Almost every gamer has had to endure some level of parental disapproval with their video gaming habits. Whether it’s distracting from school work or making someone a social misanthrope, parents (and in particular, mothers) often find little to to like in games. EA has taken that and turned it on its ear for their campaign Your Mom Hates This for Dead Space 2 real truth in advertising! We chatted with Matt Bendett, Product Manager for Dead Space 2, and Shawn Conly, VP of Advertising and Media, about the various promotions for Dead Space 2.
[a]list: Talk to me about the “Your Mom Hates This” campaign, how it came up and the reception so far.
Shawn Conly: We needed to expand the potential audience for the game; as you might expect the audience for games that scare is small. We needed to breakthrough, and working with our agency, we came up with this idea of mom disliking Dead Space 2. It’s a human truth that we’ve all been subjected to parental disapproval and [the campaign] has been picked up in news sites, gamer blogs and non-gamer blogs. It’s gotten a great reaction.
Matt Bendett: We control our [advertising] budgets, and our role in that means we’re always looking to expand to new audiences and make a good value [for what we do]. The fact that we’ve got this viral attention… it’s creating more awareness about the Dead Space franchise that will hopefully translate to more sales. You can’t beat organic marketing in dollar terms.
Shawn Conly: Yeah, exactly. It’s something all marketers strive for. Brands are not just owned by companies it’s controlled by the customers. So if we have something we can share, and that they can share with others, that’s for the best.
Matt Bendett: You always kinda want to see what [the consumers’] reaction will be, and whether they understand it or hate it. It’s like when I’ll try to show my dad the iPad; he’s fine with his computer from ten years ago, and you get that feeling they’re into it for you. They’re not going to go and research it on their own, so when you show them something like the campaign they won’t like it but they probably wouldn’t be looking to purchase a video game in the first place.
Shawn Conly: There was one woman on MSNBC; she’s a gamer and she loves Dead Space 2 and she’s a mom, so the ad didn’t speak to her much but I think it was kind of a tongue-in-cheek reaction.
[a]list: Where did the idea of the initial ink blot teaser ad come from?
Shawn Conly: If you remember, that came out December ’09, so that was our first coming out for the game. We had very few assets to work with; there was a lot of prototyping going on, finding out what was possible. We knew what the game was about, and [the main character’s] been noticeably disturbed from the first game. From an audience perspective, we think about people that have been with us from the first game, we thought about what would be compelling for them… so rather than use gameplay assents, we thought it would be better to hint at what happened [to Issac]. The game ends on a cliffhanger, so it was important to highlight his dementia, and that’s something that we really wanted to engage with the audience with the true story of Issac.
At E3, we had more of a taste of the Dead Space 2 gameplay, including the new zero-g combat. We wanted to really reengage the community, tell them it is everything about the first game taken to new heights.
[a]list: Talk to me about the launch ad with the Smashing Pumpkins song.
Shawn Conly: We tried deliberately to stay away from story and plot elements; we didn t want spoilers, so it touches on the horror and action in space, the very basic levels of what we want people to come away with [about the game]. It was the first video on TV and establishing a premise was key; we had an opportunity to make it big.
In terms of using Smashing Pumpkins, we wanted something that people would recognize. It’s a little old, but gamers would recognize it; it conveys that Issac is kinda f***ed and there’s not much he can do about it. We thought it would attract a new audience that would like it, even to people not into the first game, that the ad might pique their interest.
[a]list: Are you happy with how it’s been received critically and commercially?
Shawn Conly: We’ve been able to outsell the first game two to one and we’re happy with how the game was received [by critics]. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want more people to play; it helps us get more iterations of the game. No sophomore slump, though; it’s going in a very good direction.
[a]list: No matter how much research you do before you release a game, you just never know how people are going to react until it comes out.
Shawn Conly: It’s one of the things I like about my job the most is launching a trailer or demo for the game. Immediately, I’m searching for comments because we’re so eager to have that dialog with customers and see what people think, critics and fans alike.
[a]list: How significant was it for you to educate gamers about the multiplayer components of Dead Space 2?
Shawn Conly: Multiplayer is one of the brand new features, so it’s something we wanted everybody to know about. It’s not necessarily something that people into the franchise want to know about first; we’ve crafted the messaging to the reflect the top demands first. When we started talking about it, we knew we had to answer some other questions first. People liked the terror of the single-player mode and we think the response to multiplayer has been great as well. We were a little nervous about it, but [players are] taking to the unique style and the ability to play as a necromorph.
[a]list: Talk to me about the decision to put Extraction in Dead Space 2’s Collector’s Edition and the feedback you got on that.
Shawn Conly: Extraction very critically acclaimed. It came out on the Nintendo Wii; people loved it, and I think it’s still considered one of the best games on the Wii. A ton of fans complained that they didn’t have Wiis and when the move was announced it was a perfect scenario to cater to those fans. We were able to knock it out and put it in the special edition. That’s how it came about; it’s a full fledged game and it shows a whole new story. It gives you more of a background primer for what happened before the plot of the first game.
[a]list: What lessons did you learn from the first Dead Space that helped you market Dead Space 2?
Matt Bendett: We learned the right thing to do was launching the right window to get enough attention. Thus our launch now rather than in the heat of the holiday season.
Shawn Conly: Having a brand new IP is quite different compared to this; we had a lot of analysis done on the transition from the first to the sequel and that helped what we wanted to do.
[a]list: What about the cross promotion with Dragon Age II and the Ser Issac of Clarke armor?
Shawn Conly: We worked closely with each of the other EA teams to learn from back practices and collaborate when possible and that was borne out of it. They’ve got a good franchise at BioWare with Dragon Age and Visceral has the same with Dead Space and the ability to marry the two was great. Then it was about the two dev teams communicating with each other one the aesthetics and keeping it within the universe. It’s a compelling item for fans of both games. Issac is also a character in a lot of games. We released some suits in Battlefield Heroes, a versions of him in MySims… he’s one of those characters that’s so iconic that people like him.
[a]list: There’s a down-to-earth quality people seem like like about Issac.
Shawn Conly: We tried very hard to make sure that he was a unique hero in the game space. He’s an everyman, and in the first game he’s running for his life. In Dead Space 2, he just wants to cure himself and he’s going to die trying. That sort of mentality is something people can empathize with, They put themselves in Issac’s shoes and that’s something you don’t always see. The developers are very careful with how they deal with Issac for the game, because he has a very interesting story to tell.
[a]list: Are you happy with how people have accepted Issac having a voice?
Shawn Conly: The developers would probably have more to say about this, but speaking for them, I’d say it’s one of the best decisions they made in making him speak. It could have backfired if they didn’t get the right voice coupled with talented writers. But I think I like how Issac’s character evolved.
[a]list: There was some minor Internet drama when the voice and other changes were announced…
Shawn Conly: I’d be more concerned if people didn’t give a s***! It shows the health of a franchise that people were so vocal. We’re trying to make the best game possible and that sort of fan passion… we love that.
[a]list: Did you like the reception the demo go?
Shawn Conly: It lets us prove to people what we’ve been presenting. Not everyone is going to purchase 10 games a year; some people are going to be focusing on a couple games. People wonder what the next step is, or maybe they didn’t play the first game… that’s why we made the demo, to give them a taste.
[a]list: I just want to add that I know some people that were anticipating Dead Space 2 as heavily as any game this year. They’ll be playing it, loving it, and soon enough be looking for information on the next Dead Space.
Shawn Conly: Tell them to look forward to the DLC coming out soon!
[a]list: Ha, fair enough. Thanks guys.
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