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EVERYONE CAN DO PR How Small Studios Get Themselves Heard
Thomas REISENEGGER@Olima
BUT WHY SHOULD YOU DO PR?
@Olima 3
Because not doing PR is like…
Working for years to write a really amazing book...
… and put it on a shelf without
telling anybody about it.
@Olima 4
Because not doing PR is like…
• You have a perfect first date with the love of your life… … grab a taxi, go home and never contact
her/him again.
• You are about to break the world record in a 100m sprint…
…but decide to take a break at 90m.
@Olima 5
Thomas Reisenegger, MA
• Currently - German PR Executive ICO Partners, Brighton UKLeague of Legends, SMITE, Fractured SpaceRoad Not Taken, Dungeon of the Endless
• PR Manager – all about apps Austria‘s biggest app agencyPorsche, Haribo, A1, Wüstenrot
• consol.AT / consolPlus 7 years freelance video game journalist
• Austrian Award „PR Panther“ in Youngster CategoryLaunch PR campaign for iOS/Android game Diskobolos
@Olima 6
Content Overview
What is PR?
Get to know your game
The Must Haves
The Nice To Haves
The Awesome To Haves
1
2
3
4
5
Required Skill Level
PR
Impact
What is PR?
Get to know your game
The Must Haves
The Nice To Haves
The Awesome To Haves
1
@Olima 8
What is PR?
• “ (…) management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success and failure depends.” Cultip
• (…) management of communication between an organization and its publics (…)”. Gruning & Hunt
In short: Get people to talk about you without paying them to do so.
@Olima 9
What can PR do?
PR can get attention for your game, but can‘t make a bad game good
@Olima 10
Key goals of indie game PR
• Build up credibility
• Get attention
• Transport your messages - right framing
What is that PR?
Get to know your game
The Must Haves
The Nice To Haves
The Awesome To Haves
2
@Olima 12
Get to REALLY know your game
• You are not selling a game, you are selling a story
• AIDA rule (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
• Decide for one key message
@Olima 13
The Friends Test for Key Messages
@Olima 14
Diskobolos, iOS 2012
• Hard sell, due to strong gameplay focus and weak graphics
• Space Invaders like arcade game with pinball elements
Casual is dead, hardcore is back
@Olima 15
The Indie Advantage
• “Luxury“ of speaking to a narrower target audience
• More flexible and faster to react
• More personal, company has a face
What is that PR?
Get to know your game
The Must Haves
The Nice To Haves
The Awesome To Haves
3
@Olima 17
The Must Haves
• Website
• Press kit
• Social media presence
@Olima 18
Website 1/2
• Your game‘s business card
• Make a website per game: Good for SEO Brings credibility Easy to get
• Central point people will check if they look for information about your game
@Olima 19
Website 2/2
• If possible: Do it yourself and stay in control
• Easy to make with tools like Wordpress
• Recommendation:
@Olima 20
Presskit
• Zip folder with all essential information press needs about your game
• Usually contains: Factsheet Screenshots Logos Trailer Press releases
@Olima 21
Digital Presskit
• Mix of factsheet and presskit on a website
• Recommendation: Do Presskit (http://dopresskit.com)
• Created by Rami Ismail from Vlambeer (Ridiculous Fishing, Luftrausers)
• Set up in 30 to 60 minutes
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@Olima 23
Factsheet
• Game description
• Feature list
• Short “about the studios“ text
• Short “about the game“ text
• Info box (genre, price, platforms…)
@Olima 24
Define Your Facts
• Don‘t act like the frontman of a hipster band
• If you don‘t define things, somebody else will.
@Olima 25
Social Media
• Have Facebook, Twitter and so on, at least passively
• Easy to keep in touch with people
• Good and easy feedback channel
What is that PR?
Get to know your game
The Must Haves
The Nice To Haves
The Awesome To Haves
4
@Olima 27
Nice to haves
• What is a news beat?
• Press release
• Gamespress
• Mailing list
• ASO (App Store Optimisation)
• Socialize
• Blog
• Review Management
• Monitoring tools
@Olima 28
What is a news beat?
@Olima 29
Must have news beats
• Game announcement
• First screenshots
• First trailer
• Beta start / preview possibilities (even if press only)
• Release date announcement
• Release announcement (+ launch trailer)
@Olima 30
Other news beats
• New assets (video, trailer, concept art, dev diaries)
• New content
• New platforms
• Awards
• Sales milestones
• Anything else worth publishing for press
@Olima 31
Press communication
• Does not always have to be a full press release (just for announcement & launch) otherwise just short mail
• Always with short personal text (copy press release below)
• Make it easy to re-use (write it directly in the mail, no crazy formatting, have all relevant links there)
• Proofread!
