flash-mob
Latest
The Perfect Ten: Memorable marketing campaigns
I took only a single marketing class in college, so by no means am I an instant expert in anything but being on the receiving end of marketers' nefarious experiments to manipulate me so that I buy their stuff. I did take away the lesson that all marketers are professional liars who have no shame or dignity. Pretty much the same as a blogger, so I guess I have a backup career. Believe it or not, MMOs get off easy when it comes to notorious marketing campaigns. Anything on the following list, good or bad, is a pale shadow of what we've seen in the larger video game industry. Still, there have been plenty of attempts to promote MMOs in ways that make us either applaud or laugh at the studio (and sometimes both at once, which takes coordination). After doing some staff polling and internal polling, here are 10 memorable marketing campaigns from the era of MMORPGs. Maybe they're all winners in that they got noticed by at least one person, even if they're the most foolish notions in history. Here we go!
RIM claims responsibility for "Wake Up" stunt at Apple Store
RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, has claimed responsibility for the ultra lame "Wake Up" flash mob stunt that appeared outside the Sydney Apple store last week. The stunt saw flash mobs pull out black signs that read "Wake Up." When confronted with the signs, shoppers at the Apple Store seemed to have thought the same thing as everyone else, "Wake up to what?" then continued shopping and went about their day. Until RIM owned up to the stunt, many had thought it was spearheaded by Samsung, which has performed similar stunts in the past. Tiphereth Gloria, a social media strategist at VML Australia, told The Age, "The punch line -- which is the fact that BlackBerry is behind it -- is what makes it fail because BlackBerry is not associated with any kind of success." The past couple of years have not been kind to the BlackBerry, as both the iPhone and the Android-based smartphone offerings have chewed away market share from the one-time market juggernaut. Aside from the shifts in the competitive landscape, at times RIM itself seemed to encourage its own demise. First, the Canadian phone maker suggested that the iPhone was a physical impossibility when Apple announced it in 2007, and subsequently the continued self-denial that the iPhone wasn't a threat to RIM's business didn't help matters. Unfortunately, RIM doesn't seem to know (or at least admit) that it's the next Palm. When your brand is weakening, you need killer products and not marketing stunts to get your game back. But hey, at least it's starting to admit "BlackBerry isn't for everyone."
E3 2011: Spacetime Studios on the Legends franchise
Blackstar has a new name to capitalize on the Legends brand -- it's now known as Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles. At this year's E3, we caught up with Spacetime Studios' Fernando Blanco to see how the revived project (as well as the company's hit Pocket Legends) is coming along. Star Legends is only a month away from launch, and Spacetime hopes that the Pocket Legends fever will spread to its sci-fi brother. The name's been changed to communicate the studio's intent to provide an ongoing story rather than a one-shot experience. The game will launch with the first 20 levels of content, but Spacetime has grand plans to expand this much further. Blanco gave us some of the backstory to the game: In the far future, humans are exploring the cosmos and have stumbled upon a resource-rich area. Corporations, as they are wont to do, have swooped in to exert their dominance but have come across hostile aliens in the process. War breaks out, invasions start popping up all over the place, and you're called in to clean up the mess -- and make a quick buck in the process. Hit the jump to hear more about Star Legends' classes and gameplay!
Cast of Disney's "Lemonade Mouth" starts flash mob at Apple store
It was another quiet afternoon at the Apple retail store at The Grove in Los Angeles, CA -- or as quiet as an Apple store can be on a busy day -- when all of a sudden, a flash mob began singing and dancing the song "Determinate" from the Disney Channel production Lemonade Mouth over Easter weekend. Chris Brochu and Hayley Kiyoko, two of the film's stars, organized the surprise appearance with about 15 of their friends and captured their entire performance on video. The choreographed song and dance number drew a mix of befuddled and delighted looks from shoppers and ended when three unfortunate Apple employees were inclined to politely escort the mob out of the store.
17 Spartans bust a move at the Philly Mummers Parade
[Image: Kotaku] Flash mobs are all the rage now, but the above image actually comes from the Philadelphia Mummers Parade this year. Kotaku reader Justin managed to snag video of the choreographed event which, if it were real cyborg human heroes and not a bunch of faux-Spartans, would probably end up costing taxpayers about $814 gajillion -- and that's in today's dollars, not even accounting for 500 years of inflation. To check out video of the dance routine, head on over to Kotaku.
