Widening OOTP's coverage

[BradC]

Hi Everyone:

I was wondering if anyone around here might have an inside line on getting in touch with sports writers at the major newspapers and magazines. In particular, the folks on this list:

Baseball Writers Association of America - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know, it's a crazy longshot, but in my role as PR/marketing guy, I'm trying to do whatever I can. This past Sunday, I went through all the SB Nation blogs linked to from MLB on Yahoo and hit up as many bloggers as I could. I also hit up the sports writers at a bunch of newspapers; some of them are on the BWAA list.

It wound up being close to 300 people total, and so far about 4 or 5 have responded, all of them bloggers. The email let people know about OOTP 12 and iOOTP and gave some basics. I didn't want to inundate them with info, but I wanted to let them know who we are and what we do. I also noted that the games are popular with people who play fantasy baseball or are just stats-heads in general.

Maybe I'll actually get a response from some newspaper folks, but I thought I'd see if anyone around here has a personal connection.

I also need help connecting with some of the bigger video game sites, particularly Gamespot, Gamespy/IGN, etc. Last month, I went through LinkedIn and sent messages to editors at those sites, but didn't have much luck there either. Since I have done work in videogames in the past, many of those people were 2nd or 3rd degree away from me, which let me see their info and send them messages.

And I have a spreadsheet of the publications included in Metacritic, which I need to go through as well. We've just barely qualified for Metacritic the last couple years, so it would be nice to get more coverage at general gaming sites too.

I don't think we're sexy enough for the general gaming sites, which is why they don't cover us a lot, but I'd still like to give it the ol' college try. Personally, I think if we're going to increase awareness of OOTP, it's going to be through baseball and general sports sites, but I want to hit all avenues.

If anyone is up for helping me do some digging, I can put the Metacritic spreadsheet on Google docs and divvy up the sites.

Thanks.

[Dr. dru]

Originally Posted by BradC

Hi Everyone:

I was wondering if anyone around here might have an inside line on getting in touch with sports writers at the major newspapers and magazines. In particular, the folks on this list:

Baseball Writers Association of America - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know, it's a crazy longshot, but in my role as PR/marketing guy, I'm trying to do whatever I can. This past Sunday, I went through all the SB Nation blogs linked to from MLB on Yahoo and hit up as many bloggers as I could. I also hit up the sports writers at a bunch of newspapers; some of them are on the BWAA list.

It wound up being close to 300 people total, and so far about 4 or 5 have responded, all of them bloggers. The email let people know about OOTP 12 and iOOTP and gave some basics. I didn't want to inundate them with info, but I wanted to let them know who we are and what we do. I also noted that the games are popular with people who play fantasy baseball or are just stats-heads in general.

Maybe I'll actually get a response from some newspaper folks, but I thought I'd see if anyone around here has a personal connection.

I also need help connecting with some of the bigger video game sites, particularly Gamespot, Gamespy/IGN, etc. Last month, I went through LinkedIn and sent messages to editors at those sites, but didn't have much luck there either. Since I have done work in videogames in the past, many of those people were 2nd or 3rd degree away from me, which let me see their info and send them messages.

And I have a spreadsheet of the publications included in Metacritic, which I need to go through as well. We've just barely qualified for Metacritic the last couple years, so it would be nice to get more coverage at general gaming sites too.

I don't think we're sexy enough for the general gaming sites, which is why they don't cover us a lot, but I'd still like to give it the ol' college try. Personally, I think if we're going to increase awareness of OOTP, it's going to be through baseball and general sports sites, but I want to hit all avenues.

If anyone is up for helping me do some digging, I can put the Metacritic spreadsheet on Google docs and divvy up the sites.

Thanks.

You could start by updating this forum with some info on OOTP 12. A lot of people are waiting to order until they get some information. It's been about 2 weeks since we got any screenshots. It would be nice to have at least one or two road to releases.

[mike2228]

I can't help you but I wish you good luck. OOTP deserves as much attention as could possibly receive.

[BradC]

Unfortunately, Road to Release won't be happening this year. However, I pinged Markus today, and he's going to write up a forum post that will offer some additional details. I agree that we need to put more information out there, and we're trying to do that.

I would love to do RTR, especially since this is my first year as the PR/marketing guy, but we wound up in crunch time.

As with Markus' previous forum post, I will tweet and Facebook the link, which seems to help.

However, all of that is really just preaching to the choir. While I want all of our long-time fans to buy OOTP 12 and keep supporting the game, I want to bring in new people too. Otherwise, taking the long-term view, our fan base will literally die off.

[philliesphan26]

Originally Posted by BradC

Unfortunately, Road to Release won't be happening this year. However, I pinged Markus today, and he's going to write up a forum post that will offer some additional details. I agree that we need to put more information out there, and we're trying to do that.

