Game Riffs: Unless your head is still clearing from watching the SpongeBob SquarePants marathon on Nickelodeon, you’re probably aware that there is a video game trade show called E3 (Electronic
Expo) in Los Angeles. If you’ve missed it, suffice to say that it served as two things. One, it has been a platform for Microsoft to show that it just might know how to market consumer goods after
all, as it continues to innovate with its pricing and promotion for XboX. Two, it has been a coming out for party for dozens of new games from “Britney’s Dance Beat” to “Wrestlemania” to “Moto GP.”
Here’s my problem. The companies such as Acclaim and THQ that produce these video games haven’t learned how to market them yet. And if a heads-up ad agency could teach them how to advertise, they’d
create a nice new category. All but the very top games don’t receive much advertising outside of the most popular gaming magazines and websites. And that’s all the gaming suppliers feel they need to
do. Wrong. I think the gaming industry has some challenges ahead of it. It needs to make sure that its key franchises reach beyond the core gaming audiences. And it needs to find some new audiences.
The generation that grew up playing video games maintains interest after the teen years. They might even someday have to play games with their kids. I see Microsoft with XboX using sponsorships to
stay with their customers when they’re away from their controllers and monitors. I think the gaming franchises need to do that too. If you advertise “Moto GP” beyond the normal game geek, maybe you
pick up some new customers. Maybe you create awareness among new demographics. The consistency and insulation that marks video games is a limiting strategy for a category that’s knocking on critical
mass numbers........
MTV Riffs: Here’s what happens when you play too many video games. You think the newspaper needs to look like a video game. According to MTV Networks research,
kids aged 14 to 24 think newspapers should “minimize the old, white dudes on the front page.” Dude, wake up. It’s a newspaper. Old, white dudes play a major part in the news. Only 38 percent of the
respondents say they read newspapers, choosing instead to go to TV or the internet when there is a breaking news story. I don’t think newspapers are the place to advertise if you’re trying to reach
kids. And I think it would be wrong for newspapers to change their tune to attract them. But the internet might present a good platform for making the day’s news more relevant to kids. If I was going
to test more kid-friendly content, I’d do it there........
Napster Riffs: Has nothing to do with media, but I just need to say that if Napster’s assets are worth $8 million to
Bertlesmann, I’d really like them to come evaluate my house.
