Marathon Promotion

Flip

Edit history:

Flip: 2010-12-13 05:58:21 pm

Flip: 2010-12-13 04:47:14 pm

Flip: 2010-12-13 04:33:17 pm

Flip: 2010-11-29 05:34:47 pm

Flip: 2010-09-10 01:12:44 am

Flip: 2010-09-10 01:11:56 am

Flip: 2010-09-10 01:11:39 am

Flip: 2010-09-10 01:07:18 am

Flip: 2010-09-10 01:06:59 am

Flip: 2010-09-09 02:17:27 pm

Flip: 2010-09-09 02:15:49 pm

mikwuyma: 2010-09-09 01:59:55 pm

2010-09-09 01:34:04 pm

1-Up!

[01:00a] jewyama:we should make a promotion topic soon
[01:00a] jewyama:it doesn't have to be made by me (hint hint)

Reading between the lines here, I get the impression that Mike doesn't want to create this thread, so I'm going to do it.

yeah, I'm a genius Cheesy

Basically what we want to do here is keep track of the ways we are trying to advertise and raise awareness for the marathon. Primary ways of doing this will be to make contacts at other gaming websites and try to get a mention closer to the date so that people will come and watch. It's still a bit too early to start contacting people but I still think we would be smart to make a list of people and websites we want to make contact with. Anyway, feel free to chime in with your recommendations and I'll try to keep the list updated.

Websites
Brawl in the Family
Penny Arcade
Reddit
Digg
game developers - Breakdown - Done!
Screw Attack
Retroware TV
Kotaku
Joystiq
Something Awful banners - Done!
Final Fantasy Radio - Done!
Nintendo Age - Done!

Podcasts-

The Geekbox
Rebel FM
Gamers with Jobs: Conference call
IGN's Gamescoop Done!
1UP's Oddcast
Gamespy Debreifings
Mobcast
net@night

Youtubers-
Everybody at SDA
Proton Jon
chuggaconroy

Thread title:

[01:00a] jewyama:we should make a promotion topic soon
[01:00a] jewyama:it doesn't have to be made by me (hint hint)

Reading between the lines here, I get the impression that Mike doesn't want to create this thread, so I'm going to do it. [hidden]yeah, I'm a genius :D[/hidden]
Basically what we want to do here is keep track of the ways we are trying to advertise and raise awareness for the marathon.  Primary ways of doing this will be to make contacts at other gaming websites and try to get a mention closer to the date so that people will come and watch.  It's still a bit too early to start contacting people but I still think we would be smart to make a list of people and websites we want to make contact with.  Anyway, feel free to chime in with your recommendations and I'll try to keep the list updated.

[size=16][b]Websites[/b][/size]
[url=http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/]Brawl in the Family[/url]
[url=http://www.penny-arcade.com/]Penny Arcade[/url]
[url=http://www.reddit.com]Reddit[/url]
[url=http://www.digg.com]Digg[/url]
game developers - Breakdown - [color=red]Done![/color]
[url=http://www.screwattack.com]Screw Attack[/url]
[url=http://www.retrowareTV.com]Retroware TV[/url]
[url=http://www.Kotaku.com]Kotaku[/url]
[url=http://www.joystiq.com]Joystiq[/url]
Something Awful banners - [color=red]Done![/color]
[url=http://www.rgonotsayz.com/forum/index.php/topic,1500.0.html]Final Fantasy Radio[/url] - [color=red]Done![/color]
[url=http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=32&threadid=43152]Nintendo Age[/url] - [color=red]Done![/color]

Podcasts-

The Geekbox
Rebel FM
Gamers with Jobs: Conference call
IGN's Gamescoop [color=red]Done![/color] 
1UP's Oddcast
Gamespy Debreifings
Mobcast
net@night

Youtubers-
Everybody at SDA
Proton Jon
chuggaconroy

mikwuyma

2010-09-09 01:59:19 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Flip is a genius!

BTW, don't actually try to promote now. We still have a ton of time before the marathon starts. We shouldn't actually make a promoting push until late Novemberish at the earliest, IMO. There's a chance we'll have to contact bigger sites like The Escapist earlier, if we want to be mentioned.

Breakdown

2010-09-11 10:45:40 pm

Haters gonna hate

I'm thinking we should actually try to contact some game developers and see if we can't get some free stuff. Just for example, I know we've got a lot of Capcom games, and they hooked up TSG in the past, so it's worth a shot. The way I see it, we can take a stab at basically any company we're running games for, worst they can say is no or nothing at all. This would definitely be something to get the ball rolling on sooner than general promotion, but we should at the very least have the charity picked beforehand.

