Midway Marketing Veteran Joins Telltale

Telltale has just boosted its marketing efforts with the recruitment of Steve Allison, according to this announcement on IndustryGamers {link no longer active}. Allison will serve the episodic game developer in the role of Senior Vice President of Marketing. He’ll drive all marketing efforts for the company, which is known for properties like Tales of Monkey Island and Sam & Max.

“Telltale is a company very well positioned for the bright digital future of the interactive entertainment business. To be a fully independent digital publisher on every major platform, have very projectable development discipline and to possess some of the industry’s highest quality development teams is a rare and remarkable thing for any company in this business,” said Allison. “I’m excited to be part of this accomplished, experienced team as we to work to take our brand and games to the next level.”

“Telltale strives to bring our brand of engaging story-based games to new and receptive audiences. Steve has an excellent track record for doing exactly that,” added Telltale CEO Dan Connors. “His expertise will be integral in propelling our marketing efforts forward, reinforcing and enhancing Telltale’s reputation for creating high quality interactive storytelling experiences for every type of gamer on every possible platform.”

Allison, as many of you know, spent five years as Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of Midway Games. He also held various publishing, marketing and management positions at Atari between 1994 and 2003. Most recently, he worked as Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President for TNA Entertainment, overseeing consumer products, licensing, digital content and brand building.

Wall Street Journal On iPad Backed By Big Advertisers

Magazines and newspapers are flocking to the newly released Apple iPad – many are hoping the iPad can help to revive the dying print business by shifting it online to devices like Apple’s sleek tablet. Advertising will play a key role in the business, regardless of whether a publication decides to charge for the digital iPad subscription or offer it for free.

At least one major publication has already shown that it has what it takes to make it. The Wall Street Journal is launching on the iPad with major advertising support. Initial advertisers include Buick, Capital One, Coca-Cola, iShares, FedEx and Oracle, and they’ll be getting “innovative full-screen ad units appearing between article and section pages.”

Representatives said that the WSJ for iPad “blends the best of print and online — offering the look of the Journal while providing updated news and information, full-screen video, market data and customizable features, including the ability to save articles and full sections, such as What’s News, Marketplace, Money & Investing and Personal Journal, for later or offline reading.”

“The iPad platform allows us to thoughtfully blend the striking visuals and interaction of digital with the practical and more familiar layout
of print — an experience we believe mobile users will welcome and advertisers are already embracing,” added Gordon McLeod, president of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network.

WSJ for iPad is being offered as a stand-alone subscription for $3.99 per week from the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore/. Also, current Journal subscribers will receive full access free for a limited time.

iPad Sales Estimates Going Up

The iPad is all the rage right now, and optimism for its sales continues to rise it seems. iSuppli gave a conservative estimate of seven million iPads for the rest of 2010 and 14.4 million next year, saying more sales could happen with Flash support.

“The iPad s attractive design, compelling applications and multi-touch capability, key components of Apple Inc. s past successes, will help to offset the initial omission of Adobe Flash from the device,” said iSuppli to Paid Content {link no longer active}.

Others are being more conservative, like Piper Jaffray from Wall Street who thinks the iPad will move between three and four million in its first 12 months on the market. His firm initially predicted that only 1.9 million units would be sold.

For contrast’s sake, Apple sold over five million iPhones during the device’s first 12 months on market.

Marvel Gets Sebastian Stan For Bucky Role

Marvel has seen a real resurgence in recent years, thanks to the company’s comic book movies like Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. These properties provide great potential for marketing tie-ins, especially with the gaming audience that’s already drawn to comics.  Now Marvel’s hoping to continue its run with Captain America. Chris Evans landed the titular role of Captain America and now he has a sidekick. Sebastian Stan (Hot Tub Time Machine, The Apparition, Black Swan) has been cast as Bucky Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter says.

Bucky helped Captain America during World War II as an underage assistant. In 2005, Bucky was revived as the black ops Winter Soldier character, thought it is unknown at this time whether the storyline will support the Winter Soldier; Bucky also briefly assumed the Captain America label after the death of Steve Rodgers in the comic book.

Joe Johnston will begin directing the Captain America movie this Summer in Europe. Stan is apparently signed on for as many as six pictures, which is good, since the roll that Marvel is on with their movie properties implies they could ride towards a full-on Avengers movie in the near future.

MLB Trying New Marketing Techniques

Major League Baseball had a record year in 2009 with $6.6 billion in revenue, but attendance was still down for over two-thirds of the franchises out there, with a 6.6 percent drop overall. Because of this, franchises are doing more of their own advertising to get fans in the parks.

“They have to,” says Robert Boland, marketing professor at New York University to Ad Age {link no longer active}. “They have to sell more of their individual stadium seating inventory than in recent years. In better economic times, teams struggled to sell only certain games, and their more marginal inventory — think upper deck seats. Now every team has to work harder to sell what would be considered prime seating inventory.”

The MLB actually tied the NFL for most loyal fans according to the Brand Keys Sports Loyalty Index, so now is a good time for teams to take advantage. The Oakland Athletics, for instance, are using their primary color as a lead off for their “Green Collar Baseball” campaign on radio, print, outdoor and digital.

