MW2 releases 11.10.09
11.10.09
This is a very exciting date for gamers. The new Modern Warfare 2 releases for PS3, XBox 360 and PC. The internet has been ablaze with constant updates on the game since the NBA Playoffs when Infinity Ward showed their first teaser trailer.
Modern Warfare 2 is the perfect example of a great IMC campaign, especially for a video game release. It was a perfect storm: a highly anticipated product, marketed extremely well to the correct target market (Gen Y).
Important to point out: The game had legs to begin with. The original Modern Warfare was touted as one of the best first person shooters ever made. The sequel has been anticipated ever since the first one launched.
After announcing the sequel, Infinity Ward used an amazing marketing strategy to keep the hype up for months. The MW2 team applied a slow leak formula to their communications. Slowly giving information about the story, game changes, multiplayer, and new Special Ops mode over the matter of 8 months. They had the internet ablaze with anticipation.
MW2 also had great relationships with video game sites (like IGN), where they would release new info, videos, trailers, and information periodically. These sites then did a great job marketing their coverage, as it was a big draw for traffic.
MW2 also did a good job co-branding with Monster Energy Drink. They ran a MW2 promotion of 4 packs of cans where you could win games, free map pack downloads and a viewing of a exclusive MW2 strategy webcase. That webcast was Tuesday: (here is the link to the videos: STRATEGY).
Many independent blogs devoted to the new game started during the process, giving gamers a “best of” on MW2 news. These blogs also distributed lots of information that the MW2 team didn’t want releasing. A premature release of a couple copies of the games happened last week and lots of extra footage was released to the internet; creating more buzz than there was originally. Infinity Ward might actually want to thank that French Guy that first put his gameplay videos on Justin.tv.
Gamestop also teamed with MW2 to release their Pre-Order contest Surprise Attack. Usually, gamespot gives away something for pre-ordering a game like a: demo, extra download or perk etc. This time they teamed with MW2 to launch Surprise Attack, their sister contest site which customers would enter their pre order code to enter in bi-daily raffles for 1000s of prizes. Prizes ranged anywhere from dog tags or shirts to a snowmobile or hummer. They did a great job promoting this contest with their co-branded Gamestop MW2 commercial for the pre order:
The proof of the success of the launch campaign for MW2 is in the industry and market reactions. Industry wise, most major games decided to push back their releases until 2010. Other games just couldn’t keep up with the hype, expectations and what will be sales of MW2. An industry writer wrote something months back saying something like, “It’s not a matter of what game will be game of the year, it a matter of what games could possibly challeneg MW2 for the title.” How can the industry battle a juggernaut like that? Well in this case, most couldn’t.
Market wise, Gamestop just reported that Modern Warfare 2 broke every record they had for pre-orders of a game. More copies have been pre ordered than any game before it. This means HUGE profits for Gamestop. Yes, most stores did pre-orders but Gamestop received most of them. This guarantees them $60 x [However many millions of pre-orders they took]. Not a bad profit that will come 11.10.09.
This massive industry and market wise success is because of the careful planning and strategy that was used for MW2. It was a marketing campaign on a scale that no video game had ever seen. Boy did it pay off. It will be interesting to see if other big release games can try and emulate the success of this campaign in the future?
In case you were wondering, yes I did pre-order it and yes I’ll be picking it up at midnight. And no I’m not a nerd, I only do it for Madden and COD.
Now I’m wondering; who preordered? Who didn’t? and who’s not going to buy the game
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Just a quick update:
Just received an email saying that they started shipping the first batch of Netflix PS3 disks and that users will receive them this coming Friday. I was lucky enough to receive an email so I have a busy weekend ahead of me. I’ll be posting my review of the new service next week.
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After a few short weeks, it seems Comedy Central may have found a show to follow South Park.
Perfectly targeted to Gen Y males, Secret Girlfriend (Wed’s at 10:30 on Comedy Central) is a perfect vehicle for the kind of advertising that Viacom (the network’s parent) wants to bring in.
The show is filmed as if you are a character, giving you a point-of-view style shoot as you drink, party and sleep with girls. And honestly, it’s a little addicting.
But, even more than the fact that Comedy Central now has yet another vehicle to market Xbox games and slasher flicks, I’m left wondering what the impact of this “first-person shooting” style is for marketing…
1) Why haven’t any companies tried this first person style in a commercial? It seems like a perfect fit for apparel or other lifestyle brands. Imagine a commercial where it’s not Kobe or Lebron soaring to the basket, but you. Or it’s not Adrian Peterson gliding past defenders, it’s you. It’s not Alex Rodriguez smashing a deep drive to… You get the point.
There’s definitely some interesting psychology involved, and I’m excited to see whether this new style is going to be used, or if it will remain a niche…
One of the things this economy has taught us is that consumers want something extra for their money. Sure, the dollar cheeseburger or 99 cent bag of chips is a great deal, but where there’s a choice between buying one brand or the other, people are voting with their money for the brand that offers something extra. Concert tickets, free preview, something… scratch that, anything, that makes it a slightly more exclusive group.
And this has penetrated the entertainment industry now. The Dallas Cowboys showed a 3-minute sneak preview trailer for the movie Avatar on the largest video screen in the world. And Fox teamed up with them and showed the exclusive.
Brilliant move by Fox. Most NFL fans surf pre-game shows, but Fox NFL Sunday has consistently lost share to CBS and ESPN (as well as the more cable-worthy options thrown out by NFL Network and others).
