Listen Up!

Marketing BY Blogging (vs. Blogging About Marketing)

Just when I think nobody's paying any attention to this languishing blog, I'm notified by a co-worker that I'm listed in Peter Kim's list of "Top Marketer Blogs."  Thanks, Peter!  And thanks to all you who still have a subscription to the feed or are watching this space. 

About once a week I think about posting something here, but with four kids at home, another blog (www.gamerscoreblog.com) that gets jeleaous when I cheat on her, and my extraordiarily busy work schedule, I don't get around her often enough. 

Something about "practicing what you preach," I guess.  I'm having an awesome time actually using all these fancy-schmancy Web 2.0 tools to do some real live brand marketing for Xbox.  I'm working with a passionate group of employees dedicated to supporting bloggers/podcasters who love our products.   I started with this blog, and have been lucky to actually get to be paid to do all the things I'd probably do anyway.  But I'm kind of stuck in "walking the walk" instead of "talking the talk."   

Feel free to watch the blog for my near-daily posts, though most of those are product-specific.  And if you're interested, you can catch our weekly podcast, our nearly-weekly video podcast, and my occasionally-updated Twitter feed. 

Speed Dating Exec Interview Commuinty Mashup

We're always trying to come up with new ways to involve our gamer community bloggers and podcasters.  I wrote up one thing we did at a recent trade show, E3, to get some face time for independant bloggers/podcasters with our executive staff, who normally only speaks with mainstream press.  Originally posted on Gamerscore Blog.

On Wednesday night, we held our first ever “speed interviews” sessions. Because E3 is such a short time with a lot of journalists and analysts, our executives were booked doing interviews or demos from 8am to 6pm, and every night there were meetings, parties, and other events that our executives were expected to attend. There just isn’t enough time in such a short period to include everyone who wanted one on one time with our execs.

We’ve done a few successful “blogger breakfast” sessions in the past, but we decided that doing a big, formal roundtable with several different might not be the best way to give our community members time with our execs. To keep it intimate, only a few sites were invited to the breakfast meetings, and even that format didn’t allow for much of a personal touch. Our community members didn’t get any one-on-one time with the executives, and didn’t let each site ask the questions for their particular communities (or were afraid of getting scooped if they did). The sites we invited tended to be the largest sites that really should be getting full appointments during the day (like Joystiq, Engadget, Kotaku, etc.), leaving out some of our most passionate community podcasters, bloggers, forum posters, and fan site owners. We know we invite everyone we can to our C3@E3 party, and our execs all love hanging out and chatting with community members there, but even a long conversation at a party doesn’t substitute for a formal interview.

We thought through the options, and figured that if speed dating could give you a feel for a possible “love connection” in a few minutes, maybe it would work for us not the love part, but maybe the “personal connection” part ;) ). Whether “speed interviews” was going to be a boom or a bust was anyone’s guess, but everyone liked the idea (at least in principle), so Tony, Chris, and April from our events staff set it up, and our executive staff agreed to give it a try.

Xbox.com posts a 360 degree panoramic view of the room.

We set up eight tables across a room, and had eight executives from different parts of our business sit at each one. The list included Peter Moore, Jeff Bell, Peter Molyneaux, Chris Early, Kevin Unangst, Aaron Greenberg, John Rodman, and Bungie’s Brian Gerard and Frank O’Connor.

We then chose leaders from several community sites, including Xbox360Fanboy, Evil Avatar, GamertagRadio, Achievement Junkie, and active forum posters from sites like TeamXbox, and Xbox.com.

Each group met for four minutes, then took one minute to move to the next table. After a round of eight interviews, we took a five minute break, and brought in eight more groups. I know four minutes doesn’t sound like much, but because each interviewer came prepared with questions, everyone jumped right in, and got to ask some questions nobody else had thought of. I haven’t seen any reports of the meetings, but everyone who participated thought it turned out great.

We hope our community leaders got to know our execs a little better, and gathered some unique information to report back to their community.  We were able to try a format that got as many community members through as we could. Our execs got a break from the journalists and analysts they’d been meeting with all week, and had a chance to get to know some of our community leaders, and hear what their community members are asking.

I hope it gives you a glimpse of the value we all put on the community. We appreciate all your passion, your support, your suggestions, your patience when things go wrong, and even your criticisms. From our executives to all of us who dedicate all our time to supporting community, our games business wouldn’t be where it is without you. For those that couldn’t be there this time, you should know we’re always looking for more ways to involve all of you whenever we can.

I posted a few photos of the interviews on Flickr, and I’ll post links to the stories/write-ups/podcasts as I can.

Gamertag Radio
E307 Coverage: Bungie Interview
E307 Coverage: Peter Molyneux from Lionhead Studios Interview

Evil Avatar
[E3 2007] - 4 Minutes with Microsoft Execs

Xbox 360 Fanboy
X3F interview: 4 minutes in the dark with Peter Moore

Marketing Forum 2007

Last week, I joined several hundred executives for 3 days at Richmond Event’s The Marketing Forum, held aboard the Norwegian Dawn.  Now, before you begin with cries of junkets, boondoggles, or misuse of corporate funds, let me explain a bit more.

Richmond Events has come up with a unique way of solving many of the common problems that these types of events have.  First, the event is paid for by a hundred or so suppliers, including marketing consultants, advertising and PR firms, executive coaches, industry service providers, and other professionals.  In return for paying for the three-day conference, they have a 100% captive (even captured) audience.

