Carnival Rocks The Boat With New VR Experiences And TV Shows

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When it comes to marketing strategies, Carnival Cruise Line is plowing full steam ahead with a diverse set of campaigns to appeal to a wider market, offering consumers a “brand new view” the next time they decide to get away from it all. The average cruise guest is now 40-years-old, which is challenging the cruise line to attract younger demographics with the adoption of new technologies.

All Aboard To Experience “The Vista Affect”

Carnival Cruise Line is launching a 360-degree video campaign to promote a number of features on its new Carnival Vista ship. Hosted by Instagram influencer Zach King, the video takes viewers on a unique tour around the new cruise liner that not only lets you look around, but participate via Easter egg hunts. The video also includes special effects and optical illusions to add to the magic of what a vacation might be aboard.

The Vista tour highlights such attractions as SkyRide, an 800-foot long duel-track aerial ride suspended 150-feet in the air and Kaleid-O-Slide, a 455-foot water tube connected to the ship’s WaterWorks park. The Vista Affect was shot aboard the ship as it toured the Mediterranean Sea and made seven stops around Greece, Italy and Malta.

The Vista Affect 360 video is viewable on Facebook, YouTube and AwayWeGo.com. By having the video hosted by an influencer, Carnival will be able to reach King’s followers on a more personal level than on an ad or video promotion alone.

Vacations In Virtual Reality

In a partnership with AT&T, Carnival is taking the virtual tour to a new level through a Samsung Gear VR headset. Available in 133 AT&T stores across 37 states, curious would-be vacationers started stepping aboard in an immersive tour of Carnival Cruise ships in February to preview entertainment, dining and shore excursion options, not to mention the aforementioned rides and on board attractions. Those who check out the VR experience can enter to win a cruise through a special sweepstakes.

“One of the barriers to getting folks on cruises are common misconceptions about cruises, and if we’re able to expose more and more consumers to what our ships and the experiences are actually like, we hope to be able to increase the demand for cruising overall,” Ken Jones, vice president of corporate marketing at Carnival told Fortune. “Cruising has grown faster than land-based vacations over the past decade or so, and we think technology can help accelerate that trend as we help people envision themselves in an amazing cruise environment.”

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Cruising To A TV Near You

Three new Carnival TV programs on three different networks are now airing Saturday mornings that aim to educate and inspire viewers to explore the world via cruise liner. Ocean Treks With Jeff Corwin will run on ABC and feature Corwin as he ventures out across the world to experience activities such as repelling down cliffs, mountain climbing and zip lining through a rain forest.

CW’s Vacation Creation stars In Living Color alum Tommy Davidson with YouTube star Andrea Feczko. The show will teach viewers how to personalize vacations while enduring hardship.

The Voyager with Josh Garcia, airing on NBC will follow video journalist, Garcia as he visits seaside ports interacting and mingling with locals. All shows will run through September 2017. and will feature all 10 of Carnival’s cruise brands in at least one episode each.

Split Screen Elegance

Carnival’s ultra-luxury Seabourn Cruise Line is the focus of “Extraordinary Worlds,” a split-screen ad that features complementary images on opposite sides of the screen. While one side displays Seabourn’s on-board amendities, the other highlights exotic cruising destinations such as New Zealand and Iceland.

It’s All Fun And Games Until You “Rock” The Boat

Carnival Cruise Line has made some serious partnerships in the name of entertaining its guests. Select cruises now feature Hasbro, The Game Show, a live audience experience that’s included in the price of a vacation. Harnessing the growing popularity of tabletop games with the thrill of a live event, families and friends can team up to compete for prizes with games such as Connect 4, Sorry! Sliders and Yahtzee Bowling, just to name a few.

If all you wanna do is “rock the boat,” cruise guests will also be able to compete in Lip Sync Carnival Battle. The TV show’s hosts, L.L. Cool J and Chrissy Teigen, appear in a special video shown on board, and just as on the show, the cruise audience chooses the contest winner. Lip Sync Battle Carnival will debut on the new Carnival Vista in December and roll out to other Carnival ships in 2017.

Speaking of “rocking” the boat, if country or comedy are more your cruising speed, Carnival has announced that Tim McGraw and Little Big Town, along with comedians Jay Leno and Jeff Foxworthy, will perform on seven different ships as part of the 2017 Carnival LIVE line-up.

No Nautical Nonsense

Personal experiences create brand loyalty, and influencers who share stories with others on social media. By including the audience into the experience, Carnival is using a series of splendid marketing tactics to create memories that can be shared with friends and family once vacationers return home.

How Square Enix Is Celebrating 20 Years of ‘Tomb Raider’

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The Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration edition launches next week on PlayStation 4. Not only does it include new adventures, it has all the downloadable content, and it is enhanced to take advantage of the PlayStation Pro’s advanced features, including HDR (high dynamic range) graphics.

Furthermore, the 20 Year Celebration includes standalone adventures called Lara’s Nightmare and Blood Ties, the latter of which has been adapted into a virtual reality experience using PlayStation VR (PSVR).

