[MUD-Dev] Advertising Thread

[Russ Whiteman]

From: "Brad McQuaid" <bmcquaid at cox.net>

> and a few others did the marketing, it's as simple as that.  Heck,
> we even got that PC Games cover early on ourselves, and went on
> road trips with a computer that would run EQ, flying all over the
> place :) That and constant communication with the
> community... Posting on web sites, chats, etc.  This was EQ's
> marketing early on.

But getting the magazines to hype the product -is- marketing.
Constant cummunication -is- marketing.  Website postings, chats, etc
are all marketing.  I'd say that EQ had a pretty strong marketing
campaign going before release, considering how much buzz there was
before the game ever hit the shelves.  You may have done it
yourselves, rather than have a professional marketing department or
agency do the work, but it was still strongly marketted.

> And, looking back, given what a victim of our own success we were
> (think the first two weeks of launch... The bandwidth issues, the
> login issues), I'd shudder to think in what shape we'd be had we
> had real marketing :) I don't think we'd have survived even
> quicker sales rates.

Maybe not, but Verant's response to those problems was the most
impressive thing about them in my book.  As you said, TWO WEEKS to
settle bandwidth and login issues that plagued UO for at least two
months.  Frankly, I was (as semi-competition, working for
Simutronics) hoping for a somewhat longer period of adjustment.  ;)

> But, in any case, I must respectfully disagree: you certainly do
> NOT need marketing to make a hugely successful game.  With the
> Internet, word of mouth, a very strong game, good timing, etc.,
> you can do it alone.

> Although I will say this: I'm talking about traditional marketing:
> big ads, commercials, huge launch parties, etc.  'Channel'
> marketing, which means getting the project into the channel and on
> the shelves, buying end-caps, etc... That we had in spades, thanks
> to Don Vercelli, and I will absolutely agree that if you cannot
> get product into the channel for people to buy, it doesn't matter
> how bad they want it.

Again, I'd call anything and everything that is designed to get the
product into the public eye, marketing.  It doesn't -require-
magazine ads, TV commercials, or launch parties...although those
-do- tend to be the result of hiring professionals to run the show.
Non-professionals, especially -passionate- non-professionals -can-
do an effective job with the lower cost alternatives...I think your
case proves that.

Getting the product into the stores is, of course, utterly crucial,
but all alone, it won't do the job...few people will buy a game
they've never heard of, even if they see it on an endcap.


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