The boat left the dock on Wednesday night, and set sail for international waters near the Hamptons on Long Island.  Once there, they dropped anchor.  You might be imagining lounging by the pool, hitting the buffets, going to shows or movies, gambling in the casino, or hitting the beach.  But that’s where the brilliance of Richmond’s approach kicks in. 

The entire ship is dedicated to this event.  And since the suppliers are paying for the clients to be there, the boat is at their disposal.  The pools (except for one in the spa) were closed.  The casino, the shops, and the bars were all closed during meeting times.  And because it’s late spring, even lounging on the main deck (by the drained pool) meant brisk winds, temperatures in the 50-60’s, and as far as the eye can see--fog.  All meals are served at an assigned table at an assigned time.  To top it off, there was limited access to internet and spotty cell-phone coverage.

The days were broken into 15-minute increments, and absolutely every hour was planned, from 7:30 am to after midnight.  Breakfast began at 7:30, the day progressed with 30-minute back-to-back meetings between suppliers and clients.  Throughout the day, there were workshop sessions about marketing topics (given by suppliers), and even the meals were sponsored by a supplier, so you had 60-90 minutes at a table with one or two other clients and the supplier.

There are several ways to sum up the experience: Grueling. Frenetic. Exhausting.  By now, you’re thinking it sounds like a marketer’s description of hell: being forced to listen to pitch after pitch, with no place to hide, no emergency to force a reschedule.  It was grueling.  But it was also invigorating.  Inspiring.  Personal.  Powerful.  And yes, worthwhile.

I am approached several times a week by suppliers who appreciate having access to me through my email address published on my personal or Xbox blog.  Usually, they’re unrelated to anything I oversee personally, and though I pass them along, I feel bad that I don’t have time to respond personally, make introductions, follow up, or evangelize their ideas.  With everything going on “in real life,” they often fall to the bottom of the email queue, or even get ignored for weeks. 

You can imagine how difficult it is to meet new suppliers, let alone get to know them personally, tap into their ideas, share my ideas, and go beyond what could be shared in a brochure.  Even when I do have meetings, I rarely get a chance to have conversations with suppliers without them being overly-formal.

Having assigned meetings with ample time to get past the “introduction” proved to be quite powerful.  I was able to present enough information about the projects I’m working on to allow both of us to have a meaningful conversation.  Even if the fit wasn’t perfect (you usually knew pretty quickly), we got the chance to talk as industry peers, and begin building a relationship.  We got to talk about our families, our jobs, our personal interests, and what we’re trying to achieve for our businesses.  From my perspective, I feel much better introducing someone I know at a more personal level.  And I think if I approached a co-worker, executive, or someone I know from another company (or industry), and started off by saying I had a meeting with this company, I was impressed with what I saw, and I can personally introduce someone from the supplier to them.  It makes a big difference.

On the first evening, there was a keynote speaker.  Chuck Martin, author of SMARTS: Are we Hardwired for Success?.  He presented some interesting comments about how to identify and leverage an individual’s inherent strengths/talents.  Great speech, totally in line with a lot of study I’ve done personally about brain research and executive function. 

After the keynote, we held a series of “speed meetings” that can only be described as “Speed Dating.”  In one hour, I met with 10 different suppliers that I wouldn’t have time to meet during the longer meetings the next two days.  Every five minutes, a bell would ring, and everyone would find their next “speed meeting.”  Not much more you can do in 4-5 minutes but do an introduction, but I did make some contact with a couple of suppliers I’ll definitely follow up with. 

On the last evening, there was another keynote by Chris Gardner, the man the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” is about.  He was quite engaging, a great storyteller, and very inspiring to me as a father.  The audience was spellbound for the entire speech, and everyone seemed to think about the opportunity they have as employers to make a difference in someone’s life. 

Near the end of the last night, I got 45 minutes of executive coaching from Jan Austin, a prominent executive coach.  I was able to articulate a few things I’d been working on, and together we came up with some solid steps I’ll be taking to keep up with the goals I’ve set.

On Saturday morning, we all had to disembark by 9:00 am. 

Would I recommend it?  Without hesitation.  In fact, I already signed up for next year.  I’ll sum it up by saying this is the first time I’ve ever left a multi-day conference where I felt this invigorated.

Twittering

Oh, ya.  I'm Twittering.  www.twitter.com/johnporcaro.

My reader?  Twitteroo. 

Management Training

Okay, I know it's been a while.  I've been way too busy with my job working with the online communty for Xbox, Games for Windows, Casual Games, and Zune.  All my blogging love has gone to nearly daily posts to www.gamerscoreblog.com, and to building the community program.

This week, I'm at a four-day management "foundational" training event.  I took a similar class several years ago, but since the company has changed so much, along with our culture, I assumed that the management principles have changed too.

Today we covered many basic principles of management, but I was impressed that a lot of the day was spent speaking about the culture, and the role managers play in the ongoing climate. 

One thing that caught my attention was the struggle that still exists as new managers in the room transition from individual contributor to manager.  In many instances (especially in the past), managers were assigned because of their technical skill--not because they would be good managers.  Many terrible people managers were brilliant technically, and even had a broad background that allowed them to be good strategists.  But without the right mix of interpersonal and communications skills, they drove good employees down (or out).

Some new managers express the fear of "losing their technical edge," and not being able to set the direction for the team, or not being able to make decisions about technical issues.  They don't realize that they're moving into a "second career," where new skills are required, and older skills become less important (in fact, could even be a liability).  The old addage of "hiring people smarter than you" is not just a good idea, it's a necessity.  Your team will be taking on things that you won't have the skill to do yourself.  Your value will come from a other things you do.     

