I know many friend who play GW2 and Anet didn't give us any words of encouragement like what you usually do when tragedies happen there, it would talk very good about the company if you also gave this kind of support to your neighbors.

 

Thanks for reading me, maybe all this is just foolishness from my part but, I gotta try.