One Shot
A Perfect Marketing Storm(trooper)
Lionsgate discovered in 2005 there was a perfect storm at Comic Con. There was a tremendous untapped marketing opportunity lurking in what was normally a pretty quiet if not eccentric comic convention. Other movie studios had taken notice, but the impact that Lion's Gate made--large screen televisions and high production decorations--brought a whole new sense of energy to the convention halls.
This is important because at Comic Con 2006, the synergy between the many different entertainment industries -- movie, television, computer and console games, even novels and collectibles -- was fervently embraced. For example, the Star Wars forum included a new DVD release and also included presentations by Lego and Lego in turn, was showing off their new video game. The franchise chain was pretty clear between Star Wars, the Star Wars Lego Sets and the Lego Star Wars video game. If you like Star Wars, you'll like these Legos, and you'll like this video game.
However, the chain of marketing didn't stop there. From an ad about the video game came a demo of the new AI for an upcoming Indiana Jones video game. So we went from genre to medium back to a different genre. Cross marketing isn't anything new, but the level of sophistication has increased, and audiences at Comic Con rode the wave enthusiastically.
All This, and Gaming Too
I didn't go to Comic Con for the gaming. I didn't exactly avoid the gaming mezzanine, but leaving the hall meant leaving much of the entertainment and giveaways. In short, I was too busy enjoying being pandered to. At the same time, the convention hall would make a lousy place to play a role playing game of any length, shouting over noise and being constantly bumped. The convention hall is not a great place to loiter. As a result, gaming, once again, was separate from the convention hall, which means less exposure and opportunities to cross-market.
While most of the gaming was happening on the mezzanine, there was some exposure for role-playing games in the convention hall at Comic Con 2006. Wizards of the Coast had a multi-booth area located in top-shelf vendor space near one of the hall entrances. Their displays were impressive--a large circular ceiling banner and colorful partitions featuring full size color ads of Wizards' latest offerings. For role players who consider the fate of gaming as a market, Wizards' presence was encouraging.
Wizards' displays were enough to get people looking, and they had six tables running demos that never seemed to lack for interested players and/or lurkers. Wizards also had giveaways--a Comic Con staple that forces people into lines before they even know what they are getting. For the Wizards' giveaway, you rolled a foam d20, adding +2 for each product you tried. The prizes got better depending on the DC you beat. I of course wanted to know where to the DC to get the giant foam d20. I was told the d20's were custom made, which is GM speak for a DC of around 92.
Now the Bad and the Ugly
Not everything about Wizards' displays and demos were encouraging. Of the six tables, only one table was a demonstration of a role playing game, and not all the DMs knew the rules as well as they should (there was a quick discussion between people on whether a turn was a minute or six seconds). There was also some confusion as what was on the character sheets. Of the three sessions I observed, two sessions had a competent GM, while the other struggled slightly. All in all, the demo--a simple dungeon crawl--seemed to work pretty well, but demos also take a while to set up and run, which meant more people could lurk than actually participate.
Privateer Press had a very impressive display located more modestly near the back of the hall, and had plenty of floor bling to bring a lot of people looking around. They were mostly hawking their Miniatures with some very impressive scenery to show them off. RPG books were off to the side, near the register. I didn't see Privateer hosting any giveaways, and while the look was impressive, the staff gave me the impression of wargamers ready to talk to wargamers, which limited their appeal. It was my observation there were fewer people checking out Privateer Press--which could have been due to location, lack of giveaways, or the smaller market niche for which they were aiming.
What's Missing?
So colorful, impressive displays? Check. Giveaways? Check. But neither of these larger gaming companies seemed to be part of an interconnected marketing whole. Wizards did have two tables demoing their Star Wars Miniatures game. This is important because few other large companies weren't on the Star Wars bandwagon: the new DVD release, the new figures, the new animated television and computer game releases, not to mention all the people dressed up as jedi and stormtroopers. Wizards could have leveraged that synergy and offered their d20 Star Wars product in a convention very much in a Star Wars mindset, and from there, marketed their other d20 lines.
Wizards of the Coast wasn't the only game company to miss out on leveraging off of other companies' hype. For years, Anime has a huge fan contingent at Comic Con, so why no BESM? [This article was written before GOO's announcement that they were going out of business. -ed.] Other showings were present, but anemic. The California Browncoats almost seemed to be apologetically holding on to a copy of the Serenity RPG. No demos though, and it sure wasn't hawked near as much as Star Wars Legos were.
In addition to not fully embracing the Star Wars hype, Wizards missed possibly one of the largest hype waves of all, Snakes on a Plane.
We got &!*$*!$*%ing Snakes!
Like the idea of Samuel L. Jackson cursing a blue streak on a plane full of snakes? Got the cool t-shirt with the Caduceus made of--you guessed it--snakes and a plane? Grooving on the 60' giant snake you get to walk through? Then you'll like playing a snakes and plane d20 Modern Scenario. For those worried about copyright, there's could have been quick scenario called "Snakes on a Train!" Sadly, no. Instead, its all about Lidda and friends fighting some sort of critter. Nary a snake in sight.
Which brings me to Snakes in a Game. Itesser Ink (http://www.itesser.com), like so many small presses, didn't have a lot of floor bling, and was located in a pool of tables such that the neat ordering of rows in Comic Con broke down, and instead of a row/booth number, are issued more confusing letter/number combinations. Think of it as the Maze in Sanctuary. But, what Annie Rush did have was a game that people--even people with little or no exposure to RPGs--would recognize. People who had no idea what storytelling gaming was about were chuckling at a small game called "Snakes in a Game." The recognition alone got Annie lots of attention and although the game itself was not a runaway hit, it was a great way to get noticed, providing a gateway to other games.
As I spoke to Annie, I realized that she already got the concepts which were just beginning to become apparent to me. As a small press that doesn't have a lot of marketing clout, there's value on hooking on to things that have already captured a large fan base and market attention. InTerrorgation, another game was quickly introduced by "Did you like 'The Usual Suspects'?" Using the cross-marketing brings faster recognition than say, Regar the warrior. Also, in a convention not devoted to gaming, recognizable situations and characters mean less exposition before getting to the action, and is easier to digest for the neophyte.
Looking Forward to Next Year
When Comic Con 2007 comes around, I plan on paying more attention to the RPG presence and wonder what game vendors will be there. I expect an even stronger MMPORG presence. I hope to see the bargain area again--a rich area of GURPS books, three for ten bucks. I hope to see Wizards of the Coast and Privateer Press there again, and hope they don't quietly withdraw like Dream Pod 9 seemed to withdraw--its possible I missed them, but they didn't seem to have the same haunt they had in 2005. With the Star Wars 30th Anniversery coming up next year I wonder if Wizards will alter their demonstrations to leverage off of the coming hyp storm. Then again, they might not have to, since they can obviously afford a pretty nifty place of their own.