I'm gald to see the company bringing a lot more focus on bringing managers (with or without experience) together to build a common foundation of expectations.  I happen to work on a team with some great managers (especially my own), and I'm seeing the value of management skills being recognized and valued more and more. 

After a day of lectures, we split into groups and were assigned projects we'll work on over the next few days.  Ought to be interesting.   

Ricky Gervais Trains Microsoft Employees

If you're a fan of the British television show "The Office," you'll love seeing these training videos with Ricky Gervais, done for Microsoft employees.  Brilliant!

Part one of two faux training videos for Microsoft UK employees featuring Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in their roles from the BBC version of The Office

Part two of two faux training videos for Microsoft UK employees featuring Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in their roles from the BBC version of The Office.

The Long Tail of Video Games

Chris Anderson, author of the popular new book "The Long Tail," comments on Peter Moore's recent Ziff Davis conference speech.  Chris says:

It's worth noting that Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade platform, which is an on-demand marketplace for small and inexpensive casual games, many of them created by small teams on even smaller budgets, is a great example of the Long Tail of games. In an industry where the cost of developing a traditional console game is now measured in the tens of millions of dollars, a way to reach those same consumers via a online marketplace with infinite shelf space and a place for niche titles of all sort (include re-releases of classic titles from gaming's past) is a perfect way to "scale down" to the market lost to the hits.

By the way, I got a copy of the book, and have read most of it.  Fascinating to anyone pondering how the world of marketing is changing because of the internet, and with the help of online communities

Hanging out at Gnomedex

Ya, I'm a geek, and I can prove it.  Today, I'm hanging out at Gnomedex, Chris Pirillo's gathering of tech enthusiasts, bloggers, and web junkies.

We created a "Games Lounge" for folks to take a few minutes to hang out and play a few games.  Sean Alexander from "Addicted to Digital Media" took a few pictures...

The Games Room, with Xbox and Windows stations

The main session room

WOMMA Basic Training

It's being live-blogged at http://www.womma.org/wombat/.  Good overview of some of the most interesting comments coming from the conference. 

Started out the day talking about ethics.  The Word of Mouth Marketing Association talks about "The Honesty ROI."

• Honesty of Relationship
  Say how you're associated with the company.  Don't say you're not if you're being paid to share your opinion online.
• Honesty of Opinion
  Don't lie, don't say something's great if you don't think it is.
• Honesty of Identity: Say who you are
  I guess "Mini-Microsoft" doesn't score too high here.

I'd say that most Microsoft bloggers adhere to this kind of policy.  And as a company, I'm sure that most of our "word of mouth" marketing does too.  I wonder how something like "I love bees" fits into "say who you are..."  :)

Employee Reviews

Just got out of a two-hour meeting to talk about the new review process here at Microsoft.  I join all my fellow 'softees in congratulating our new(ish) HR VP Lisa Brummel in abolishing the curve (forced distribution of appraisal scores).  I think this new system will go a long way in eliminating some of the negative aspects of the former system.

In the training, they mentioned that the existing system has been around for 15 years.  It started up about a year after I started, so it's really all I ever knew.  This new system will require a lot more attention to setting commitments, and better employee-manager interaction.  All in all, a very, very good thing. 

I honestly thought this was one of those "sacred" things this company would never change.  It's evidence to me that cultural change is possible at any level.  We'll see how well it goes over this review period. 

WOMBAT

So for months I've wanted to get more involved with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), so what better way to jump in than to offer to do a case study at the upcoming conference in San Francisco? 

Join me there to hear about what we're doing in Xbox to make sure we're staying close to our best customers.  I'll present a case study about the thinking behind the big launch party we did (Zero Hour), and talk a bit about the Online Community team I lead. 

I think we're doing some really innovative, yet obvious (at least to me) things.  I have a strong position of always being genuine, and to try to make things as organic as possible.  Nothing kills good community participation better than talking "to" customers instead of talking "with" them. 

WOMBAT (WOMMA's "Word of Mouth Basic Training" conference)
June 20-21
San Francisco, CA

Has it Really Been Two Months?

Dang!  I've been a blogging fool over at http://gamerscoreblog.com, and I've neglected this (left brain) blog.  My wife's on a business trip in Nashville, and she ran into someone who mentioned this blog, kind of made me feel guilty about neglecting it. 

So much has happened in my little work world.  I'm doing a job I'm 110% totally passionate about, and it's given me a new lease on my 15-year Microsoft career.  I need to debrief a bit on what we're doing and why I think it's so amazing, yet so logical.  I'd start tonight, but I'm off to LA tomorrow for E3.  It's going to be an exciting/crazy/frenetic/exhausting week! 

Stay tuned to Gamerscore! 

Xbox 360 Marketing

Okay, I held off for a few days before making a post, but every time I stumble across the URL for the first “Weekly Marketing Column” from Next-Gen, I feel the need to rant a bit.  Let me give you some of my patented "my opinion only" get-what-you-pay-for marketing wisdom.

Normally, I rely on Next-Gen to supply me with my morning dose of news.  Like Peter Moore, “I get it” (the newsletter, that is).  This time, they overstepped the boundaries of common sense and marketing savvy with this article.  It was largely dismissed by most of those I work with, but I wanted to at least respond because I enjoy writing about my experience in marketing at Microsoft.  The past few years working on the Xbox 360 has been fascinating, and though not perfect, I think we've done some amazing things with the launch.

