Games Marketing Forum Programme
09.30 - 10.00 Arrival and Coffee
10.00 - 11.00 Opening Keynote: Playing with Videogames - The Next-Gen of Games and Gamers
The best game is always the next game. This is especially true if you’re in the business of trying to sell them.
This thought-provoking session looks at the industry’s relationship with the products it produces and the consumers it seeks to serve. By questioning some of the assumptions of established videogame marketing models and exploring how players invest in their games, it attempts to suggest possible new ways of thinking about these important cultural products. If, of course - that’s what they are...
The session also examines the extent of players’ emotional investment in videogames and how the audience for videogames is changing as previously marginal activities such as creating fansites, writing stories and sharing gameplay videos are becoming mainstream.
Speaker:
Dr James Newman, Senior Lecturer in Media Communications and Cultural Studies, Bath Spa University
11.00 - 11.15 Tea and Coffee
11.15 - 12.15 Games Marketing - Key Legal and Regulatory Issues
A review of key UK marketing law and regulatory issues in the computer games sector, including:
- Viral marketing pitfalls
- Prize promotions - new freedoms under the Gambling Act 2005
- The new Consumer Protection against Unfair Trading Regulations 2007
- Key Advertising Standards Association trends
Speaker:
Nick Johnson, Head of Advertising & Sponsorship Law, Osborne Clarke
12.15 - 13.15 Cutting Through: Creating Effective Advertising Campaigns
Media consumption has changed and advertisers have to be aware of this in order to create effective campaigns. Consumers are no longer satisfied with being talked at, they want to be engaged and involved. In this environment ideas are becoming more important than ever - and how these ideas are implemented is key.
Case study: Lynx
What delegates can expect:
- Gain an understanding of the media context we are all working in
- Understand how a leading media agency creates a cutting edge communication campaign
- Pick up some ideas of new ways to approach your own campaigns
Speakers:
Daniel Coleman, Business Director, MindShare UK
Andreas Nicolaou, Account Director, MindShare UK
13.15 - 14.00 Lunch
14.00 - 15.00 Proximity Marketing - Connecting Brands and Consumers Through Content
Mobile marketing is an established space - whether using SMS, MMS or 3G. However, none of these mobile network technologies have yet cracked the challenge of proximity and each of them also entail a transmission cost to either the brand or the consumer. Using short range wireless technologies, Proximity Marketing brings a new level of targeting and impact to mobile marketing communications whilst at the same time creating a cost-free content transaction for brands and consumers.
This session covers:
- Proximity Marketing - from inception to today
- The truth about proximity marketing
- How to connect brands and consumers through content
- ROI for brands
- What about the future?
Speaker:
Elliot Messenger, Proximity Marketing Consultant, Hypertag Ltd
15.00 - 16.00 Strategic Marketing 101
Strategic Marketing 101 will summarise the key intellectual, communications and game-play assets required to find a compelling, distinctive and believable message to command gamers' attention in an increasingly busy marketplace.
Questions to be addressed:
- Who are your likely competition?
- What have you got that is going to drive trial?
- Which features sell the game as well as themselves?
- Why are gamers going to talk about your game?
- What imagery is going to drive comprehension and fascination?
Sean Dromgoole, Director, Some Research
16.00 - 16.30 Tea and Coffee
16.30 - 17.30 Getting Invited to the Party - What Social Media Mean for Marketing
Social networks, with their huge audiences, are almost irresistible to marketers interested in reaching the youth market, while the influence exerted by bloggers is compelling for anyone who's read The Tipping Point. But what are the rules of engagement in this new space?
- What are the risks of appearing next to user-generated content, and what can you do about them?
- What's the etiquette when working with bloggers?
- How do you join the conversation in the social space, rather than just crashing the party?
NMA editor-in-chief Michael Nutley will discuss some of the key trends and emerging insights surrounding brands and social media, then BIMA chair Paul Walsh will introduce examples of successful campaigns in this new environment.
Speakers:Michael Nutley, Editor-in-Chief, New Media Age
Paul Walsh, Chair, British Interactive Media Association