As for other sites, we can try Screwattack again, don't see why they wouldn't help out like they did last time around. RetrowareTV is another possibility, and one I'd call a good shot since HVGN stopped by last year. We should definitely have a Digg article this time around and actively point people towards it, same with Twitter (I'm thinking take a cue from EVO and offer some sort of giveaway for Twitter stuff, trending status would be huge).

I forget who suggested this initially, but someone mentioned trying to get mentions on podcasts, which is a great idea. We could take it one step further than that and maybe to try to get interviewed by a major podcaster or two. That way we can make sure the information that gets put out there is accurate (unlike the Nintendo World Report or whatever site it was article last time around).

This should go without saying, but once we have the promo vid ready for release anybody and everybody should post it to their youtube. I think I was the only one hosting it last year, and my subscriber count pales in comparison to a lot of people on this site (and nevermind the fact most of my subscribers are SDA people). We can also try to get people outside of SDA to host it as well, or give us a mention. UltraJMan brought us a ton of traffic last year, and while he's obviously on board this year we can see if any other major youtube personalities would help us out similarly.

I'm thinking we should actually try to contact some game developers and see if we can't get some free stuff.  Just for example, I know we've got a lot of Capcom games, and they hooked up TSG in the past, so it's worth a shot.  The way I see it, we can take a stab at basically any company we're running games for, worst they can say is no or nothing at all.  This would definitely be something to get the ball rolling on sooner than general promotion, but we should at the very least have the charity picked beforehand.

As for other sites, we can try Screwattack again, don't see why they wouldn't help out like they did last time around.  RetrowareTV is another possibility, and one I'd call a good shot since HVGN stopped by last year.  We should definitely have a Digg article this time around and actively point people towards it, same with Twitter (I'm thinking take a cue from EVO and offer some sort of giveaway for Twitter stuff, trending status would be huge).

I forget who suggested this initially, but someone mentioned trying to get mentions on podcasts, which is a great idea.  We could take it one step further than that and maybe to try to get interviewed by a major podcaster or two.  That way we can make sure the information that gets put out there is accurate (unlike the Nintendo World Report or whatever site it was article last time around).

This should go without saying, but once we have the promo vid ready for release anybody and everybody should post it to their youtube.  I think I was the only one hosting it last year, and my subscriber count pales in comparison to a lot of people on this site (and nevermind the fact most of my subscribers are SDA people).  We can also try to get people outside of SDA to host it as well, or give us a mention.  UltraJMan brought us a ton of traffic last year, and while he's obviously on board this year we can see if any other major youtube personalities would help us out similarly.

Pootrain

2010-09-12 06:37:21 pm

train kept rollin

podcast idea was mine Tongue

Even if we cant get an interview on podcasts, many of the ones I listen to read listener mail and have given shout outs to similar things in the past.

The Geekbox
Rebel FM
Gamers with Jobs: Conference call
IGN's Gamescoop/Podcast Beyond/Three red lights/Girl Fight
1UP's Oddcast/@1up/Retronauts (would be a really good fit but its ending soon)
Gamespy Debriefings
MobCast

Should try and get on the big blogs like Kotaku and Joystiq.

I think a good youtube to go after would be http://www.youtube.com/user/azuritereaction. He primarily puts out Rock Band drums videos but has done lots of lets plays and posted a few speedrun/time trials of his own before. (mainly on crash 3 iirc) Also he has 89,000+ subscribers.

Rakuen

2010-09-12 08:32:51 pm

Weegee Time

I'll repeat my suggestion to try and get on net@night. This should really be done by an admin.

http://www.twit.tv/natn

And the PR information for the TwiT network in general:

http://leoville.com/pr

mocliamtoh

2010-09-15 10:37:25 pm

My name is unpronounceable

Another Youtube personality you might try contacting is Proton Jon. I know he's mentioned TSG marathons, and he has more than 52k subscribers. I think he's also a member on the Something Awful forums, but I don't know which way would be better to contact him.

aleckermit

Edit history:

aleckermit: 2010-10-08 11:53:27 am

2010-10-08 11:51:49 am

Having a promo video like we had for the last marathon is a must imo. I have 2 youtube accounts totalling 1,700+ subbers and I know last year I had a lot of positive comments saying they hadn't know about the marathon until they saw my video.

PS: One youtuber that we should contact is "chuggaaconroy". He has 172,000+ subbers and references speedruns a lot so I'm sure he's a fan.

http://www.youtube.com/user/chuggaaconroy

tjp7154

2010-10-21 03:18:50 pm

#Casual

Okay, had a though:

I was thinking we should put a "Countdown to Marathon" timer on the front SDA page. What do y'all (more importantly Mike and Ark) think?

InsipidMuckyWater

2010-11-28 10:47:00 pm

Visit my profile to see my runs!

^ Kinda like that idea, btw.

