Marketing Experts News

Mass Effect 3 Joins New Coke In Marketing History

Congratulations Bioware. You’ve now joined the ranks of New Coke in the annals of marketing history.

For those too young to remember, back in the day the top muckity mucks at Coca-Cola decided it was time for a “change” and that they should change the formula of Coca-Cola to something “new & different” in order to boost sales, their image and “keep up with the Joneses” (i.e. Pepsi).

Needless to say this change was met with great consumer outrage and horrible PR for Coke. So a few months later they changed the flavor back and came out with “Coca-Cola Classic” which is why you see the word “classic” on your Coke cans today.

At least the execs at Coca-Cola had the humility and courage to acknowledge the errors of their ways, admit they screwed up and give their paying customers what they wanted. CNBC did an entire special on Coca-Cola in which they admitted this and talked about it openly. You can watch it on Netflix or Hulu.

Will we see the same humility and courage from Bioware? So far, I think not. Their response to the public outcry about the ridiculous ending to Mass Effect 3 has been smug and arrogant at best. Bioware changed their successful “formula” in the creation of the ending to Mass Effect 3 just as Coca-Cola changed their formula for the Coke the world had come to know and love. Same song, different key.

What if Coca-Cola had said, “It’s OUR beverage and ‘artistic vision’.” “WE are the creators of Coca-Cola and we can make it taste any way we like.”, etc.,etc. Would the media have jumped to their defense as many mainstream game media have with Bioware? I think not.

The fact is that any business, any PRODUCT, has a responsibility to give its paying customers what they want or risk going out of business. Anything “created” can frankly be considered “art” because art by definition is the creation of something. But, as soon as commerce enters into the equation, the task at hand expands and must by necessity include the ability to exchange that “art” with one who will in turn pay money. If someone won’t pay for it, then commerce makes a quick exit and viability crumbles.

So Bioware and EA, what you need to do is recognize that you are in a COMMERCIAL business and as such have a responsibility to deliver art that people want to pay for and are happy with in order to stay in business. If you just want to be “artists” and “do your own thing customers be damned” then go ahead and make your “art” your own way. But don’t try to sell it or make a business out of it.

My suggestion is that Bioware, EA and especially Casey Hudson and the other execs behind the so called “artistic vision” of the Mass Effect 3 ending fiasco take a lesson from the good old billionaires at Coca-Cola and eat your humble pie, knock off the arrogance and turn out a NEW, APPROPRIATE ending to the game, then “sit back on the beach and live off the royalties from the vids” purchased by your now HAPPY CUSTOMERS.

Related Links [Video]:

ME3 Ending DLC Discussion

Excellent Analysis Of Why The Ending Is "Broken"

The Business Of Gaming - Great Overview Of How This Happened In The First Place

Anatomy Of A Website

Anatomy Of A Website

Many people take for granted the creation and deployment of a website. They often think of it as a purely a technical thing and that its content comes from some mystical place such as the webmaster’s or web designer’s mind or worse "The Website Fairy".

It is very very far from that and in fact, contains many elements both in its formation and continuing operation over time.

Think of a website much as you would a home or a building in which you plan to live or work. 

Approach the creation of your website as you would the building of your home or workplace. After all, your website is your virtual “home” or “residence” on the World Wide Web.

If you think of it this way, you will begin to see the
estimation of thought and work required to properly create, deploy and manage a
website. 

Let us take say, a restaurant as an example. If you were building a restaurant you would ask yourself a variety of questions (hopefully) before you began construction. Questions such as:

1. What kind of customers do I want to cater to?
2. What impression do I want to make on them when they enter the establishment?
3. What kind of food do I want to serve?
4. What kind of equipment do I require to adequately prepare and serve this food?
5. How do I want the food to be presented to the customers?
6. How many customers do I want to be able to serve simultaneously?
7. Do I want to serve alcohol? What types? Do I need a wine cellar since I plan to have a large wine selection?
8. Do I want televisions to display sporting events?
9. Do I want to provide WiFi internet to my patrons?
10. What type of wiring do I need? Lighting?
         Music?
11. Do I want a maître di?
12. How will phone calls be handled? Will I take reservations?
13. How will the restaurant be decorated?
14. How will I promote it to get people in the door?
15. What do I want them to be able to do when they get there?
16. What are your personnel requirements to stay in business and service your customers?
17. What will those personnel need to do their jobs?
18. Etc., Etc., Etc. 

In other words, you would make a fairly complete assessment of your needs, desires and those of your potential customers and employees BEFORE you began to invest the time and money to build your restaurant.

Well the same degree of thought and planning should go into the creation of your website. 

