Viral Marketing with Indie Developers Essay Example

a marketing plan that promotes their projects and maximizes resources. The current problem involves various issues surrounding viral marketing and video game audios today, including lack of support, funding, knowledge, and resistance towards implementing viral marketing strategies. It is concerning that even in today's digital native market, there is still a lack of support for viral marketing. Some studios and a significant portion of the video game community do not view it as an effective strategy due to its perceived higher failure rate compared to successes.Failures have a tendency to overshadow successes because they attract media attention and receive more coverage, which further contributes to skepticism towards viral marketing strategies. An example of this is when the AAA title developer THIS used a publicity stunt for their game "Hometown," which did not end well.

The incident occurred when around two hundred balloons were released near the San Francisco bay without anticipating any problems. However, when the balloons started entering the water, environmentally-conscious citizens and local gaming retailer Gamester took a stand against it. This small act of publicity backfired and likely resulted in significant financial losses for the company (Determined, 2011). Budgeting for guerrilla marketing poses its own challenges.

Some studios, particularly indie studios, lack the budget to fully embrace viral marketing strategies. Due to the high risk of failure or inadequate marketing, some studios completely avoid this approach as it is considered a "gamble with company funds." If a studio were to make a mistake in executing a viral marketing plan, all the budget and time invested would be wasted, jeopardizing their project's production.

Even if a studio has sufficient funding and support for a viral marketing

campaign, they may still lack knowledge or expertise in effectively implementing such strategies.Considering their own circumstances and priorities, some studios choose not to use viral marketing. However, it is important to prioritize the laundry list of issues, with the first focus being on creating standard knowledge and widespread awareness of viral marketing. When starting marketing campaigns, it is crucial to understand realistic limitations like budgeting and product support. Some studios may opt for smaller marketing campaigns fueled by fantod or star power in order to generate buzz about their products. It is essential to start with the fundamentals of viral marketing and learn about different types. This paper aims to provide knowledge on how to create inexpensive yet effective marketing strategies, addressing the problem of lacking knowledge or a directional plan when considering future projects and products. In terms of background information, viral marketing can take various shapes and forms such as Word-of-Mouth (WOMB), Stealth, Guerilla, and Crowd Funding. Word-of-mouth marketing plays a significant role in the world of viral marketing and can occur intentionally or unintentionally. Studios have two options for spreading information about a game: hiring customers and actors or directly influencing them through in-person contact or other means like social sites, video hosting sites, or blogs.Incidental word-of-mouth marketing is the preferred method because it demonstrates genuine customer satisfaction and their desire to share information about a product without any external influence. However, word of mouth can fade quickly over time according to Seth Gooding. He describes it as a situation where a marketer does something and a consumer tells five or ten friends, but eventually the impact of this marketing action diminishes.

Another form of viral marketing is stealth marketing, which is considered the most challenging type to execute successfully. In stealth marketing, companies promote their products or services without directly revealing them. An example of this occurred during the promotion of "The Last Exorcism" film when marketers utilized chat roulette to advertise their product. They featured an advertisement with a girl who initially appeared normal but gradually displayed horrifying possession-like behavior, evoking fear in viewers. This tactic effectively conveyed the concept of possession while strategically avoiding direct disclosure of the movie itself. The video generated significant online buzz and drove people to visit the accompanying website for more details. As a result, the film achieved remarkable success by grossing $41 million at the global box office.The Guerilla Viral Combination is a popular marketing technique that combines guerilla and internet marketing. It involves bold advertising on the streets, often referring to a specific website. The strategy then shifts towards online marketing efforts.

Capo has effectively promoted their upcoming game Resident Evil 6 by using real-world promotions. They spray painted symbols in cities, creating buzz online when people shared photos and linked them to Capo's website. This ultimately led to the announcement of Resident Evil 6. This successful approach can be classified as Viral Marketing due to its use on the internet and its impact.