I'm almost embarrassed by the conclusions expressed by this “experienced and senior games marketer.” I can understand why Next-Gen ends the story with “The opinions expressed in this column are held by the author and are not necessarily shared by Next Generation.” 

Vijay (a pseudonym), over at Next-Gen.biz, writes the first in a series of columns about marketing in the games world.  His inaugural post is about the marketing behind the Xbox 360.

Next Generation's new regular column is dedicated to the world of marketing campaigns. Our columnist - an experienced and senior games marketer working under a pseudonym - starts by looking at one of the most important campaigns in the industry's history. He's not impressed...

Microsoft reportedly spent $100m on its launch of Xbox 360 last year. Numbers can be misleading, and I'm always suspicious of these big, round numbers. But even if it's 100% accurate, the money was not 100% well spent.

Of course the $100 million is a round number.  Are you suggesting that stories like this should be accurate to the dime?  Would you rather see “Microsoft reportedly spent 922,643,153.22 on the launch of the Xbox 360”?   Would that make you any less suspicious?  With the kind of statement you’re making (Microsoft spent a bunch of money), what difference does it make if it’s $90m or $110m or $100m or $922,643,153.22.  So is $100m a big number?  Would you be impressed if it were less?  Or more?  Does the fact that it’s not 100% accurate make a difference to you in your judgment that the money wasn’t 100% well spent? 

Maybe I should lighten up.  It’s not like Next-Gen claims that Vijay is an experienced journalist, or senior writer, just that he’s an experienced marketer…

Despite a strong product, a great PR campaign and a launch sell-out, there was much to learn from the campaign, most notably, in my view, woolly-minded product positioning, a less-than impressive case design and a weak TV campaign.

Thanks for the complements.  We agree that the product is strong, and the PR campaign was great.  Throughout the launch, we had a couple of goals.  One of them was to sell all the consoles we could make.  The other was to position the product properly to potential short-term, and long-term customers.  Since we are selling every one we can make, I’m going to suggest that we did okay with short-term potential customers.  I also agree that there is much to learn from the campaign (though woolly-minded product positioning isn’t first on my personal list). 

Firstly, that nice big number. Does a $100mln marketing budget include Europe and Japan, or just North America? Is it paid media only, or does it include production? PR? Channel Marketing? Web design? E3 booth construction? Peter Moore’s dry cleaning bill?

I suspect this nice round number is no more than that: a nice round number that sounds impressive but might not hold up under scrutiny.

Didn’t we cover this already?  Where did you get this number?  From whom was it “reported”?  If you included your source, it would be easy to confirm, deny, or add clarification.  I think most marketing professionals, especially experienced, senior marketers, would look at a statement like “Microsoft reportedly spent $100m on its launch of the Xbox 360 last year” and realize that a “marketing launch” (especially what we call a “worldwide launch”) would include all three regions where we launched.  I can’t imagine anyone with any tenure in marketing who wouldn’t know that media spend is only a part of the media mix.  What other budget would have paid for ad production, if not the marketing budget?  Of course PR is part of the marketing budget.  And so are trade show booths.  And channel marketing.  And web design.  And if Peter had to have a suit cleaned while he traveled the globe meeting with global partners, I’m guessing his dry cleaning might even be included.

Nevertheless, I've recently spent some time seeing what Microsoft got for its $100mln, and the results are, at best, mixed.

So Vijay doesn’t trust the $100m figure, but then goes on to assume that we actually did spend $100mln so he could make the argument that the results were mixed.  Okay…

The first question is: why spend money on TV adverts since the PR hype  Microsoft orchestrated was so impressive? Even my grandmother knew 360 was coming.

So this experienced, senior marketer is suggesting that TV adverts are solely to inform customers that the product was coming?  Did his grandmother stand in line to buy one?  If not, why not? 

Let's remember that it was embarrassing "manufacturing constraints" that limited the sell-thru numbers during the peak holiday sales period. It was not a blindingly wonderful marketing campaign.

Yes, we were disappointed that our product was limited because of manufacturing constraints.  Maybe even embarrassed at times.  But are you suggesting that if it wasn’t for the manufacturing constraints limiting sell-through, a blindingly-wonderful marketing campaign would have limited demand?  To what end?  Or are you saying that the reason there was short supply was because of manufacturing, and not because of overwhelming demand because of marketing? 

Conspiracy theorists think this shortage was part of Microsoft’s plan to drive awareness, increase purchase intent (scarcity breeds demand),  and Microsoft’s stock price. But it was all down to error. Xbox 360 is a natural winner, a highly demanded product backed up by some good games. But that doesn't mean everything about the way it was sold has been perfect.

So Vijay is basing the first half of this article on “reported yet unsubstantiated marketing budget, his assumptions about what should and shouldn’t be included in that marketing budget, and conspiracy theories?  Are you saying our “error” was creating a false shortage?  Let me just say this: Product shortages may drive awareness, but not having product during peak holiday demand doesn’t increase purchase intent, and it certainly doesn’t drive up a stock price.  My guess is that anyone with experience in video games knows that console manufacturers don’t make money on consoles, we only make money on games sales. 

Product Positioning

First of all, let's talk about product positioning. Microsoft stated that 360 was designed "to create a living entertainment experience powered by human energy.” Huh? And the product benefit is what exactly?

Frankly, this kind of positioning statement is woolly. In the real world bicycles are an experience powered by human energy. Do you have to generate your own electricity to operate 360? Is the new Xbox a piece of home exercise equipment?

