brands

Is Zynga Marketing Dumb?

The short answer is yes.  The longer answer is yes… but it’s complicated!  A good friend of mine recently blogged that he thinks Zynga Marketing is failing because they don’t adjust pricing in a failing game.  I disagree with this statement, although he is on to something (but the problem is bigger).  Pricing is extremely complicated in social games and is based on strategy: so changing pricing at the whims of players is bad.  That said, there is a problem at Zynga with their marketing, and I’ll tell you what it is.

I’ve been in Social Network marketing since 2008, running my own business Karmaback, and recently joined venture form Creeris Ventures where I have been (and still am) consulting by running Marketing at Night Owl Games (Dungeon Overlord is the free game I run).  Anyways, in my experience in social games, the key to marketing is: 1.) know your target customer. and then 2.) MEASURE everything.

So what is Zynga doing wrong?  I’m not sure, I don’t have their data… but I think I know what is going on.  They are doing a classic mistake with branding: “Line Extensions”.  So many executives think that “we can leverage the brand we built by doing a new kind of thing with the brand.”  This is flawed thinking.  Re-using the brand to target the same customers with almost the same thing is usually fine and good.. but using the brand for a NEW product/game/service/model/target customer is bound to fail.  Colgate frozen dinners anyone?

With Zynga, their problem is not making a Pay-to-Play game and sticking to it… their problem is trying to extend the Zynga brand into pay-to-play.  The need to create a new company/brand that caters to “hardcore” gamers or gamers that are willing to pay more to play more type… Then the new brand can focus on games like that.

So, Zynga, get a clue.  Stick Zynga in your brand closet and keep it for “Ville” type games.  You need to build a NEW brand if you want to make different kinds of games for new markets and players.

90% of Sweepstakes entrants are interested in buying the product.

According to http://www.sweepstakestoday.com, 90% of Sweepstakes entrants are interested in buying the product.
Source:  http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/9/prweb8786147.htm

That means that if you get 1000 entries to your sweepstakes, 900 of them are actually considering BUYING your product.

Those numbers are hard to deny… why aren’t you running branded sweepstakes on your Facebook, Twitter, and Web pages?  

Karmaback makes it extremely easy to setup a branded and fully hosted sweepstakes AND we now guarantee it:  http://karmaback.com/platform/signup_success_guarantee/ 

Why companies MUST dedicate themselves to design… or die.

We live today in a renaissance of design.  There is no Scarcity of information.  There is no Scarcity of bandwidth.  There is no Scarcity of choices.  The most Scarce resource for the modern company is design.   Design requires 2 very disparate groups to be completely aligned: engineers and creatives.  Products, Services, Brands, and Everything in between now compete using the last scarce resource: design.  Here are some examples:

  • Would you buy an “ugly looking” candy bar?
  • Would you shop at a grocery store with an “ugly” sign?
  • Are you going to spend money at a website that is “hard to use”?
  • Do you enjoy “waiting in line”?
  • Does processing power matter more or less than operating system?
  • Are you likely to “keep using” a complex application when a simpler one exists for the same price?
My story of how I became “an Apple guy”:
I used to be a MAC hater.  I loved my PC because it could play games (and I love games).  I hated MAC because it was popular, it couldn’t play the “best” games, and because I had to “pay” for all of my software.    iPhone changed all of that!  First, it has games (so I had to get one).  Second, the games are cheap (Free – $0.99)… and they are good.  But what really “got me” with iPhone was its incredible user interface design.  I “FINALLY GET” why people love their Apple Computers (Mac, iPhone, Powerbook, or what have you).  It is exactly because Apple does not rely on “the mouse and keyboard” for its UI, that it’s UI works.

I recently bough my first Macbook Pro. … and I’m starting to “get it”.  Apple has infused in its UI guidelines and very strict application approval process, the notion that “design matters”.  In many cases design matters most.  Interestingly, some of the elements of Apple design should be considered for ANY platform:
1.) Clutter: There shouldn’t be any.
2.) Organization: There should be good.
3.) Automatic Mode: Should always be on.
4.) Configuration Options: Should usually be hidden.
5.) Function: Should be intuitive and should have as few as possible.

Companies will soon realize that if they don’t compete on design, they will consistently lose.