So by punching in an Avatar preview, Fox can pull viewers in and create both trial for their show, and a huge spike in the ratings. And assuming you think your content is competitive, this is a great way to increase viewership.
Plus, that trailer was pretty awesome. Jerry Jones continues to remind me why he is absolutely the master of promotion.
The Only Hotel for wwwwY Writers
When I was standing in line for Studio 54 at the MGM Grand two weekends ago a very sneaky employee made her way through the line and collected everyone’s email addresses. I reluctantly gave her mine, but I got an interesting email from them yesterday.
MGM just started a Twitter contest which caught my eye. Here’s the body of the email:
MGM Grand takes the guilt out of sinning. Tweet a sin along with #mgmsin, and you’re entered to win a free room night at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. We’ll choose one winner at random each day for 30 days. Winners will be announced on our Twitter page, @mgmgrand, so be sure to follow us!
For all you marketing people out there, this is a good example of a viral Twitter contest. First, they are leveraging all aspects of their company in this campaign. Their integration between their physical customers, email lists, Twitter followers, brand and web site also makes this campaign much stronger. Company Twitter profiles fail when you let them stand-alone. If you can supplement it with your other vehicles (web, email, etc), your Twitter presence will be much more successful. MGM has done a good job at that in this campaign.
This well-integrated campaign, also scores high in the creativity category. They could have easily had a lame question like: “What’s your favorite part of the MGM Grand?” But they did a good job of making it unique and play off their brand and Las Vegas’s image. They make it much more “sexy” to sin; which is Las Vegas.
Now excuse me when I sin by sending emails (yea my life is exciting)
Follow Todd on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/toddliss
Yesssssssssss!
As a PS3 owner and a Netflix users, this news could not make anyone happier. The stars have finally aligned and all is right in the world.
Playstation announced on their blog that next month an application will be available at no extra charge to allow you to watch your Netflix movies streaming to your TV. WOO HOOO
This is big news for PS3 owners and a strategic move for Netflix. This move was expected though as Netflix recently moved to X-Box live last month.
This will obviously be a win-win situation for both sides. Playstation has done a good job as positioning their product as an entertainment hub and not a video game console. The availability of Netflix on the Playstation really cements them as an entertainment company. This is also a good move for Netflix. With almost 25 millions PS3s sold to date, this could be a good opportunity for them to expand their customer base.
PS3 owners are techno savvy and shelled out anywhere from $299 – $599 for their PS3s. What’s another $14.95 a month for unlimited movies in the mail; and on your PS3? Netflix is obviously hoping that this will help expand their customer base.
Are you as excited as I am for the “marriage”?
Follow Todd on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/toddliss
I’m a big Malcolm Gladwell fan. I’ve pre-ordered each of his books. I emailed him once, and I was at one point following his very infrequently updated Twitter feed.
And his latest book, What the Dog Saw, doesn’t dissapoint. It’s not Blink, or outliers, in the sense that it’s not a novel, but a collection of his best pieces from the New Yorker. And ordinarily, I hate when authors do this. “Hey, did you like reading this in a magazine? Pay for it in book form now.” (I’m looking at you Peter King.)
But What The Dog Saw is better than that. Gladwell is one of the few authors so talented that he can pull off a “greatest hits collection.” And each essay is like a miniature version of Blink, Tipping Point or Outliers. Extremely detailed research, with theories on “why things are the way they are.” That actually may have been the working title of WTDS.
The articles themselves are classic Gladwell. I don’t care about the evolution of Hair Color advertising, but I was fascinated by Gladwell’s portrayal of it.
I never stopped to think about why Heinz Ketchup is one of the few brands that has never been challenged, but Gladwell answered that question for me as well.
Basically, reading this book is like spending an afternoon with the smartest person you know, just hanging out. I feel like this is the kind of things that would come out in a bar-room conversation between two friends (provided they were both Nobel Laureates). Hey man, I know this guy who works for Pepsi and this is why they’ve never been seriously challenged by a private label cola.
In fact, If I’m ever single again, I’ve promised myself that I’m going to carry a Malcolm Gladwell book with me everywhere I go. It’ll be a great opener.
If you want to see the future of how commercials should be done, check out ESPN’s new 30 for 30 documentaries.
The documentary series is riveting, but so are the commercials. Because each break only features one! Levi’s Jeans sponsored the series, so they had two spots, and Honda had a spot as well. That’s it. I watched a 1-hour documentary on cable, and sat through 3 commercials.
This is the future, and both marketers and TV companies need to realize this. Consumers understand that TV shows are subsidized by commercials, so they’re a necessary evil. But enough is enough. And from a marketing standpoint, it’s much more effective to do commercials the way 30-for-30 has been, since the sponsor gets an audience that hasn’t been numbed by four identical beer commerials.
There’s absolutely no need for 5 or 6 commercials at every break of a TV show. People are tivoing, channel surfing, facebooking and texting during commercials. It’s the show they want. And this is especially true for documentaries, movies on TV or sporting events. It would be so easy to have the 1st inning, brought to you by Bank Of America. Boom, show a 30-second commercial for BofA, and get the game going. Second inning. Brought to you by Pepsi. Boom, Pepsi commercial. Game on.
So hopefully 30-for-30 is part of a new trend, and not just an innovation thrown together for ESPN’s latest series of specials. Because viewers could really get used to this.
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