I’ve never heard the term “woolly” used in this context.  Does it mean hairy?  Fuzzy?  Beyond that, I thought you mentioned above that we didn’t even need to do advertising, because even your grandmother knew the product was coming out.  Did your grandmother tell you she thought the Xbox was a piece of home exercise equipment?  The point you’re missing is that the positioning above is directional and aspirational.  I don’t think we included the words “living entertainment experience” or “human energy” in any of our TV ads. 

What a consumer hopes to learn from product positioning is what the bloody thing does. Barring that, they want to know why the new Xbox is better than old Xbox? And if Microsoft won’t tell us that, at least clue us in on 360’s competitive advantage versus PlayStation. Or maybe how the damn thing entertains you? I've never seen such impressive features consigned to "mouse print" before.

You also seem to forget that “early adopters” know what the bloody thing does.  They’re gamers.  They play games.  They played games on the original Xbox.  They are buying the new Xbox to play games.  Did you see any of our product ads?  Where we highlight Xbox Live and shots of PGR3?  Or NBA 2K6 where we show sweat glistening from Shaq’s head as he tosses a free throw?  Did you visit Xbox.com, or Gamespot, or IGN, or Gaming-Age, or any of the other places hard core gamers visit regularly?  The customers that stood in line (in fact all those that have purchased up to today) have. 

Don’t get me wrong.  We’re going to get to the point where we need to sell the system by touting its features one by one.  But not for some time.  As for those that have never heard of “Xbox,” or think it’s an exercise machine, a list of why it’s better than the original Xbox isn’t going to help it sell.  To them, we need to introduce it slowly. 

Some more research on 360 reveals that the customer is placed at "the center of the experience… it’s a videogame and an entertainment system…that integrates music, picture, games and movies…everything revolves around you."

This is more like it.

Thanks.  See, you get the concept of the term 360.  Glad we got that clear. 

Of course, hardcore gamers know what 360 is about. But Microsoft needs to appeal to the mass market in order to make the platform successful.

Unfortunately, the mass market (especially casual gamers) need to be sold on the benefits of a new system before they upgrade, or in the case of newbies, buy one. After all, Microsoft is charging a lot of money for the 360. People want to know what they are buying. The marketing message largely fails to deliver this message.

You’re right about that.  That’s why we’re starting our marketing by introducing the concept, rather than a long list of features.  Casual gamers don’t care that the system has a dual-core processor, or a 12X DVD drive, or that games play in Dolby 5.1 and 720p HD.  By design, our marketing message isn’t about telling people what they’re buying. 

The name

The situation isn’t clarified by the product name, either.

What does 360 mean? How does it relate to a customizable entertainment system that puts the customer at the center of the experience,? It is vague, abstract, subtle at best. And the market does not like subtle.

Didn’t you just tell us what 360 meant above?  Is it “more like it”?  Or “vague, abstract, subtle at best”?  Would you suggest that we do away with the name “Xbox” (what does “X” stand for anyway?  And it’s not really a box, it’s not even made out of cardboard!)?  Should we have called it Xbox 2?  How is that less vague than Xbox 360?  Should we call it the “Microsoft Video Games Console Second Edition?  Or “Customizable Entertainment System That Puts You In The Center of the Experience” (maybe CESTPYITCOTE for short)?  It’s an Xbox.  It needed something to differentiate it from the original Xbox.  And by your admission, using the term 360 is “more like it.” 

The new logo reprises the original Xbox’s bright green motif, and it's easy to see how a circle reflects the 360 concept (kind of). These are positives. But if the name does not clearly explain 360’s benefits, then how can the consumer fully understand the positioning statement?

So a Honda Accord XL clearly defines the benefits?  Or Audiovox SMT 5600?  Or Apple iPod?  Or Toshiba Techra?  Or Cheerios?  Or Budweiser?  Or Doritos? 

Perhaps the hardware has some answers...

The design

Certainly 360 has a smaller footprint than the original model, which is an improvement. But the color choice (a generic computer beige), and its rounded edges look like a dental appliance. The design does not give any appreciable idea what this box might do. The design should be part of the message. But it fails to communicate much beyond the fact that it needs to be plugged in.

The only thing Microsoft got really right in terms of product design was correcting the oversized controller from the original Xbox. But this just eliminates a negative. It doesn't provide a convincing positive.

Wow, this is the first time I’ve ever heard the Xbox 360 compared to a dental appliance.  Perhaps we should begin marketing our custom faceplates to dental offices around the world.  There’s a limit to what you can do with a device with 1700 different parts, especially a device with chips and drives and audio and video.  We easily could have made the box larger (which you admit you wouldn’t do).  So the alternative is to make the console as small as possible, yet powerful enough to house a sophisticated computer. 

Do you think it needs more lights?  More buttons?  More branding?  More writing?  By your estimation, the time and money we spent by testing dozens of concepts with customers worldwide was misguided.  I agree that design is part of the overall message, but I disagree that the design has to communicate what the console does.  I guess you disagree with most consumers that simple lines and a clean ID are what’s appealing to customers now.  But then again, your opinion isn’t necessarily shared by Next Generation.

Those TV ads

What about those Xbox 360 TV ads? I hope Microsoft didn’t spend the entire $100m on TV advertising because I feel the campaign would have been lost on a lot of people.

The tag line "Jump In" was inviting, but the TV spots themselves were vague and reeked of Madison Avenue talking to itself.

Chalk it up to your opinion.

Two TV spots, “Water Balloons” and "Jump Rope" were fun to watch and certainly reflected the tag line: "Jump In." But what did they mean? How did they relate to the product or the experience on offer?

