Those of you who play World of Warcraft (and even many who don't), know that a the player base is as wide as an elephant. I've played with everything from elementry school librarians to mothers of four. That being said, the game itself is very easy to pick up and play casually. For those seeking a bit of adventure in a fantasy universe saturated with lore and magic - World of Warcraft reaches out to millions of players daily.
In my copywriting class this quarter, our teacher assigned us our first major assignment: a print ad for a product that we know well. I had always wanted to do this one, and it's always been scratching the back of my brain. Finally I would have the chance to execute on it!
The first thing I had to decide on was what target market I wanted to aim for. It was a bit discombobulated at first, because I thought up a bunch of campaigns and slogans that would only appeal to established gamers. My goal was actually to reach the player base that has very little to no previous exposure to WoW. What was my strategy? Hop on the bandwagon. Almost everyone knows at least SOMEONE that plays the game, and I fully intended to take advantage of that premise.
Here is my print ad campaign:
The body copy reads as follows:
"You hear about it all the time, but you don't know exactly what it is. Something about dungeons and swords and magic and stuff. But did you know your next door neighbor, Alice, got your librarian, Ms. Winslow, who got your math teacher, Michael, who got your best friend, Kevin, to play? With a player base that grows exponentially, fresh content that is added all the time, and countless hours of entertainment - for a measly fifteen bucks a month, you and your friends can conquer the world one step at a time. The World of Warcraft, that is."
I thought it was a mildly amusing approach to advertise the game to non-gamers. Let me know what you think (especially about the execution)!
So I spent Valentine's Day at Matt's place. Good shit lol. I do want to write an article about Venom now though, I'm just afraid it might be too long! Been kinda sick all week, but never too sick to miss posting on this blog all together, cause that would just be a god damned shame.
2 comments:
Uh. I think it's kinda weak. By that I mean I've seen this before. It all runs along the lines of "ANYBODY CAN DO X." Like Etrade and a more recent ad I've seen that also had babies and having to do with them being able to do something because anybody can do it. I see what you are doing with the "it wouldn't be who your think!!" thing but that just doesn't seem fresh. rofl, plus all the people here look "unregular" noting that those are the people who play.
Also, you know better than me about stating the price, but telling the people that they'll be paying 15 bucks a month is kinda a turn off. Why not just state that they should "start playing." The audience will assume they'll have to buy it, right?
Good observations.
The same thing crossed my head when I created this, but I have an even stronger argument against my case. E-trade isn't a very good example, but the City Bank identity theft campaign is probably a better reason why this one doesn't seem "fresh". My teacher and I talked about this, but we both felt that there was a large enough difference to allow some leeway for this to be viable amongst its peers of the same vein. The concept may be similar, but the execution is done in a way that represents the game.
I disagree with a few of your other arguments, however. The "unregular" becomes part of the appeal. We're saying here that little kids, rednecks, and nerds can all gather together and play a game because it's just that enjoyable and easy to pick up. This picks people up who are afraid to try new things out, for fear of who they are.
I also disagree with not stating the price. I think the price is one of WoW's strongest factors for its perseverance, even through an economy as such. Fifteen hours for "countless hours of entertainment" and the ability to "conquer the world" seems like a very, very good price. It's obvious they'd have to buy it, but it's not obvious how cheap it is. I think you're seeing it from the perspective of "omg I'm paying fifteen bucks a month?". Imo this is a better way to play off the idea of paying a monthly fee to play a game.
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