In recent years, Crowd Funding has gained popularity as a form of viral marketing. It allows communities to come together and donate money towards causes or products they believe in. This benefits the Indies development community.The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance for Indies studios in understanding different types of Viral

Marketing and how to effectively use them. It is important for studios, especially Indies studios, to learn the art of planning and utilizing Viral Marketing in order to minimize the risk of failures and negative feedback. Game studios, whether AAA or Indies, often face funding challenges that impact their overall existence and marketing efforts. However, Indies studios tend to struggle more than AAA counterparts. There are two perspectives on funding: one for product or project development and another solely for marketing upcoming products or projects. While viral marketing seems like a simple concept, integrating it into established companies can be difficult. Funding, planning, and marketing strategies are always subject to change when introducing new plans at the company level. To effectively implement viral marketing, game studios need to establish a set of steps or a history log documenting past successes and failures. This approach allows for easy replication of successful viral marketing tactics. Not only does viral marketing save time but it also enables studios and companies to allocate budgets towards other critical areas like pre-production and development planning stages.
Spreading knowledge can have both significant positive and negative results.
Viral marketing has proven to be highly advantageous in the indie development world in recent years. It offers widespread notification, close to free advertising, and time-saving methods that are essential in today's market. The reach of viral tools can bring significant coverage to products or services. For instance, a game developer created a simple yet innovative game that relied solely on word-of-mouth from its players. This resulted in small groups of people spreading the word about the game, making it one of the most popular indie games

globally, even during its developmental stage. This example exemplifies how cost-effective viral marketing can be as the developer spent minimal resources on advertising and focused on game development instead. Overall, these instances emphasize the immense power of viral marketing for games and studios within the gaming industry. By utilizing viral marketing tools effectively, indie studios can benefit greatly from saving money and time while quickly spreading notifications about their offerings. Unfortunately, many companies overlook this valuable and affordable method due to their lack of knowledge in marketing strategies.The text emphasizes the importance of game developers understanding and promoting viral marketing. It suggests that indie studios can play a crucial role in spreading awareness about viral marketing to other influential studios and companies in the gaming industry. The text states that multiple case studies will be conducted to provide background information on viral marketing strategies, analyzing their success or failure. Statistical data from crowdfunding websites will also be considered. The research methodology involves referencing and collecting specific information from websites and literary sources mentioned in the paper, focusing on projects related to the video game niche or industry. The research method used is descriptive in nature.Crewel (1994) defines the descriptive method of research as the gathering of information to describe the current situation and interpret statistical data. It involves collecting data by hand from various sources and drawing appropriate conclusions. Key (1997) describes qualitative research as investigative methodologies like ethnographic, naturalistic, anthropological, field, or participant observer research. It emphasizes studying variables in their natural settings.

The literature review consists of fifteen articles discussing viral marketing and covers topics such as basic standards, expectations, and effects. Specifically, it

focuses on Social Networking Sites, Guerilla Marketing, Word of Mouth Marketing, and Stealth Marketing. In relation to the first three aspects of viral marketing, we provide a detailed explanation and consideration of the crowd funding method. This aspect is now recognized as a newly formed idea within viral marketing.

Trusts, Baptist & Buckling (2010) outline the main aspects of Viral Marketing Social Networking Sites. These sites are used by billions worldwide and allow for communication on a level that traditional means have never allowed before (p.643-658).According to Danish, Tomtit, Stupors, & Stannic (2010), social sites like Facebook or MySpace not only allow messaging but also offer social games (p.78-282). These sites are known for promoting products based on a user's recent activity, capturing actions such as playing games, watching videos, and clicking on ads. Advertisements tailored to each user are displayed on every page of the site. Social networking also provides opportunities for studios to create fan pages, game releases, and discussion boards. Most features can be customized by studios according to their preferences.

Social networking sites expose studios to millions of users globally, potentially reaching billions of people. For instance, author Dave Kern tweeted about a bad hotel experience and received an apology from a competitor's hotel along with wishes for a better vacation. This tweet gained them another customer. Effective use of social media can rapidly elevate the popularity of a game or studio. Word-of-mouth marketing is also vital in any marketing campaign as it allows consumers to easily share information with others. According to Gooding (2000), successful marketers are those who establish a foundation for interested individuals to market to one another in the