You are clever enough to get the tag line, so I’m surprised that you don’t understand that the ads are introducing the idea that it’s more fun to play when you’re part of a community, that games have always been more fun when you play with friends.  These ads were meant to appeal to gamers in an entirely different way than you suggest. 

Marketing quiz for Vijay: If you’ve pre-sold your first several months of product, do you need to advertise features/benefits/offer?  If you’re trying to reach a new audience that think an Xbox is an exercise machine, or who won’t be in the market for several months, do you start with features/benefits/offer? 

Again there was nothing specific about a customizable entertainment system that puts you at its center etc etc...

Finally, there was the unfortunate spot from Argentina which showed people pretending to shoot one another in a Buenos Aires train station.

OK, this was a fun spot to watch. But again, it didn’t tell viewers anything about Xbox 360. Additionally, the US market has been grouchy lately and though kids would 'get' the spot without an issue, their parents (and the local politicians) would not be too happy with it.

I agree that the spot didn’t tell anyone what the Xbox 360 does, but you can’t argue with the fact that it appeals to gamers.  Maybe you didn’t play “cops and robbers,” or ever enter a train station and thought it felt like a movie scene, but most gamers like the idea of “playing” like they’re in a shootout.  And like the other ads, it’s a whole lot more fun when it’s done with other people. 

I’m not sure what the “grouchy US market” has to do with our product positioning.  The spot was for gamers.  And for the record, our target market is 18-34 year olds, not “kids.”  Last I checked, even Microsoft’s most popular game, Halo 2, was rated M. 

As a result, Microsoft was very, very clever to keep it off North American TV but leak it on the Internet, so they get points for media strategy if not for product communication.

Bottom line

After all the mega hype surrounding 360’s launch, why was the advertising so subtle? We know 360 is about customization and community. We understand what these words mean. These are compelling benefits. Why not make them clear in the advertising?

The advertising wasn’t for you.  Or for readers of Next Generation. 

What I can't understand is the spending behind a massive PR effort (including an MTV launch) to hype the heck out of something and then not use advertising (with its broad reach and Microsoft’s massive throw weight) to make it all clear.

Now I hope you understand.  The PR did its job.  The ads, and the MTV launch, were all about planting seeds for the future, to help us reach new customers who will buy a year from the launch.  We never had the need to “make it all clear.”  Nobody who has bought an Xbox 360, or will in the near term, is unclear about what the Xbox 360 is. 

My bottom line:

What is the point of this article?  To inform other manufacturers as they craft their product positioning?  To warn Nintendo and Sony that they better frame their launch strategy in light of the Xbox launch? 

Marketing games is a tricky business.  But as marketers in this industry, we have the chance to work with high tech consoles, low cost media, engaged customers, creative concepts and IP, and great working conditions.  We all share a common love of what we do for a living, and we all have (roughly) the same goals: making a living for ourselves while creating and selling something we love.  And we’re lucky to have a strong community of gamers that really love videogames.

It’s easy to pass quick judgment on another company’s marketing.  Heck, I do it myself.  But I can assure you that every argument that’s been made by Vijay, or by anyone else online, has been considered and discussed and debated by the marketers I work with.  And though Vijay might have chosen a different marketing strategy for the Xbox 360 (one with a $100 million advertising spend, advertising that was solely feature/benefit based, naming that includes features and benefits, and a console design that had more colors, buttons, and lights), I can almost guarantee that if he attended the same meetings we have, he’d have made many of the same decisions we did. 

Or maybe not. 

Edelman, Blogs, NYT, and Xbox

All in one story?  The NYT ran a story about called "Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in PR Campaign.  Hey, even a nice mention of Xbox outreach to our community!

Others have reached out to bloggers to promote a product or service, as Microsoft did with its Xbox game system and Cingular Wireless has done in the introduction of a new phone.

Edelman does a lot of PR work for Xbox and Games for Windows, and my team works directly with a talented team from Edelman who specialize in online PR and marketing.  So I was interested to see Richard Edelman opine in a blog post called "A Word to the Wise". 

PR firms must be very conscious to abide by some very clear ethical standards, so that we do not compromise bloggers. First, we must always be transparent about the identity of our client and the goal of the PR program. Second, we should ask permission to participate in the conversation, and be comfortable with any communication being made public, whether by the blogger or an investigative journalist. We should support bloggers' transperancy re. the source of their information. Third, we must reveal any financial relationship with bloggers, whether consulting or even reimbursement of trip expenses. Fourth, we must ensure that the information we provide is 100% factually correct and not "spin."

Good advice. 

PR: Behind the Scenes

David Radd at GameDaily writes an article called "The Importance of PR in Game Marketing."  Interesting peak into my day-to-day...

The role of a PR worker in the gaming industry is vital, yet under appreciated. They're the ones that help members of the press stay informed, and from a video game marketing perspective they can be crucial. They'll speak to anyone gamers will listen to, including bloggers, webcomic artists and web-TV programs. But doing this is very behind-the-scenes, almost to the point of being invisible. It is reminiscent of a Gustave Flaubert quote, "The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful; one must sense him everywhere but never see him."