Anyway, I'm just posting to say that it would be nice if people who are actual MEMBERS of neighboring sites tried to advertise on them instead of having a generic PR person do all of it, when it's possible. Personally, I get just a little annoyed when other websites come to SDA and post what amounts to an advertisement, even if for charitable purposes, about some event of theirs without otherwise being involved here in SDA. For a couple such posts, I tried asking them if they would help us extend our verification network, but, like always, they pretty much never posted again outside the ad.

It's really not a big deal. I still give such advertisements their due attention, and I know we won't always have members at sites where we are trying to advertise. But, when it's possible, I think it would be both more courteous as well as beneficial for each website to advertise through the mouths of people who are actually familiar with both groups.

UraniumAnchor

2010-11-29 01:12:55 pm

Not a walrus

I've mentioned this in the IRC channel, but if you get me a 468x60 (40k max) banner, I'll put it in the Something Awful forum banner rotation.

mikwuyma

2010-11-29 01:30:46 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Wow, this hasn't been updated in a while.

Mocliamtoh: Romscout asked protonjon about plugging us, and jon said he would do it.

tjp7154: Yeah, we should implement a timer.

IMW: Yeah, I prefer that too, it's a lot more natural that way.

UA: I asked Lindsey about making a banner that size.

Also we really need to get to work on promoting. :X

InsipidMuckyWater

2010-11-29 03:42:09 pm

Visit my profile to see my runs!

^ Mike, just read your post in taiga. Maybe we should change the title of this thread (maybe to just Marathon Promotions).

Flip

2010-11-29 05:35:36 pm

1-Up!

Changed the title to avoid others having issues with adblock.

Soon I'm going to update the first post with recommendations from this thread so we can get the ball rolling.

Emptyeye

2010-11-29 06:49:35 pm

Talk to the Hand

I'll make sure to promote it at the next Connecticon MAD/staff meeting. Is there a flier or something I can pass out? <_<

Essentia

2010-11-30 09:59:45 am

Everything's better with Magitek

I made a post about the marathon on The Speed Gamers forum: http://community.thespeedgamers.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11719

Since over at TSG they're pretty big into marathons, hopefully we'll get a bunch of viewers from there.

Flip

2010-11-30 12:13:15 pm

1-Up!

Thanks Essentia!

flicky

2010-12-02 07:35:50 am

$15 per rant/allegory

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=173646

Doing my bit on the biggest Starcraft website outside of China. The guys there are pretty hardcore games so I know a lot of them will be interested. When I told some people I was going, I found a good chunk of them watched last years and were super excited about another one!

FinalDragoon

Edit history:

FinalDragoon: 2010-12-03 01:28:09 pm

FinalDragoon: 2010-12-03 01:27:47 pm

2010-12-03 01:26:54 pm

I'll be sure to make posts in other forums that I frequent, as well as let other IRC channels I tend to idle in(come on guys, you know I can't idle in just one)know about the marathon. I know it's not much, but I have to do something to help get the word out.

Pootrain

2010-12-09 01:59:41 pm

train kept rollin

If someone can design some A5 size flyers or something I should be able to get some local (game) shops to have them on the counter. I can also put one up at the community board at work.

Molotov

2010-12-09 02:21:58 pm

Even though last year's version was horrific garbage, I'd really like to try making a flier PDF for people to print and pass around as they please. The problems are that I only have one or two design ideas, and that the text didn't work very well last time. It would be a one-page deal this time though, so that should make it at least a little more appealing to look at.

When would the deadline be? I know Emptyeye mentioned a staff meeting, but I have no idea when that is.

tjp7154

2010-12-09 02:50:44 pm

#Casual

Apart from the video promo we have in the works, I'd like to personally make up a montage video of my favorite parts of the marathon, using the past marathon videos (http://www.ustream.tv/user/SDAMarathon) as well as (hopefully) Tri-Hex's "lost" videos (http://www.youtube.com/user/lolololololozzzzz).

It probably won't be as professional as the other promo, but it should do the job to advertise to my (small amt. of) YouTube subscribers.

arkarian

2010-12-09 02:54:33 pm

gamelogs.org

added a facebook like button to the marathon page so if you use facebook that might be a good way to spread the word.

Emptyeye

2010-12-10 05:50:00 am

Talk to the Hand

Molotov, said staff meeting is December 26th.

Sir VG

2010-12-11 04:31:25 am

Fucking Weeaboo

I posted some promotion for us at Final Fantasy Radio's forum, given that we're doing several Square Enix games, I figure we should pick up quite a few people from there.

Breakdown

2010-12-11 05:09:04 pm

Haters gonna hate

Contacted the head guy over at nintendoage.com, a big collector site. He cleared me to make a promo topic, a prize donation topic, and said he'd give us some front page real estate once the video's together.

Links to topics:

Promo: http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=32&threadid=43152

Prizes: http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=43154