On Tuesday I attended the launch event for MWO Philanthropic Advisors. MWO is founded by Michael O’Mahoney who is the former President of Sick Kids Foundation. During his tenure at Sick Kids, he successfully doubled the size of its fundraising revenue. Now through MWO, Micheal aims to help other non-profits maximize its fundraising revenues.
One area of development for MWO is the Fundraising Optimizer:
Questions which the Optimizer will answer include:
Which fundraising program should our organization invest in to achieve our greatest fundraising results?
How much should we invest?
What will be the impact if we divert funds from other fundraising programs?
What is the best combination of fundraising programs for our organization?
Michael is looking for a few qualified non-profit organizations to participate in a free pilot program for the Optimizer. If you or someone you know is interested in participating, please click here and contact Micheal.
A good example how Warner Brothers has used Real Spaces for the launch of the newest film to the Harry Potter.
The magical world of Harry Potter is starting to blend with the muggle (i.e. non-wizard) world in Toronto thanks to Warner Bros.’ outdoor marketing campaign for its new film Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
A vacant storefront in the city’s busy Queen Street West neighbourhood has been renovated to serve not only as a surface for outdoor advertising, but as a home for a scene from the film.
On the outside, the store is covered in the film’s “Good and Evil” campaign posters, while the inside has been magically transformed into Prof. Dumbledore’s office at Hogwarts, the school Potter attends.
By creating this location, the promoters have developed a place where the tribe can connect with other members as well with the fantasy world of Harry Potter. This in turn deepens the connection with the brand and helps increase customer lifetime value.
A great video on how if you don’t serve your customer the way they expect, they have the means to tell millions of people.
This is why companies need to understand that in the eyes of the consumer their business is not just a collection of departments, but one organization. Furthermore, this illustrates why an organization has to really care about a customer and not just say so in their tag line.
Many of you would know that I have been following EA Sports’ game development/marketing strategy - specifically around the Madden NFL and NCAA Football titles.
First, a little background. The versions of those games on current generation of consoles (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3) has not lived up to expectations. This has caused great debate amongst the tribe members, EA Executives, and the development teams on how future iterations of the two games should be developed.
For better or for worse, the two titles have gone in opposite directions in terms of strategy. One only needs to look at fan sites such as Operation Sports to see the difference.
Madden
Philosophy: No gimmicks: “Everything You See on Sunday”
Target: Core gamers, football fans - The Tribe.
Community interaction: Very high
Developers are constantly interacting on 3rd party sites, EA Sports blog, etc.
Several high ranking people within the tribe were invited to their studios to work on an early build of the game. Changes were made that day
Purposefully Develop content -> Release to the tribe -> Allow tribe to react -> Modify
Modifications of certain parts of the game were made after the developers released screenshots/videos of the game. Example: Ben Roethlisberger looked too small in one of the early screenshots; the community reacted to the picture and gave their response. The development team fixed it.
Additions to the game: Focused on giving the game an authentic feel while playing the game.
Major improvements in aesthetics, game play and CPU intelligence
NCAA
Philosophy: A little bit of everything
Target: Casual gamers, people who love college football - Mass audience
Community interaction: Moderate
Developers are sporadic with their interaction. They are hesitant to answer the tough questions
Minor issues that are brought up by the community are often shelved for next year’s release - i.e. no urgency to fix issues for this year’s version
Additions to the game: Focused on adding gimmicks that appeal to casual gamers
Season Showdown - earn virtual points for playing the game
Minor updates to presentation, gameplay and CPU intelligence
As expected, the reaction from the tribe has been quite different for each title.
Madden fans love the interaction with the developers, changes to the development philosophy and addition of features that make the game realistic. But will casual gamers enjoy this title? Will sales volume drop due to lack of features that appeal to casual gamers?
NCAA fans are starting to feel as if the development team is completely ignoring them. Features that make the game realistic have not been added (despite several tribe members bringing it to the developer’s attention). Gimmicks such as Season Showdown are being laughed at by the tribe. But will these additions make more casual buyers pick up the title? Will sales volume increase due to the addition of features that appeal to casual gamers? What is the impact of leaving the tribe out?
We are yet to see what actually happens, NCAA Football is released mid-July while Madden is released in mid-August.
So the question is what should your brand do? Should you focus on making your product/service for your tribe OR for the audience at large?
As you may have guessed, our philosophy is to focus on your tribe and let them bring others in the fold.