“These insights allow leagues and teams to identify areas that need strategic reinforcement,” said Robert Passikoff, president of New York-based Brand Keys, Inc. “Done correctly, an increase in broadcast viewership, merchandise purchase and ticket revenue will follow.”

Even the Red Sox, with one of the most loyal fanbases in the country, have been scambling for ways to get new revenue. They’ve discussed letting season ticket holders on the field during batting practice. “[This] is just a fact of the climate right now,” said Robert Tuchman, exec VP of sports and entertainment marketing firm Premiere Global Sports, New York. “I do think that MLB is actually going to have a solid year in terms of attendance numbers. I think they will see an increase over last year. A lot of that was due to the economic climate. I also think teams being more aggressive will lead to more fans at the park this year. It’s a better economy this year.”

The Tampa Bay Rays are a notable example, reaching out to high schools to record high-school drum lines for ads . While the Rays reached the World Series in 2008, the club’s attendance is a half million below the 2.5 million season average of other clubs. “We want to incorporate these unique sounds in various ways throughout the season to create a connection across the Tampa Bay region,” said Rays VP-marketing/community relations Tom Hoof.

“This is really a function of team pricing having gone up dramatically — in many cases to pay for new stadiums or stadium renovations — while consumer discretionary spending, especially business entertainment spending, has tightened dramatically,” said Boland, who noted that while players’ salaries added up to a combined $2.648 billion last year, the economic model of the league may have to change. “If they can’t plug the leaks at the turnstiles,” he added, “look for the owners to turn to the union and demand salary cuts the way the NFL, NBA and NHL are.”

iPad’s Name And Price Get Negative Marks In Poll

There are already opinions aplenty on the iPad, and Zogby Interactive [thanks Ad Week] has conducted a poll to get a better idea of consumer opinion on the name. When asked on a five point scale (with one denoting “very concise/creative” and five denoting “completely unimaginative/bland”) 37 percent gave a four or five, compared to 22 percent with one or two. A quarter gave it a score of three and 17 percent didn’t feel strongly about the name.

Notably, the prime demographic of 18-29 years old had the most negative reaction to the name, with 54 percent giving a four or five. All age groups, however, gave the title iPad more negative marks than not.

On the “starting price of $499” 55 percent said they think it’s too high, 20 percent said it’s at a good level and 25 percent weren’t sure; only one percent thought it wasn’t priced high enough. Regular Apple users were just as likely as not to say it was a decent price or too high, compared to non-users who were more than three times as likely to say it was too high.

The price will come down on the iPad over time, and will open doors for new consumers. While the name might be derided, it has brand value and, as Nintendo proved in the past with the Wii, ultimately some negative initial reaction isn’t so detrimental.

Univision Survey: Hispanics Eager Game Consumers

Complementing the recent announcement by Univision that it’s teaming up with Gamespot to deliver Spanish language editorial content, they released results of a survey on Hispanics and their gaming habits. Among the more notable findings are that Hispanics are 100 percent more likely to buy a video game in the next 30 days than other demographics.

Interestingly, over half of Hispanic gamers identified themselves as novice gamers compared to 30 percent of non-Hispanics. Still, the survey said that Hispanics are more likely to own a portable or home console and 15 percent less likely to say that cost is a factor in their console purchasing decision.  All of this suggests that Hispanics are an under-targeted demographic for game makers and their opinions should be considered by game publishers.

Get Lost In The Forgotten Sands

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is set to hit retail on May 18, just 10 days before the Jerry Bruckheimer movie based on the Sands of Time universe makes its box office debut. While the previous Prince of Persia had some mixed reactions, Ubisoft is hoping to recapture the original Prince of Persia audience with this new game. The impact of the movie could be very good as well – feedback from lucky individuals who viewed early screenings has been largely positive. Check out the new trailer for the game below (courtesy of Joystiq). It sets the stage for the prince needing to, of course, save the kingdom.

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GameStop’s Hilarious Machinima Style Splinter Cell Ad

Leading games retailer GameStop has been doing a solid job advertising its exclusive pre-order bonuses lately, and a recent commercial to promote exclusive pre-order content for Ubisoft’s upcoming Splinter Cell Conviction is a perfect example. The spot features a machinima style, with a bunch of guys from the in-game engine arguing about who gets shotgun when riding in a car. Meanwhile Sam Fisher sneaks up on them and mows them down with his own actual shotgun. The weapon is specifically a SPAS-12 suppressor shotgun, available only to those who pre-order the title at GameStop. Check out the ad below.

Go Behind The Scenes With Iron Man 2

While Ubisoft is no doubt hoping that the upcoming Prince of Persia movie from Jerry Bruckheimer boosts sales of The Forgotten Sands, the game technically is not a direct tie-in to the film. Sega’s Iron Man 2, however, is exactly that and the game even features the likeness of Robert Downey Jr. in the main role. Today Sega released a new behind-the-scenes feature detailing the development of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions and the characters and fighting mechanics players can look forward to. Iron Man 2 ships on May 4 while the movie debuts on May 7. Check out the new video below courtesy of GameVideos.

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