Tips On Building Online Fandom

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In his article for iMedia Connection, Larry Weintraub of Fanscape starts by recounting his agency s foray into building online communities for musicians and bands. These, he recalls, were the days when GeoCities and Angelfire were the closest things to online socializing. His first indication of the power of social media came as he watched it change the traditionally disconnected relationship between musicians and fans.  To see what it morphed into, do a quick check on fan adoring pages for popular artists on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Not surprisingly, as Fanscape evolved from underground music pusher to full-fledged social media agency, they learned a thing or two about the fundamentals of building an online following.

Weintraub presents two case studies of recent projects for MTV and Gamestop. In them he departs some of the most essential components to building and running a social media campaign. One sweet kernel of truth: considering that the campaign is meant to engage millions, start by putting yourself in the shoes of one of your targets and ask, Why would I care? The Gamestop campaign, which centered on a Guitar Hero contest, did an especially brilliant job of tackling that very question and tactically executing on it.

 

Read Weintraub s full article at iMedia Connection.

Sony Shutters Part Of ‘Uncharted 2’ Twitters

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Sony has turned off the chapter update Twitter function for its PS3 title, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. 1up reports the move is not surprising given the expectation that the volume of Tweets would be cumbersome for everyone involved once the game hit shelves. Even before it got there, Sony got a taste of just what that volume would be as the game started to reach reviewers in the press. As a result Sony decided to shut down the frequent chapter updates only, leaving the rest of Twitter functionality going for now. Read more at 1up.

Live Ads In ‘Dead To Rights’

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Double Fusion has signed with Namco Bandai to bring dynamic ads into the PS3 version of the upcoming title Dead to Rights: Retribution. Slated for release in 2010 for both PS3 and 360, the game is the third installment in the action franchise launched by Namco (sans Bandai) in 2002. Industry Gamers reports that the Double Fusion deal only covers PS3 as Microsoft’s own in-game ad service Massive will most likely handle the 360 version.

Funcom Announces Layoffs And ‘The Secret World’ Delay

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Funcom is laying off 20 percent of their work force. The company operates offices in Norway, Switzerland, China, Canada and the US. Reporting the story, Industry Gamers says that of the more than 300 people employed across those offices, the staff in Norway is expected to take the brunt of the layoffs. As part of cost-cutting moves the company is also seeking to move more staff into its Quebec office, where it even expects to hire 100 to 150 new Canadian employees over the next year and a half.

The force reduction will delay Funcom’s upcoming MMO The Secret World but will not affect the Age of Conan expansion Rise of the Goldslayer.

UK Band Promotes Song With ‘Best Of YouTube’ Video Mash-up

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The British band Hadouken, who took their name from a Street Fighter move, showed further sound decision making by promoting their single M.A.D. with a clever YouTube video. The video is a montage titled 100 Greatest Hits of YouTube in 4 Minutes. With an actual running time of three and a half minutes and [a]list daily is open to insight on this the video mashes together fond YouTube memories and plenty of painful bloopers that go hand in hand with the song s heavy dance punk sound.

Hadouken seems to have a built-in following at YouTube, with their music videos and video blogs attracting impressive numbers. Their video for That Boy That Girl has nearly two and a half million views. Still the viral video is seeing success. At the time of this writing the real music video for M.A.D., clever in its own right, had only about a third as many views as the viral video.

 

Check out the video at YouTube.

Bing Finds Its Way Onto NFL Jerseys

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The NFL announced a change in jersey sponsorship rules this season, for the first time allowing teams to emblazon logos other than sports equipment companies on their jerseys. Microsoft and its hometown Seattle Seahawks have become the first to take advantage of the rule in the regular season, reported USA Today. Seahawks jerseys will sport a fairly sizable Bing logo patch on the upper left side for the remainder of the season. Fans can only hope Bing searches out some answers for the 1-2 team who has already lost their starting quarterback to a rib injury. Read more at USA Today.

Can The Element Of Surprise Sell 2.5 Million Units?

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Kris Graft at Gamasutra recaps the messaging and PR lead-up to this summer s surprise seller Batman: Arkham Asylum. Talking to Rocksteady game director Sefton Hill, an element of surprise against an environment of low expectations for the licensed game helped the title wow reviewers and ultimately blaze up the charts.

Rocksteady and publisher Eidos tried to walk the fine line between under and over hyping, even as they began to realize they had a quality game on their hands. Eidos UK marketing head Jon Brooke may have toed the line when in April he called the game as close to perfection as we’ve come. Says Gamasutra, given that it was not only another licensed game but a follow-up to a string of severely disappointing Batman games, fortunately no one believed him. Read more at Gamasutra.

CNN Launches Paid App For IPhone

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CNN launched its mobile app for iPhone today. In a widely watched move, the network decided to charge $1.99 and break the free to read mobile content model used by competitors such as NY Times and USA Today. CNN’s angle in how it’ll overcome the barrier is quality of content. CNN says the app provides the same breaking news feeds as the network and gives access to local coverage through Topix. The app’s real ace in the hole could be how it takes advantage of what the iPhone can do to facilitate CNN’s serendipitously named iReport. CNN iReport has become a popular TV and web feature, where publicly submitted photos, videos and commentary of live news events are broadcast by the network.

CNN’s move follows a similar decision by Wall Street Journal last week, which decided to start charging $1-2 per week for its content on the go. The major outlets who aren t currently charging are watching. They want to see if the free news content model is indeed as entrenched in consumers minds for mobile as it has become on the web. On the free side of the coin there s a lesson to learn from AP, which launched a Blackberry app at $2.99 to tepid reception. Downloads of the AP app surged once it was free. Read more from AP.

Schafer Sees ‘Brutal Legend’ As Heavy Metal’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’

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Anthony Bruno of Billboard interviewed Tim Schafer on what it took to bring together his upcoming title Brutal Legend. The game is a labor of love for the heavy metal fanatic, one that has had its lumps on a road from now defunct Vivendi Games through Activision litigation threats to getting published by EA. With its October 13 release on the horizon, Schafer primarily talks about what went right in creating an epic game he believes the heavy metal genre has always deserved.

Schafer calls getting Jack Black on board an early step that gave the project needed credibility. That gave them leverage to approach the bands and license the music that would make or break the game. One of the first musicians signed was Motorhead’s legendary lead man Lemmy. With more than 100 classic metal tunes licensed, Schafer sees Brutal Legend as yet another sign that musicians and labels recognize the game market as a place they want to be. Read the full interview from Billboard.