iAds: Apple Throws Down The Gauntlet

As expected, Apple has introduced its own ad service, something that all iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch developers can tap into. What wasn't expected was just how they've implemented it. Clearly, from what they said, they are throwing down the gauntlet with Google. This is clearly a way to take charge of the mobile ad market. If Google was thinking about implementing some version of their text ads on phones, they may want to think again. Apple is doing nothing less than trying to reinvent the whole concept of online advertising. If they succeed, and Google doesn't come up with a good answer, Google may be the Microsoft of the new decade.

Details are still forthcoming, and of course much will depend on exactly how this is implemented. Part of Google's success is due to how easy it is to create and place ads, and how easy it is to control the spending, and how easy it is to get excellent information on the performance of your advertising. Also to be seen is how obtrusive the ads are in use, and how relevant they are to the context, and how customers will respond to them.  Still, I have to give credit to Apple for taking an aggressive move. It may be ambitious, but even if it fails it will probably move the technology forward overall. Google could use some smart competition to help sharpen their game.

Social Marketing

Marketing through use of social networking tools is a hot area, and it's not as cut and dried as more traditional marketing tools. You have to provide authentic information and a distinctive voice, which means being entertaining and informative. That's a tough prospect, especially if you're trying to create new posts every day. Part of how you build an audience is with frequent bits of new info. You have to work on providing all of this through a variety of sites and tools, not all of them cross-connected.

A good piece of advice is to try and build an inventory of content in advance. If you have a good stockpile it doesn't take too much time each day to post something that's already written. Start with your friends and business acquaintances, and have them help you build up your fan base to start with. Give fans some incentive to spread the news to other people. Regular new bits that are interesting will get passed along... is there some part of your game design that you can add to over time? Release new info and it will help expand your fan base. World of Warcraft has an expansion coming up sometime in the next year, but they've been steadily releasing bits of info for at least a year already. Info on the new character classes, concept art, occasional news items... it all adds up to keeping a constant presence in the fan base.

This doesn't happen by accident; you need to plan for this and keep it in mind as you create new products. Social marketing is a process, not a single event in time, and thus needs constant care and feeding.

Apple's Ad Network

I predicted this when Apple bought Quattro last year: They're gonna roll their own ad network. Not that everyone else didn't figure it out, too, since it was pretty obvious. But it is of importance to iPhone and iPad game developers, since so many of the games are free or ad-supported. If Apple's implementation is good, this will be an important way for developers to make up for the low average price of iPhone games.

Part of it, of course, will be what users think of it, and that depends on how it gets implemented. But users don't seem to mind the current ads appearing on many iPhone games... and if they do, spending a buck or two to get rid of them hardly seems like a big deal if you like the game.

When it gets more interesting is if this will be available for e-books. I see no technical reason why not. It will be interesting to watch as a whole cultural segment gets transformed. Look, there have been ads in books before, but never in a widespread way. Apart from ads in the back for other books, very occasionally I remember seeing a cigarette add as an insert in a paperback... long long ago, that is. I think it will be seen differently these days, especially if many e-books are priced over $10. I bet an e-book at $5 with a few ads might go over very well... again, depending on how the ads get implemented.

It's an exciting time for the game and book publishing business.

The Splinternet and Social Marketing

An excellent post from Josh Bernoff at Forrester Research talks about how the Internet is fragmenting into separate technologies. For marketers, this is also important because the Internet is less interconnected than it used to be for marketing messages. Already, Facebook walls off its network from search engines, so all the data that's flying around there is mostly not accessible from a search. Which is why you have to build a Facebook page for your product or company in order to build a brand among your friends and acquaintances.

It's going to mean that marketers have to stay abreast of the latest social networking and other technologies to make sure their marketing message gets out there as widely as possible. Social marketing is becoming a lot more work. Somebody has to spend their time on Facebook, in forums on enthusiast websites, on Twitter and MySpace and LinkedIn and Plaxo and... well, you get the picture. It's also true that you can't just hire someone at minimum wage to post standardized messages for you. That sort of marketing spam quickly gets filtered out; if not by software, then by the customer's attention filters. You have to have an authentic voice speaking knowledgeably about your product, and glib fact-free speech just won't cut it.

Marketing gets easier and tougher moving into the future. Thanks, technology! I think...

Game Distribution, 2015?