In fact, most of the highly successful websites and internet companies that you see employ this degree of planning, forethought and management, and then some. 

Below are the key overview points that should go into the successful planning and creation of any website.

The more sophisticated the site, the more users you plan to have, the more work and time is involved on each of the steps below.

Simple brochure type sites of only a few static web pages take less time, BUT, each of the steps below still applies. 

1. Purpose & Function Planning
2. Content Planning
3. Content Creation
4. Copywriting
5. Design Planning
6. Design Implementation & Execution
7. Functionality & Programming Execution
8. Hosting Planning & Set-Up
9. Promotion & Marketing
10. Sales & Lead Management
11. Content Updating
12. Content Management
13. Hosting Management
14. Site Performance Management (Technical)
15. Site Performance Management (Marketing & Sales)

Use these key 15 steps to successful website planning and development and your next website will be more likely to perform the way you envisioned. 

The next article in this series will discuss and define each of the above points in some detail. You will learn what each means and what is involved in each stage.

Do Not Buy Vista!

According to Google there are currently over 500,000 web pages with the phrase "Vista Sucks" in them. Believe it.

I can't even make the above link target blank because the Vista "update" I did won't let me scroll properly in menus!

I cannot say it enough times - DO NOT BUY VISTA! Do not buy a computer with Vista, Do not "upgrade" to Vista (it's a DOWNGRADE).

Vista is currently a disaster. The only people who seem to "like" it are people who are computer builders and tinkerers and people who only do word processing & email.

If you have a ton of time to mess with your computer and configure this & that then maybe you'll be okay with it.

If you ONLY use email & word processing and some general web surfing such as shopping, then you'll probably be "okay".

But if you actually use your computer for your work like design or lots of programs, games, etc., then FORGET VISTA, because it is horrid. I just "updated" my system & it got WORSE (if that was even possible).

If you are planning to buy a new computer then INSIST on XP ONLY or DON'T BUY A NEW COMPUTER.

If you absolutely must buy a new computer, then consider converting to a MAC because Vista is THAT AWFUL.

You will spend less time learning the Mac than you will fussing with Vista.

Maybe some Apple employees infiltrated Microsoft to develop Vista! :)

Anyway, don't get it, whatever you do.

Making A Website Sell - By Toli Cefail

I'm continually fascinated by people's viewpoints on websites and what it really takes to create a website that gets results.

I've met many people who expect to just build a website and automatically have it start getting sales from day one.

Well... sometimes this happens but most of the time is doesn't.

Building a website is really like setting up any BUSINESS. You can't really expect to open a brick-and-mortar store for example, and expect customers to just start coming in and buying things. I mean this can happen, but often it doesn't.

If you open a store you have to:

Stock the shelves with things people want
Promote to get people into the store
Observe the people while they're in the store regarding their reactions to the merchandise
Re-stock and add new merchandise according to those reactions
Adjust the presentation and pricing of the merchandise according to those reactions
Communicate with the customers both inside and outside of the sore to get them to buy
And many more things.

In short, it's a PROCESS. And it is a process unfortunately that many business owners are not prepared to confront when they set up their website.

The average lifespan of a website is about 18 months. I've built cutting edge type websites that have held their own for 3 or more years but you really should be prepared to redo your site at least once every 2 years. This is because the internet and web technology is constantly changing and improving.

You should plan to adjust your web content on a monthly basis at a minimum. The more often your site content updates, the more the search engines will like it.

When launching a web site don't be fixed on anything. Be prepared to change it on the fly, make corrections, add and remove features, etc. as you go.

Based on my experience, it can take as long as a few months to get a launched website really humming. And this is a few months with at least 2 people working on it - a site promoter and a webmaster/designer/programmer.

Some webmasters can do it all but this is rare. You will seldom find a good artistic designer who is also a good programmer and if you do, it will cost a lot to hire this person.

When hiring a company to build your site it's fine to hire one that is great  technically if you have in-house marketing personnel. But if you don't have web savvy in-house marketing personnel (and I mean really web savvy with regards to internet marketing and promotion as well as marketing in general) then you're better off hiring a web marketing company and letting them work with your webmaster to get the site built.

The way we work is we have teams of designers, teams of programmers (of all types) and our own in-house web savvy marketing experts who supervise these teams. Then when it's all done, we turn the site over to our client's webmaster with our recommendations and continue to work on whatever additional marketing plans the client wants.

Many times we will work with a client's in-house marketing team. I particularly like to work this way as marketers think alike and don't overdue the technology forsaking the consumer.