I would love to do RTR, especially since this is my first year as the PR/marketing guy, but we wound up in crunch time.

As with Markus' previous forum post, I will tweet and Facebook the link, which seems to help.

However, all of that is really just preaching to the choir. While I want all of our long-time fans to buy OOTP 12 and keep supporting the game, I want to bring in new people too. Otherwise, taking the long-term view, our fan base will literally die off.

That's good to hear at least. Any ETA on the forum post?

[Dr. dru]

Originally Posted by BradC

Unfortunately, Road to Release won't be happening this year. However, I pinged Markus today, and he's going to write up a forum post that will offer some additional details. I agree that we need to put more information out there, and we're trying to do that.

I would love to do RTR, especially since this is my first year as the PR/marketing guy, but we wound up in crunch time.

As with Markus' previous forum post, I will tweet and Facebook the link, which seems to help.

However, all of that is really just preaching to the choir. While I want all of our long-time fans to buy OOTP 12 and keep supporting the game, I want to bring in new people too. Otherwise, taking the long-term view, our fan base will literally die off.

I am new. I never bought the game before (I have preordered 12 and am playing the 11 demo). I was looking for a baseball game to buy and found OOTP on gamespot and decided to try to find more information.

That's what brought me to this board and it was this board that sold it for me. The people on here seem to really like the game. I don't want to hear it from a marketer or a baseball writer. I want to hear what people that play the game think.

You can advertize the game where ever you want but this board probably drives the most sales.

[DCHepler25]

Originally Posted by Dr. dru

I am new. I never bought the game before (I have preordered 12 and am playing the 11 demo). I was looking for a baseball game to buy and found OOTP on gamespot and decided to try to find more information.

That's what brought me to this board and it was this board that sold it for me. The people on here seem to really like the game. I don't want to hear it from a marketer or a baseball writer. I want to hear what people that play the game think.

You can advertize the game where ever you want but this board probably drives the most sales.

Couldn't say it better myself. I've been playing since OOTP4 and I found it by internet search. I've purchased every version since. The rest is history!

[TDO]

You're free to post at gamersgalaxy.us its an up and coming site dedicated to online leagues and gaming in general (i own it )

Also, operationsports.com seems to grow leaps and bounds every year and has some in-roads with gamespot etc.

I used to be a beat writer for the Atlanta Braves while in college but have fallen out of touch with my connections since then.

[BradC]

RE the forum post: Markus said he would do it on Thursday, but please keep in mind that when I talked to him, he had 230 bugs still to squash. I want him to give us some tidbits if he can, but I also don't want to take away valuable time spent working on the game. It's a balancing act.

RE hearing about the game from others: I'm happy to hear that's a main draw. After the game ships, one of my plans this summer is to use the newsletter to focus on people doing interesting things in the game. So, it might be someone doing an interesting tournament, or a few people running a huge fictional league that has been going for a long time. I want to highlight that human element and hopefully get some mileage out of that.

I agree that that will help a lot, but I also think that if a baseball writer at Sports Illustrated or The New York Times gives us some coverage, hey, that has to help.

[RchW]

Brad you should put some time into sports radio. The target demographic is ideal for OOTP. Some stations may even have a gamers show. I think Fan590 in Toronto does. In MLB cities target the station baseball reporter if they have one or a late night host as they always need content.

Another target that you may have done already is the myriad of blogs, some serious, some not, that follow MLB teams. I get multiple pages from each search. Obviously these guys are less stuffy than your average BWAA writer and they may reach the target market better.

Just my

[akw4572]

Originally Posted by BradC

Unfortunately, Road to Release won't be happening this year. However, I pinged Markus today, and he's going to write up a forum post that will offer some additional details. I agree that we need to put more information out there, and we're trying to do that.

I would love to do RTR, especially since this is my first year as the PR/marketing guy, but we wound up in crunch time.

As with Markus' previous forum post, I will tweet and Facebook the link, which seems to help.

However, all of that is really just preaching to the choir. While I want all of our long-time fans to buy OOTP 12 and keep supporting the game, I want to bring in new people too. Otherwise, taking the long-term view, our fan base will literally die off.

RTR isn't happenign this year, and you're trying to widen your sales? There is no hype. If you guys want more sales, you've got to get the game out before opening day. That'll help the hype. Quite frankly, it seems as though most of the effort went into iootp this year, and none is being put into 12. I'd second the sports radio thing. See if you can get some advertising on XM Radio's MLB channel, or in the larger and medium markets for baseball on radio. I'd imagine radio is dying for some people to knock on their door for advertising revenue.

[oman19]

I would 3rd sports talk radio. 97.1 the ticket here in metro Detroit is very popular.

Someone said operation sports boards. That is the way I found out about the game back when version X was released.