PSFK Interview of Xbox Ad Man

Eli Friedman is on our Global Marketing team.  He runs the team responsible for marketing communications and advertising for the Xbox 360, Xbox Live, accessories, and games.  He recently sat down with Piers Fawkes at psfk.com, a marketing and creative thinking business news site, and publishes the popular IF blog.  Eli talks about the launch of the Xbox 360 brand: 

The first Xbox was a great platform, but the broader perception was that it was a “shooter box” for hardcore gamers and therefore that it wasn’t for everyone. We made a conscious shift with the Xbox 360 – not a shift to try and be all things for all people – but we needed to establish the idea that you don’t need to be a hardcore gamer to enjoy Xbox 360. We’re developing a platform that everyone can enjoy. […]

To do this we had to start investing in the Xbox brand and we’ve definitely begun by building a strong global brand campaign for the Xbox 360. But at the same time as we were doing the external marketing work, we also had to look internally. We had to get people to think differently within our company – we had to get people to understand that building a brand is not just about advertising - it’s about living the brand in everything we do.   

PR and Blogs and Integrity and Passion

Edelman’s A List Blogger Extraordinaire (at least in my book), Phil Gomes rants about why he Hates the “A-List” Mentality.  For those of us in PR who also blog, there’s a very interesting dynamic that occurs as we try to balance meeting professional objectives with personal objectives.  In some cases, there’s even a battle between blogging about our products, and blogging about our passions.  In many cases, they’re the same thing (I love gaming), but often, they’re not. 

This blog started as an effort to reach out to customers, so I could learn more about what makes them tick (so I could be a better marketer).  It quickly turned into a way for me to explore some ideas I was struggling with personally, namely management dynamics and the culture of Microsoft (though I was never as openly controversial as Mini-Microsoft!).  As the blog evolved, I began writing a bit about online marketing, and the dynamic of customer evangelism. 

As my job became more PR focused, I found myself writing about the products I represented (Xbox and Halo 2, for example), but because it just didn’t feel genuine to the flavor of the blog, I quit posting regularly, and took a year or so off.  All the while, I was having conversations internally about how blogging and community would help us with our marketing goals. 

About four months ago, I was “officially” given the job of developing our online community team for Xbox and Games for Windows.  I worked with Edelman (including Phil Gomes) as we began to define our online program.  As I began recruiting someone to manage the community program, I began to blog regularly about Xbox and the industry to show everyone what could be done with a blog.  And my personal blog evolved to be nearly 100% about Xbox. 

After a few months, we were ready to unveil our team blog (hosted on msdn.com), and I got the guys on my team to help with some posts.  When we finalized getting a unique URL (gamerscoreblog.com), I made the last “Xbox product” post to my personal blog.  And it sits there until today. 

Every now and then, someone will send an email to ask if I am going to return to posting about Microsoft culture, management best practice, even my kids/family.  Trouble is, with 2-3 posts a day expected on the team blog, the personal blog quickly becomes a luxury. 

Problem with two blogs is that I am a gamer, and the industry/news/product info is important to me personally, but the other passions haven’t gone away.  I miss the community I built on my personal site, the conversations I had, and the topics I explored.  I need to take time to re-ignite my passion about non-Xbox issues (in addition to continuing the Xbox team blog).

Phil brings up a related point in his post:

So, hear it from Mr. Technorati-Rank #19,520:

The day you start caring more than two squirts of whizz about your ranking or A-list status is the day you have lost control of your blog — and, with it, your online identity — since that desire to achieve and maintain status will inevitably color what you write and how you write it!!!

But, is who you are and what you write about — your credibility — worth changing in order to achieve this? Because that's what is at stake if you ever think to yourself "I believe [X], but I'll be less popular if I write it. The best thing to do is [Y], but people will hate me and I'll never be an A-lister EVER!!!" 

My personal blog would get 500 hits a day fairly consistently, and I remember the days getting a link from Scoble or even my biz-hero Tom Peters, when I’d get 1,000 hits, maybe 2,000.  But I noticed when I’d write about Halo 2 (before its launch), that number’d creep up to 2,000 or more.  And I’d experiment with news stories that I thought would gather more hits.  And when I did that, I’d write a post that I didn’t care passionately about. 
Now our new blog, even in its infancy, is getting several thousand hits a day, but for those that have been along since this blog started back in 2003, you’re not hearing a whole lot of my “voice” in the news I post on the other site. 

Good news for me (at least) is that the more I’m involved in my (relatively) new job in PR, the more I’m passionate about the “PR stuff” I write about.  So I hope it’s going to result in goodness all around.  But Phil reminds me to be true to “my blog,” so I’ll try to write more about the evolving field of PR, and how online is changing everything.  Ought to be interesting (heck, at least to me).  Take it from Mr. Technorati-Rank 25,777 (hey, that’s not so bad!).

In the meantime, if you want to hear secrets about Halo 3, check out the “other blog.” 

Major Nelson on the Dashboard Update

Also posted on the Gamerscore Blog (seeing a trend here?).

Age of Empires III Patch

Posted on the Gamerscore Blog

BHG Producer Tim Train on Rise of Legends

Posted on the Gamerscore Blog.

New Asia Pacific Launch Dates for Xbox 360

Just after the earnings announcements today, we announced some new launch dates in Asia Pacific for the Xbox 360. From the media alert:

“The new launch dates have been set due to unprecedented global consumer demand stemming from challenges in ramping supply for a complex product like the Xbox 360. This is a short term manufacturing challenge and steps have been taken to increase supply to meet the strong consumer demand for the console.”

In Hong Kong and Singapore, the Xbox 360 will now be released on March 16, 2006. In Australia and New Zealand, the new launch date is March 23, 2006.