At a game marketing conference in San Francisco, some executives held a panel discussion on what game distribution will look like in 2015 (a report from Gamasutra here). As you might expect, the answers tended to be in line with what their companies are planning to do. So GameStop thinks that retail will become "more experential, something like an Apple Store"... really? I have a rather hard time visualizng GameStops becoming similar to Apple Stores. I can say my that my Hyundai econobox plans to become a Mercedes sport sedan, but that doesn't mean it's likely to happen. GameStop seems to think that it can ride the wave of digital distribution. Heck, Rich Hilleman (Creative Director at EA) is even feeding their illusions: "My opinion is that Target or GameStop or Best Buy or Amazon has nothing to worry about, digitally, because they understand their customers really well, and they know things we don't know." Rich, I think you know better than that. EA is already striving to establish direct relationships with customers, and in five years I would think that EA should know a hell of a lot about their customers.

Sure, Apple has taken the lead in digital music distribution... for that matter, in all music distribution. Partly because the music industry was bone-stupid about making the transition to digital distribution. They didn't want to believe that digital distribution would ever replace CDs. They saw their business as depending on the huge margins of CD sales, so they saw themselves as in the CD-selling business rather than selling music. So they let Apple determine pricing and presentation of their titles, and now many musicians are abandoning the classic model of signing with big labels.

Digital distribution of games is not exactly the same, of course. But many developers are beginning to wonder why, exactly, they need to sign a deal with a publisher when they could sell a game directly to consumers. And some are making good money with non-traditional models (see League of Legends, for instance.) It's a time of great change in the game business, and we will see many winners and losers emerge. I suspect companies that insist things will remain pretty much the same as they have been will be among the losers.

iPad As PR Vehicle

There is a window of opportunity now, before the iPad becomes old news, to garner a great deal of free publicity with a new iPad app. The version of Scrabble for the iPad has done this, with the clever feature of allowing an iPhone/iPod Touch to be used as a tile rack with the Scrabble board on the iPad. The iPad clearly has potential as a gameboard; you could lay it on a table and all the players could touch it. The multitouch capability, along with all the graphics and animation and sound abilities, allow for whole new types of designs for multiplayer in-person gaming. Those who are there first will be able to get lots of free ink in magazines and newspapers, as well as web sites and television coverage.

A similar opportunity exists for e-books. While a basic print edition of a book can be easily swept onto the iPad, the technology allows for a very different book experience to be created. Interesting ideas should have no problem getting good press coverage.

While the inital hoopla will die down, I expect the iPad and devices like it will continue to generate interest for the next few years. Interesting new apps will have an easy time getting media coverage. This is true for other technologies that are being pushed by electronics manufacturers; 3D being a case in point. Games taking advantage of 3D displays will have an easier time getting press coverage.

This is another type of hook you can use to get a whole lot of press coverage. All you need is to be on the cutting edge of the technology curve... and sometimes it doesn't even require a rocket scientist to get there.

Tchotchkes

Tchotchkes, schwag, chump chum... it goes by a variety of names (some less flattering than others), but it all refers to stuff companies hand out (usually at trade shows or conventions). There's an amazing range of products available to customize with your company's logo, from M&M's to pens to mugs or tote bags, and many things far less obvious. So how do you decide whether or not to pay for some of these items, and if you do, which ones are worthwhile from a marketing standpoint?

Ideally, you want to draw people to your product or your company; perhaps get them to come to your booth in order to get a tchotchke; maybe to visit your web site later, or have your contact info for some time after the show. In all cases, you want to leave a good impression of your company or your product. A cheap pen that leaks ink or doesn't work is not a worthwhile investment.

If you are trying to draw people to your booth at a show, then the product should be desirable (either because it's cool, or it's classy, or it's unusual, or it's useful). If every other booth has a free pen, then no one will care much about your free pen unless it stands out in some way. Maybe in that case you offer a pen holder... and tell the customers it's for all the other companies' free pens.

A tchotchke that's directly linked to your product or company is great, as long as it's still useful or cool. Foam dice for a gaming company? Yup, I still keep those around. Pens? I got a zillion of them, hardly ever look to see whose it is. That heat-sensitive mouse pad I got from Zynga? Use it every day. Post-it notes from Sony? Use them all the time.

Always compare the cost of tchotchkes to some other way in which you could spend those marketing dollars. If there's some way to track the performance of the tchotchke, use it! (A unique landing page on the item, for instance, will let you know how many visitors you got from it... or you could do a survey... at least try to track it somehow.) Maybe you're better off printing up some fliers rather than making pens, especially boring pens.