Promotion Pills: Gameops.com Team Reviews In 2007 Gameops.com will be reviewing five games around sports. In our reviews we will highlight promotions the team does in-game to showcase what teams are doing over the course of their games and for one or two promotions we will look at how by applying a simple “pill” the team can power up and improve the promotion.
Our Promotion Pill feature is designed to help enhance your promotions with our prescription for extra strength promotional power. These Promotion Pills can be applied to your promotions to enhance them and make them more interesting and effective for fans and sponsors.
Calgary Stampede Game Review
July 28th, 2007
Reviewed by: Jon Cudo and Photographer Ed Lepis
Now we can look at two promotions and introduce two of the Gameops.com Promotion Pills to see how the Otters and other teams might enhance the promotions. We can apply our first Pill to these two promotions.
Promotions Considered:
McDonald Junior Stampeder of the Game Contest - Sign up at local McDonalds to win this spot. They had a nice intro video showing a store and the trip to the game, then went to the live shot of the young fan running with Ronald McDonald to the center of the field and waving.
Bow Valley College Race - Three select fans (who I believe were students of BVC) raced in the endzone. They had to run from one side of the field with a stack of books, around a large piece of signage and back. The first one back with all their books in the winner. The large signs were B V and C, the letters of the school abbreviation.
Dance Team Performance - During a longer break the dance team (the Outriders) left their sideline position for a dance on the field.
Promotion Pill
Creating Movement
Ask the Questions:
Does this promotion "fill the space" we use?
Is this interesting to watch?
Could this be enhanced by creating more movement?
During breaks and time outs, you often have limited space for contests. Hockey breaks sometimes can not be done on the ice and some football or baseball promotions are staged in the stands for reasons ranging from time contraints to camera angles. In any case you should be aware of how much space you have and how you can use that space to make promotions more visually interesting.
The Stampeder game provided a couple good examples of this. The McDonalds Junior Stampeder of the Game could easily have been done on the sidelines of the field or in the stands. However the team used a video set-up followed by a kid sprinting across the field with Ronald McDonald to make the promotion much more interesting.
In the same way they used the entire end zone for the Bow Valley College race, increasing the scale of the event and making it much more interesting for fans to watch.
The Outriders Dance team had two dance numbers on the field during extended time outs. In these cases they have literally the entire field to perform with. In their first number they did a well choreographed number in a tight cluster....and they never used more than a small portion of the field. The sprawling turf around them made them look small and minimized the effect. (It should be noted in their second half number the used much more space in a vastly improved used of movement.)
Another good example of this the Halftime Show of the Evolution of Dance (wikipedia) by Jud Laipply. The YouTube sensation has more than 60 million hits. Later Laipply adapted the stage show into a halftime show....however the show was not well adapted to the space of a basketball court. Most feedback of the halftime show is that it is tedious to watch, which I attribute mostly to a lack of creating movement and using the space. For much of the show he is standing center court and stages 90%+ of the show to one side of the sports equivalent of theatre in the round (wiki).
This works for promotions as well. Consider the Rolling in Dough contest where a fan rolls in a pile of money (using either a vecro suit and velco bills or tape and paper money. In this video example the person just rolls back and forth trying to collect as much money as possible.
We recently worked with a team to improve this contest. The solution we used was having the contestant start at one side of the court. They sprinted down the other end to roll in the money, collecting all they could. They had 45 seconds for the contest.. However the clock started running when they start running and they had to make it all the way back before the clock runs out (or they win nothing). It forced the contestant to run fast to the end, roll quickly, and it had some strategy to determine when to get up and run back. They also looked ridiculous (which never hurts) sprinting back while trying to hold all the money on.
The feedback on the contest went from "boring and monotonous" to "funny and exciting" by simply adding movement.
The Prescription: Promotion Pill: Creating Movement
When possible, create movement and action in the contest or promotion. Fill the space and make it more interesting.
Enter the space in dramtic fashion, like the McDonalds promotion with the child sprinting across the field.
For contests find ways to make the contests move around more. If it's a basketball shooting contest are they shooting free throws or running between three spots or "around the world". Contests are much more visally interesting when the contestants are active.
Can the action be conbined between two areas? Can a fan in the stands throw a football to a target on the field or a man on the court throw a pass to his son sitting in their seats to win a prize.
Can an additional part of the contest or promotion be added (like the rolling in dough example)?
Review:
We looked at these promotions and asked “how can we create movement to improve the promotion?"
What it might look like now:
The Calgary Stamps and Outriders obviously did this well with their seocnd routine, but the first routine highlighted how important it is. The first had little movement and felt flat and small....the second includes a tumlbing run and more use of the space. So using this Promotion Pill would make all of the Outriders dance numbers look like their second number, which was much more entertaining.
Promotion Pill 1: Sponsorship Endurance
Every sponsor wants to be remembered, but often this can be hard to accomplish. Research can show an amazingly low retention by fans of branding of promotions, but much higher retention of physical properties (think stadium naming rights and NASCAR).
Promotion Pill 2: Sponsorship Connection
Sponsors and fans alike recall, connect, and react to contests which have a connection to the sponsor. Good examples include the ATT Long Distance Shootout, Sherwin-Williams "In the Paint" Scoring Numbers (for basketball), and the Burger King Build-a-Burger. Finding a connection can be profitable and can help you create a unique and memorable show.
Promotion Pill 3: Variety
Find ways to make every contest unique. Through the creative use of your game elements, use of various contestants, contests with different degrees of difficulty and fan engagment by creating a vested interest in the stands.
Promotion Pill 4: Creating Movement
When possible, create movement and action in the contest or promotion. Fill the space and make it more interesting.
Part 2: Gameops.com Promotion Pills
Promotion Pill