So to sum this up: when you're building a website recognize that it's a commitment and a process. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves, make adjustments (many, many adjustments), and take the TIME to respond to your visitors' behavior to make your site perform.

Website Effectiveness

It never ceases to amaze me how an otherwise intelligent person can so grossly underestimate how much work is involved in creating something.

As an example: a business owner wants a web site with the functionality (and performance) of an amazon.com operational in under a month for less than it would cost to hire a full time web developer for that same time period.

If you're considering having a web site built or building one yourself, here are some key areas you need to plan on and be aware of to ensure your site building process runs as smoothly as possible.

1. Site concept - YOU need to determine a basic concept for your web site including what you want it to do, what needs you want it to fulfill for visitors and what you want it to do for your company. Be as thorough as possible in this determination.

Do you want to generate customers; sell merchandise; establish goodwill with your customers and the public in general; provide sales tools for your sales personell? Decide what you want the site to do and write it down.

Then when you meet with your web design firm they will be able to estimate more accurately the time and cost for building your site as well as give you suggestions on how to achieve your goals. Having this information for them will also help them to see where you want to go with your business. They may then have other ideas that will help you accomplish your aims that they wouldn't have thought of had they not had your information.

2. Design style preferences - take a look at competitive sites and note your likes and dislikes about each.

3. Function preferences - will your site be e-commerce? Have a member area? Allow user sign-up or newsletter subscription? Consider these things BEFORE beginning construction of your site and hiring a design firm.

An important thing to remember is that good designers are RARELY good programmers. When hiring a professional design firm, they usually have both on staff so your sure to receive quality design as well as good programming.

4. Results - Building a website takes time. Building a website that gets the desired results takes even more time. This is an ongoing process that usually requires DAILY work and adjustment to your website as well as continual feedback from your site visitors.

I generally recommend that once the site is built, or during the site building process, that the company hire a full time webmaster who's job it is to administer the website and get visitors to take the desired actions.

Be prepared to make regular changes to your site to get it performing like you want; ALOT of changes.

I could write more about this but I have to run (3 year old approaching). The above should be enough to get you going in the right direction in getting your new website off the ground.

Interserver Down? - Is it possible?

Is it possible that Interserver's entire data center went down? At first I thought it was just me when I tried to reach several of my websites which were all down on a single dedicated server.

But then I tried to go to Interserver's website and it was down too! Hope they get it back together quickly because this is really bad for business.

Swear Jar from Bud Light

Bud Light's ad agency hit it out of the park with this one. They're some funny mother f%$^#s! (Where do I send my quarter? :-) )

-- Toli (ROFFL)

Google vs. Old Media - Knowlege Wharton Comments From Toli Cefail

View the Knowledge Wharton article that inspired these comments here.

The Internet is and will eventually come full circle and return to a world where "he who has the eyeballs wins".

The current problem is that you have an antiquated inherently un-democratic system of content distribution. The Internet is the ultimate democracy where the people can get what they want when they want it.

If Google and You Tube are delivering what the people want, they will get the eyeballs and ultimately the content and advertisers.

In the meantime, there is a huge window of opportunity for independent content providers and creators to create a new compensation model that cares for the creators, actors, etc., while also serving advertisers by delivering viewers.

It's time to revamp the food chain and forgo the greed in exchange for more volume and wider distribution. Ultimately the profits will pan out.

View the Knowledge Wharton article that inspired these comments here.

MySpace could be worth around $15 billion

MySpace could be worth around $15 billion

Media analyst values social networking Web site within three years

Reuters

Updated: 12:21 a.m. ET Sept 28, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - MySpace, the social networking Web site, could be worth around $15 billion within three years, measured in terms of the value created for shareholders of parent company News Corp., a Wall Street media analyst forecast on Wednesday.

RBC Capital analyst Jordan Rohan said he had come away from a meeting with Fox Interactive, the managers of MySpace, believing that “media investors may not fully appreciate what has already been done with MySpace or what may lie ahead.”

“$15 billion in a few years? It is possible,” Rohan wrote in a research note to clients.

MySpace was acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. for $580 million less than a year ago. It now boasts more than 90 million active users.

Rohan said MySpace could demonstrate a value of between $10 billion and $20 billion within a few years. Acknowledging he was making an “audacious claim” he justified the forecast on the basis of MySpace’s “raw, unprecedented user/usage growth.”

He also said the site’s “massive” international appeal, capacity to become “an intellectual property distribution powerhouse” and experienced management team lent credibility to his prediction.

Rohan based his view on an extrapolation of estimates for the value of Internet properties ranging from $1 billion for both MySpace rivals YouTube and Facebook to the market capitalization of $120 billion for Google Inc.

