Ustwo Insults Potential Users To Gain Them

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Rando, a new app by studio Ustwo, is a very antisocial app. The app allows users to share photos completely randomly to random people without any context, or social media functionality, whatsoever. So far in its two months of existence 5 million of these photos have been shared. The studio is looking to expand its user-base. How better to do that than by flat-out insulting potential users

A billboard in the busy area of Shoreditch, East London tells onlookers: “You have no friends.“ and just down the street is another billboard that brazenly claims “No one likes you.” By creating an entirely anti-social app, the developer is also looking to create a matching anti-social ad campaign. Whether this campaign will catch on and translate to downloads for the app is one issue, but nothing catches the eye quite like flat out put-downs against a user’s character.

Hey, we’re covering it; so it’s working to some extent, isn’t it

 

Source: TechCrunch

First Tweets Worth About $25 For Companies

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Twitter has become one of the main staples of any company’s main social campaign. Twitter allows companies to almost instantly reach massive numbers of engaged users who are following the company, as well as any others who see any tweets that are re-tweeted. But exactly how much is a tweet worth to a company According SumAll.com, that first tweet can be worth around $25, and $20 from a retweet. Each tweet is worth less than a direct email campaign would bring in, yet it’s more than a Pay-For-Click campaign like Google AdWords would offer.

While this figure may seem wholly unimpressive, as it amounts to less than a penny per impression, a successfully integrated Twitter marketing campaign would lead to a 1-2 percent increase in total revenue. This is an average number, SumAll points out, and the effectiveness of a Twitter campaign can vary greatly from company to company.

This also doesn’t mean that a company can tweet 20 times a day and expect $500 of revenue. The value of each tweet drops off after the first tweet; six tweets a day is the ideal number, according to SumAll, and the value of a tweet drops off rapidly after the first one.

Source: SumAll

Mobile Games Become $12 Billion Market, Microtransactions Account For Majority

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According to a new survey from App Annie and IDC, mobile gaming is on a course to exceed $12 billion in revenue this year. Between mobile phones, tablets and handheld devices like the 3DS and the Playstation Vita, more than 800 million mobile devices were used for gaming in 2012. Most of those were smartphones and tablets, with the 3DS and PS Vita only forming a tiny part of that. Next year, the two companies predict the market will grow to over 1.2 billion devices, while the numbers of dedicated gaming handhelds will remain steady.

Microtransactions (in-app purchases) accounted for more than 40 percent of revenue in 2012; this number is expected to jump to 51 percent of the revenue for 2013, with pre-paid sales accounting for 44 percent and advertising the remaining 5 percent. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for smartphones and tablets is projected to remain above $10. This is one area where dedicated gaming handhelds have an advantage; their ARPU is under $15 right now but is projected to climb to around $19 by the end of 2014.

Free-to-play (F2P) games have a huge following on mobile devices; the top 20 highest grossing games on the Android App Store right now are all F2P games which feature microtransactions. Similar to the how MMORPGs have been shifting towards free-to-play with microtransactions, mobile gaming has seen similar success and popularity with that business model. As mobile gaming becomes a larger market, the appeal of being able to pick up and play a game without paying and then customizing the experience through microtransactions increases as well.

 

Source: GI.biz

Mirror’s Edge 2 Reveal Promises More First Person Parkour

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After a long wait and much speculation, EA’s DICE studio has finally come out and announced the sequel to their 2007 free-running FPS Mirror’s Edge. The trailer showed off more of the moves Faith would be doing, running along walls and taking down armed guards. No release date has been given; the end of the trailer simply says it will come “when it’s ready.”

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Tactical Team Racing Showcased In Ubisoft’s ‘The Crew’

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The Crew came out as one of Ubisoft’s previously unnannounced IP’s during their press conference, and this trailer gave gamers a taste of the team-based racing gameplay that can be expected. Also shown was the on-the-fly customization it offered, and the open game world that spans the entirety of the United States. The Crew is announced for an early 2014 release.

 

Coke Zero Encourages Gamers

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Coke is using the massive popularity of games to its advantage in this epic commercial for Coke Zero. A gamer (drinking Coke Zero, of course) is about to put down his game to go pick up his in-laws at the airport… when the game convinces him otherwise. “So go forth brave knight, protect the realm and enjoy everything.”

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Social Media Has 13% Higher Conversion Rate

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Social Media is very quickly becoming one of the most popular and effective means of marketing in the world today. Having the ability to converse with your customers is incredibly important in gaining their trust, and consumers think so too. According to a new study, social media generates more customer leads than trade shows, telemarketing, direct mail or PPC. In addition, conversion rates on leads is 13 percent higher than average when using social media.

The ability to talk to customers about a product has become an incredibly important tool when it comes to making repeat customers. Then they feel that they are having a conversation, or seeing information about a product during their daily Facebook run, then they can click through to see more information if they are truly interested. Twenty-five percent of people in the study revealed that if they complained about a product on Facebook or Twitter, they expect a response within the hour. When companies are this candid and responsive about their products, it makes consumers want to use more of them.

Source: LeadersWest

Consumers Want Customized Ads

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According to a new survey from Adobe, 28 percent of shoppers online enjoy having ads shown to them with a personal touch, identifying what they might like to buy next. On the other hand, buyers also said that they would be unwilling to share any more information with retailers to make these ads. In addition, 54 percent of those surveyed said the web banner just doesn’t work as a form of online advertising anymore.

Being able to have advertising customized to a consumer’s wants and needs is an important part of advertising; if consumers are going to be seeing ads, they might as well be seeing ads that are relevant to their interests. Mobile ad developer Heyzap, for example, uses a social platform to find out what interests gamers have in purchasing apps to recommend new ones. The easiest way to customize advertising is to turn advertising into a social experience – make shoppers want to tell more about their shopping desires in the interest of having a better shopping experience online.

Game marketers need to remember that gamers are hungry for information, not just pretty pictures. Revealing and highlighting key game features, especially if you can determine the features each person is most interested in, will give ads much greater appeal.

 

Source: Yahoo

Post-E3, Sony Boosts PS4 Sales Projections

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Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Andrew House told the Wall Street Journal that Sony is raising its internal projections on how many PS4’s will be sold, without providing details. However, House did note that “demand may well outstrip supply.” Other sources of information tend to confirm Sony’s projections. GameStop executives concurred that the PS4 looks to have taken an early lead with preorders, and Amazon reports that the PS4 and many of its exclusive software titles hold the top slots on the best-selling lists in the game section.

“We’re excited about the momentum,” said Sony Computer Entertainment of America chief executive officer Jack Tretton. He downplayed the threat of the mobile market, insisting smartphones and tablets are gateways into console gaming. “I think there are more people going from smartphones to tablets to Call of Duty than those going from Call of Duty to smartphones and tablets,” Tretton said. “We’re clearly betting that the future is very bright for the console.”

Source:  GI.biz