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Press communication
• Get to the point
• Hierarchy of information 1. Catchy headline
2. Personal intro text
3. Press Release
AttentionInterest
DesireAction
@Olima 33
Sample press communication
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Sample press communicationFist Headline
Quote
Intro
Detailed info
Assets
About texts
Sub-Headline
@Olima 35
Gamespress.com
• Press & asset archive for journalists
• Daily newsletter
• Upload press releases and assets for free
• Get republished on gamasutra & MCV
• Easy to reach and credible
• Good source of inspiration
@Olima 36
Mailing list
• Figure out 2 – 3 similar titles to yours
• Google for sites / journalists / YouTubers who publish about similar games or wrote about you
• If budget: Get help of an agency
• If regular releases, use mailing software. Recommendation:
@Olima 37
App store optimization (ASO)
• Crucial for apps, very good online resources
• Good screenshots
• Clear store description (update with reviews, credibility!)
• Spend time on keywords (iOS)
@Olima 38
Socialize
• Know your media
• Meet up online & offline
• Local events & conferences
@Olima 39
Blog
• Written blog or dev diary
• Build a community and keep your fans up to date
• Gives you strong personal connection
@Olima 40
Review management
• Decide and make a list of journalists who you contact personally by mail
• If you send a review key and don‘t see a review, follow up on it politely
• Always keep Metacritic in mind
@Olima 41
Metacritic in Google search
• Decide and make a list of journalists which you contact personally per mail
• If you send a review key and don‘t see a review follow up on it politely
• Always keep Metacritic in mind
@Olima 42
Easy ways to monitor your game
• Tools for basic monitoring Google search (by time frame and country in suitable language) Set up Google alerts Twitter search
• Find new communication opportunities
• Collect press feedback (and contacts)
What is that PR?
Get to know your game
The Must Haves
The Nice To Haves
The Awesome To Haves5
@Olima 44
Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing involves unusual approaches to advertising, such as targeted promotional-driven encounters in public places, street giveaways of products, PR stunts, flash-mob presentations, or any unconventional marketing intended to get results and create a memorable brand experience.
Jay Conrad Levinson, Jeannie Levinson, Amy Levinson
@Olima 45
Why care about Guerrilla Marketing?
• Obscurity is a greater threat than piracy
• If done right small budget, big PR result
• Relatively untapped field
@Olima 46
Risks of Guerilla Marketing
• Often breaks taboos
• Not always 100% legal
• Not always results in good PR • Don‘t believe that “there is no such thing as bad publicity“
• Budget varies greatly
Guerilla Marketing Examples : Big Games
@Olima 48
God of War II
• Ancient Greece-themed party
• Freshly slaughtered goat, topless servants
• Sony recalled 80,000 issues of official PS magazine
@Olima 49
Burnout 2
• Acclaim announced to pay all speed tickets on launch day
• Police obviously prevented campaign from happening
• Acclaim planned that from the beginning – free PR, no risk
@Olima 50
Dante‘s Inferno
• Christian protesters show up to demonstrate against Dante’s Inferno at E3
• All hired by EA
• Plus for creative slogans:“Trade in your PlayStation for a PrayStation”
Guerilla Marketing Examples : Indie Games
@Olima 52
Velocity 2x
@Olima 53
Velocity 2x on Twitter
@Olima 54
Anodyne
• Advertising on Pirate Bay
• Costs in total: 7$
• Sold 4511 games and1750 bundles
• 240,000 unique users over the sale period
• Very popular on reddit Destructoid, PCGamer, IndieGames….
@Olima 55
Game Dev Tycoon
• Own version of the game for illegal download sites
• Pirates complained about their games in their pirated game being pirated
• Players of this version saw their in-game creations pirated, resulting in a massive loss in profit
@Olima 56
Retro City Rampage
• Devs built playable NES version of the game
• Made 10 minute Youtube video explaining the process
• “ROM“ Retro City Rampage video gets nearly 170.000 views
• Major news beat months after release
@Olima 57
How to come up with ideas?
• Creativity techniques Look at other industries Brainstorming Six Thinking Hats Method 635 …
@Olima 58
How to come up with ideas?
@Olima 59
Success factors for Guerrilla Marketing
5
@Olima 60
3 Take aways
KNOW YOUR GAME Key message
BE CREDIBLEProfessional appearance & news beats
GET ATTENTIONGuerrilla Marketing
Thanks for your attention
WWW.ICOMEDIA.EUOFFICE 6, 10 FLEET STREET
BRIGHTON BN1 4ZE, UNITED KINGDOM
[email protected]+44 (0)20 7193 5158
European Online & Indie Games Experts
WWW.ICOMEDIA.EUOFFICE 6, 10 FLEET STREET
BRIGHTON BN1 4ZE, UNITED KINGDOM
[email protected]+44 (0)20 7193 5158
Bespoke PR for video games