future.
This method is associated with viral marketing.(2002) The author argues that current marketing strategies primarily focus on influencing individual customers through advertising and other tools, overlooking the fact that purchasing is a social process (p.6). Word of mouth plays a significant role in spreading information about a product or service because people are more inclined to try something when recommended by someone they know. This recommendation holds weight because it comes from someone who has personally tried the product and endorsed it verbally. Word-of-mouth marketing relies heavily on trust and the desire to try something based on peer recommendations.Yang & Chou (2011) explain how companies often start by exposing a small group of people to a new product or service and allow word-of-mouth marketing to take its course (p.85-98). Marketers must be careful not to interfere with nonusers' control over the word-of-mouth process since any interference can have negative consequences. Furthermore, introducing a big company after word-of-mouth promotion can sometimes diminish the impact and excitement generated by the entire campaign.An example of this is evident in the Mission Chiefly campaign by Five Gum, which initially created online buzz but quickly died down once consumers discovered it was sponsored by Five Gum, leading to negative effects (Evans 2011). This highlights how rapidly word-of-mouth can spread and disappear.This marketing technique is commonly used to generate excitement among consumers for a game release. It is also applicable to all marketing strategies, intentional or unintentional. Stealth marketing campaigns are designed to be subtle and go unnoticed by consumers. According to Katie & Katie (2004), these campaigns spread slowly through word of mouth instead of bombarding consumers with advertisements. This

approach aims to avoid overwhelming consumers and making them feel constantly advertised to. In today's advertising-saturated world, people tend to avoid companies that bombard them with constant ads (Sullivan). The text highlights that customers do not need deception or lectures to understand a sales message. They prefer products that feel exclusive and personal, setting them apart from others. This exclusivity fosters pride and the desire to showcase purchases to friends and family members. Gaming studios may not find stealth marketing beneficial as they typically aim for widespread exposure; however, an incorrectly executed campaign could result in wasted resources. Caldwell (2000) notes that even small changes can have significant impacts. Although some may not initially perceive it as such, crowd funding is now recognized as a vital form of viral marketing.
This text highlights the widely accepted and crucial marketing strategy of crowd funding. Crowd Funding is a method where individuals with similar interests, ideas, or purposes come together as a larger community to donate specific amounts of money to support worthy projects. The donated funds are used by the project owners to produce their services or goods. Crowd Funding allows various ventures or social projects to seek funding from the public and individuals in exchange for promises of future products or benefits. The rules and regulations regarding the acceptance of funding and the promises made by project owners are determined by specific crowd funding platforms like Streakier or Indigo, each having its own set of rules and processes regarding equity or product promises. Crowd funding projects can vary in size and goal, ranging from small personal endeavors to large-scale projects seeking significant funding in the range

of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

Despite substantial investments through crowd funding, our understanding of its workings remains limited, with only a few studies analyzing specific efforts in this area. There is still much to learn about the factors contributing to successful crowd funding campaigns and the overall distribution and utilization of these mechanisms.When discussing Crowd Funding, we will consider various types within this domain. These different types of crowd funding include donations, sponsoring, pre-selling, lending, and equity.

Crowd Funding donations involve providing funds without expecting any form of reciprocation. Sponsoring in crowd funding refers to an agreement between the project owner and the backer, where the backer offers free PR or marketing based on predetermined terms. In pre-selling, a specific product is created and backers receive a piece of hardware as promised in the advertisement or agreement.

Lending in crowd funding resembles traditional lending but can have more severe consequences depending on the performance of the borrower. This is because lending money through crowd funding operates similarly to bank loans, sometimes involving interest rates or agreed-upon flat amounts. This also includes the original amount provided in the first place. This type of crowd funding is not as common in today's crowd funding methodology.

The last form of crowd funding is a widely used form called equity; this is used by many crowd funding projects today. This basically gives the backer either a portion of the project itself, such as special rights, notes, credits, or in some extreme cases, a portion of the company.These promised equity forms are typically reserved for those who back with large amounts;The funding amounts for projects can range from $1,000

to potentially more than $25,000 depending on the project's needs. The long-term implications of crowd funding are uncertain and depend on whether the project's creators deliver the promised products or not. The success of a project is influenced by factors such as the founders themselves, the quality of the project introduction, and the amount of funding received. Despite efforts by founders, most crowd funded projects experience delays. Predicting these delays can be based on factors like project size and funding. Over funding is a significant issue as it may lead to expanding or enhancing the project's content. Further research in crowd funding is needed to support indie development teams and companies in creating superior projects and products. Crowd funding has various uses including promoting personal projects, company initiatives, and fundraising for charitable causes.The platforms offer a user-friendly and easily accessible experience. Users can create an account to access features such as project promotion, donation, and initiation. Popular crowdfunding websites like Streakier, Firstlings, and Crosswise enable project founders to raise funds from backers or founders.