He said MySpace was currently sold out of space for video advertising. The CPM, or price per thousand ad views, on a premium show such as Fox’s The Simpsons runs as high as $35-40 on MySpace, he said.

MySpace management believes its video service ranks No. 3 among U.S. Web users behind Yahoo Inc. and YouTube, Rohan said following the Tuesday meeting with Fox officials.

Britain is adding 25,000 MySpace member profiles per day. Australia has 2 million unique users. MySpace France began public testing three weeks ago, he noted.

MySpace is internally developing a MySpace Web application to run on mobile phones that should be launched in three to four months with a major U.S. carrier, he said.

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15045920/

New In Game Advertising Patent Filing

Inventor of the Seamless "In Game" Ad Files for Patent Protection

CLEARWATER, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- July 31, 2006 -- Nightlife Interactive LLC, inventor of the Seamless Ad, a significant breakthrough in video game advertising, has filed for patent protection. The company (www.nightlifeinteractive.net) feels that its invention will provide video "in game" advertisers with the accountability that many feel is missing from the current impression-based pricing model. "After the Internet bubble burst in 2000, companies like Overture saved the day with pay-per-click advertising," stated Bob Cefail, CEO of Nightlife Interactive. "We are confident that the pay-per- transaction functionality of the Seamless Ad will accelerate the growth of in-game advertising."

The Seamless Ad was designed to allow for effective product promotion that does not disturb or interfere with "in progress" game play. Video games can now be constructed using realistic product integration that allows a player to click on any item within a game when they are interested in the product itself. After the player clicks on the product residing within the game, he or she can continue to seamlessly play the game. The Seamless Ad platform identifies the interested consumer and then delivers the appropriate promotion to the user's email box.

By serving ads in this manner, an advertiser will be able to pay for an ad on a per-transaction basis. "Most advertisers would prefer a pay-as-you-go plan rather than a pay-per-impression model," explained Cefail. "Our system offers true accountability in terms of ad placement and results."

Nightlife Interactive is currently building its first game that includes the Seamless Ad. The game revolves around the world of music, entertainment, and the nightclub scene. Set in five major cities and 25 nightclubs, the game features such real-world products as cars, consumer electronics, clothing, and music. "No present time game would be realistic without such product integration," said Cefail.

The game, titled "Nightscape," involves massive multi-player role-playing and social networking. "We consider the game to be a cross between MySpace, Second Life and Match.com," remarked Cefail. "This is a game where adults can enjoy great music, top DJs, all while meeting new people."

Nightlife Interactive is being assisted in the development of "Nightscape" by In Touch Media Group (OTCBB: ITOU), an online marketing, Web development, and Internet PR firm that specializes in generating website visitors through various search engine technologies and viral marketing techniques. In Touch Media Group conducted seven stages of market research involving over 7,000 participants in order to establish the ideal game for adults ranging from 18 to 45 years in age. In Touch CEO, Laura Betterly, states, "This truly is an example of market research being used at all stages to ensure that consumers and advertisers both get exactly what they want from this game."

"Video game players seek out game immersion," stated Cefail, "which is why we developed the Seamless Ad -- to provide advertising results yet not disrupt game play."

The game is scheduled to be released in the late summer of 2007, and advertising placement and registration will start on August 4, 2006. Advertisers who wish to have their products placed in the game must allow for the "build in" of their offerings within the game, which starts in November 2006.

About Nightlife Interactive LLC

Nightlife Interactive is a video game development, marketing and management company specializing in present day video games that serve subscribers who are over the age of 18. The company also provides advertisers with the opportunity to showcase their products within Nightlife interactive games using the company's patent-pending technology known as the Seamless Ad.

About In Touch Media Group

In Touch Media Group (OTCBB: ITOU) is an online marketing and PR firm that specializes in generating website visitors and customers for its business clients using a combination of effective systems, including search engine advertising, publicity and other marketing services. The company employs online market research to dramatically increase the effectiveness of search engine advertising, targeted publicity, and strategically placed website advertising.

This announcement contains "forward-looking statements." Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect" and other similar expressions as they relate to the Company and its management are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although the Company and its management believe that the statements contained in this announcement are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such statements will prove correct. Factors that could affect the occurrence of events or results discussed herein are included with those mentioned in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

---

For more information:

Nightlife Interactive LLC
Bob Cefail
CEO
(727) 465-0925
www.nightlifeinteractive.net

For Media Inquiries:

In Touch Media Group, Inc.
Laura Betterly
CEO
(727) 465-0925

SOURCE:  In Touch Media Group