[akw4572]

Originally Posted by oman19

I would 3rd sports talk radio. 97.1 the ticket here in metro Detroit is very popular.

Someone said operation sports boards. That is the way I found out about the game back when version X was released.

I know here in Cincy, the largest sport announcer (Lance McAllister) has a blog under the radio's website internet address. I'd imagine this is true in a lot of places, and it would be an easy way to contact them. Just look up sports radio websites for major and mid size markets on the net.

[Dr. dru]

Originally Posted by akw4572

I know here in Cincy, the largest sport announcer (Lance McAllister) has a blog under the radio's website internet address. I'd imagine this is true in a lot of places, and it would be an easy way to contact them. Just look up sports radio websites for major and mid size markets on the net.

They should get Tracy Jones to do a spot on it.

[megamanmatt]

I personally think they should talk to Curt Schilling. A) He's a former major leaguer, B) He owns a video game development studio, 39 studios, and may be able to offer more than just marketing help, and C) Has played OOTP so he already has some familiarity with the game.

Of course I have no idea how one would talk to Mr. Schilling, so that kind of shoots it down.

[BradC]

Sports radio is a good thought. I'm in touch with one guy who has a radio show and who has promoted OOTP there in the past.

I doubt we can afford to spend much on sports radio ads, especially on XM. Our ad budget is pretty much non-existent.

RE RTR: I can't control what happened there, and I'm not going to blame anyone else at OOTP for that either. Given OOTP's size, when iOOTP hit some speed bumps, Markus had to take time away from OOTP 12 to work with Sebastian. That's just the way it went. We're not EA.

We realize the best thing would be for the game to come out before Opening Day. We would have preferred that too.

[Syd Thrift]

Sports radio, seriously? I just don't see that being a big "get". I hate to say it, folks, but the people who listen to sports radio are just plain not the same people who are going to want to play a cerebral, micromanagement-intensive sports simulation. I think that if OOTP is going to spend money on advertising, it needs to be *way* better directed than that. For example, sponsoring a podcast like Baseball Prospectus'. SBNation has a lot of statty subforums on it, although the kind of ads they have (lots of alcohol products, cars, etc.) indicate to me that the ads might run a bit on the expensive side there. Maybe getting on podcasts or websites dedicated to strategy gamers - a really wonky, statheadish sales pitch could make fans of, I don't know, Europa Universalis salivate at the idea of OOTP.

Didn't OOTP run an ad in the back of Baseball Weekly or something a few years ago? And didn't it do basically nothing?

[BradC]

We are in touch with someone who knows Schilling, so maybe something will happen there. That person has some other prominent connections in baseball.

Originally Posted by megamanmatt

I personally think they should talk to Curt Schilling. A) He's a former major leaguer, B) He owns a video game development studio, 39 studios, and may be able to offer more than just marketing help, and C) Has played OOTP so he already has some familiarity with the game.

Of course I have no idea how one would talk to Mr. Schilling, so that kind of shoots it down.

[BradC]

Yeah, I don't see the point in advertising on sports talk radio, especially since it would just be one market. I'm sure XM would be very expensive to advertise on, since it covers the whole country.

I think, though, that if I sent out a pitch to as many sports talk radio guys as I could dig up, maybe a few might bite and check out the game. Hopefully they'll even mention it on their show.

That's what I'm hoping for there.

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Sports radio, seriously? I just don't see that being a big "get". I hate to say it, folks, but the people who listen to sports radio are just plain not the same people who are going to want to play a cerebral, micromanagement-intensive sports simulation. I think that if OOTP is going to spend money on advertising, it needs to be *way* better directed than that. For example, sponsoring a podcast like Baseball Prospectus'. SBNation has a lot of statty subforums on it, although the kind of ads they have (lots of alcohol products, cars, etc.) indicate to me that the ads might run a bit on the expensive side there. Maybe getting on podcasts or websites dedicated to strategy gamers - a really wonky, statheadish sales pitch could make fans of, I don't know, Europa Universalis salivate at the idea of OOTP.

Didn't OOTP run an ad in the back of Baseball Weekly or something a few years ago? And didn't it do basically nothing?

[megamanmatt]

Originally Posted by BradC

Yeah, I don't see the point in advertising on sports talk radio, especially since it would just be one market. I'm sure XM would be very expensive to advertise on, since it covers the whole country.

I think, though, that if I sent out a pitch to as many sports talk radio guys as I could dig up, maybe a few might bite and check out the game. Hopefully they'll even mention it on their show.

That's what I'm hoping for there.

This may be a taboo subject but has any thought been given to raising OOTP's price a little. Personally I love that OOTP is a lot less expensive than almost any other game on the market, but if a small increase in price would allow you guys to advertise to a larger market and bring in more money overall I for one wouldn't mind paying a little more.