This just sucks if you’re a gamer waiting patiently (or impatiently) in one of these countries, but with the console already in short supply, this is going to make it easier for you to get hold of a console on launch day.  Sorry for the delay, guys (and gals).  I suppose I could point to all those complaining about our “global launch strategy,” and tell you they’d prefer that you get them in six months or one year after the first shipment, but that would be wrong of me…

Xbox News from Today's Earnings Announcement

With our Q2 earnings announcement complete, a bit more of the story emerges from the number crunchers.  As a public company, there’s a lot we can’t say, especially in a blog post.  Because the company is owned by shareholders, we have to tell them what they’re doing all at the same time (i.e., publicly), if it’s going to affect the price of the stock at all.  Otherwise, you’d all be in trouble for insider trading, and I’d be writing this from a federal prison (or from home with an ankle bracelet attached).

You can hear a podcast (okay, not really a “podcast,” but at least a recording) of the announcement call by clicking on Microsoft.com/MSFT.  Listen in at about 18:30 or so, for the start of the bit on Xbox business.

Update: I'm told a full transcript of the earnings announcement conference call is on SeekingAlpha's Internet Stock Blog.

Some highlights:

• We sold 1.5 million Xbox 360 consoles in Q2 (i.e., from Nov 22 to Dec 31), with 900,000 consoles in North America, 500,000 consoles in Europe, and the 100,000 in Japan.  That number actually would have been 1,500,001 if we didn’t give one console to Paris Hilton.   
• This was lower than we, you, analysts, EVERYONE expected due to component shortages stemming from challenges in ramping supply of a complex product like the Xbox 360.  We believe that this is a short term manufacturing challenge (honest!).  Don’t blame us for secretly holding them in a warehouse at Area 51, or giving them all away to celebrities and drinkers of Mountain Dew.  Okay, maybe you can blame us a little for that…   
• Lots of folks watch attach rate—how many units on average are sold divided by number of consoles sold--to figure out how healthy a platform is.  According to NPD (ya, we listen to them too), software attach for the Xbox 360 in the US was more than 4 per console and accessory attach was more than 3 per console for the quarter – both are records with consumers purchasing nearly double the amount relative to any other console launch in history. 
• Since the launch of Xbox 360, Xbox Live members have downloaded over 4 million pieces of high definition games, music and movie content from Xbox Live Marketplace.
• Not only that, our Xbox 1 platform remains a great value for consumers.  We sold over 2.2 million Xbox 1 consoles in the first half of our fiscal year bringing the installed based to over 24 million worldwide with 16 million in North America and 6 million in Europe.  Who said the Xbox 1 is dead?  Not us… 
• Okay, now it’s official.  We lowered our estimate of Xbox 360 console sales in the first 90 days from launch from 2.75 – 3.0 million units to 2.5 million units.  Or 2,499,999 if you count the one we gave Paris Hilton.  Even so, we estimate that consumers will spend over $1.5 billion in total retail value on Xbox 360 consoles, games, and peripherals in these first 90 days.  You might call our Xbox 360 launch a horrendous failure, but after only six weeks, that’s not bad…
• You guys already know we are bringing on a third manufacturing partner, Celestica, next month to help us build more Xbox 360s.  That makes three plants working day and night to get these into the market.  For that reason, we are not adjusting our previously announced fiscal year console sales guidance of 4.5 to 5.5 million consoles and our revenue guidance is based on unit sales within that range.   
• By the end of June, Xbox 360 will have more than 50 high definition games from the best names in publishing.  In the next few months, look for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks); Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports); Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft); Dead Rising (Capcom), and Full Auto (Sega). 
• By the end of March, Xbox 360 will be available in nearly 30 countries! (31 if you could the space in Paris Hilton’s head)

Dance Dance Revolution in West Virginia Schools

I know when I play Xbox, I tend to firmly plant my buttocks into the corner of our couch, pop my feet up on the cushions, and grab the controller in a very ergonomically-unfriendly position--for hours at a time.  Gotta get this game!  (I know my kid's would love it, too.)

Some folks from our US Marketing team worked with Konami to incorporate Xbox and Dance Dance Revolution into an education program in West Virginia. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Video dance game to be used in schools

West Virginia taps Konami's system to help fight obesity

State and school officials there have struck a partnership with Redwood City's Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. to use its Dance Dance Revolution in all of its 765 public schools, Konami announced today. The innovative plan, the first statewide program to employ the dance video game, is intended to attack West Virginia's youth obesity problem.

Dance Dance Revolution, a favorite at arcades, has built up a solid following among youth and adults, who enjoy the game's fast pace, fun music and sweat-inducing challenges. In the game, players must dance on a large pad lined with sensors, timing their rapid steps carefully to the music and to video prompts on the screen. Since the game was introduced on American video consoles in 2001, Konami has sold 3 million units. [read more...]

Highlights of 2005: Lost Tooth, Xbox 360

Yesterday, I got an email from the father of a nine year old girl (not an employee), who reads this blog.  He wrote:

My 9 year old daughter came home last week with an in class assignment of creating a poster board about her highlights of 2005. To our surprise, the Xbox360 made it on her poster as one of the highlights of 2005 (December). I guess I may have been a little excited when I bought the unit during the Christmas Holidays.

I asked his permission to share it.  Another girl gamer in the making! 

 

The 360 Song

From the TeamXbox forums, I ran across this beauty by XTeCnoX.  Not sure the marketing team will be paying the rights to have this played at our next press event, but for those of you who have an Xbox 360, you know what you'd do if someone got between you and your Xbox.  Listen to this haunting, yet compelling melody...

Archie Gates: Archie's Theme (The 360 Song).mp3

Oh, our lawyers want to remind you to please refrain from killing or otherwise threatening our executives...  or the police...  or the general public...