In Blood Ties, Lara is in danger of losing possession of her ancestral home and must search through its secrets and history in order to keep it. However, exploring the forgotten parts of Croft Manor is no easy task, as much of it is in serious disrepair. It may not be a tomb, but it can feel like one at times. Still, it is a critical part of Lara’s life, and it represents her legacy, her fortune and her childhood. Although the experience doesn’t involve shooting or acrobatics, fans will get a more intimate look at the legendary tomb raider’s history.

Chris Johnson, associate brand manager at Crystal Dynamics
Chris Johnson, associate brand manager at Crystal Dynamics

Chris Johnson, associate brand manager at Crystal Dynamics, spoke with [a]listdaily at a New York Comic-Con event about the new features found in the Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration and how the character of Lara Croft has evolved over the two decades. He said that “With the 20 Year Celebration, we wanted to bring Lara’s Manor into the modern timeline. When players first got the cinematic experience of Lara in her childhood home, fans went totally nuts. Now is the perfect time to bring this to life.”

When asked what inspired the creation of a Tomb Raider VR experience, Johnson replied: “We knew there was going to be some new tech coming out and we were really excited to see how that could fit into our world. As we were building on the content of Lara’s manor, we felt that this would be a great experience that could also be in VR.”

Rise of the Tomb Raider can also be played in its entirety using the PSVR’s theater mode, which creates a giant virtual 2D screen. When asked about how an action game like Tomb Raider translated to virtual reality, Johnson said “all of our DLC offers something a little bit different. This particular part of content is more of the exploration side of things. As you play through the game, you’ll pick up different objects that are meaningful—more backstory, deeper narrative.”

“You can’t just go back and add VR to this. That doesn’t really work. So, as we were building this space out and adding all this adventure, we got inspiration from games like Gone Home. That’s what led us to say, ‘this would work really well in VR, let’s give it a shot.’ So, our team has been busy making that feel immersive. As you’re going through the manor, we felt really excited by it, because for the very first time, players could actually experience the world through Lara’s eyes.”

The VR experience is markedly different from the main game, starting with how players teleport Lara around the environment to move, since climbing and acrobatics don’t work well in VR. There’s more reliance on observation and Lara’s wits as an archeologist to solve puzzles. Johnson describes it as the “same flavor, different experience.”

The VR content is tied into the main Rise of the Tomb Raider story. “You’ll see lots of things from the main story that are brought into this. So, they complement each other.” For example, Lara finds a wearable flashlight while exploring the manor, which happens to be the same one she uses in the Cold Darkness Awakened DLC. As an added touch, players can rotate objects by turning the DualShock 4 wireless controller in their hands for a more tactile experience, and at one point, the controller can be used to direct the flashlight.

When asked about the challenges of keeping up with the latest technological developments, such as VR or the PlayStation Pro’s enhanced features, Johnson said “whenever there’s new technology, it presents a new set of challenges. The team is just really excited about the opportunity to try something new on a brand new platform.” Johnson then elaborated on the importance of adopting new technology by saying, “I think as a studio, at Crystal, we just love to be first. We want to be the first leading the market and pushing new technology. We want to be innovators, and that pushes us to get new ideas and find and create beautiful things.”

So, how does Crystal Dynamics keep a 20-year-old character relevant? “I think that’s what we did when we did Tomb Raider 2013,” said Johnson. “We wanted to create a character that has a very strong legacy, but keep to the core tenants of the franchise: action, adventure, exploration and puzzle solving. But bringing in a modern and fresh take where we grounded it in realism. We also took this fact-based fiction and pushed that into this realistic reboot.”

Lara Croft has gone through a great many changes over the past two decades. “As a character, she’s evolved incredibly,” Johnson said “and now we want to create this more relatable character. I think that’s what we deliver now with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Lara is going on her first tomb raiding expedition and searching for this hidden truth.”

Johnson added that “it’s exciting. As we’re celebrating 20 years of Tomb Raider, it’s a great time for us, because we’re able to celebrate the franchise as a whole. While celebrating, there’s all this new content and the launch of it on the PlayStation 4.”

Disruptor Beam Discusses ‘The Walking Dead: March to War’ Game

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Video game studio Disruptor Beam has already had success translating two global franchises into free-to-play video games with Game of Thrones Ascent and Star Trek Timelines. Now the independent developer has partnered with Skybound Entertainment to tell a brand new story set in Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic book universe. The announcement is being made at the New York Comic-Con today.

The multiplayer, real-time strategy game, The Walking Dead: March, is set in Washington, DC and will launch on the App Store and Google Play next year. What’s different about Disruptor Beam’s games is that they allow fans to tell their own stories through the gameplay and make connections with the other players.

Joey Lapegna, director of product and design for Disruptor Beam, said that as the team started creating The Walking Dead: March to War, they knew characters had to be a primary pillar. This drove a lot of the decisions around the type of game they would create and the areas of innovation they would focus on in order to bring characters to the forefront of the game.

“March to War features immersive 3D graphics and focuses on true multiplayer competitive gameplay, where survivors must actively work with and against others to gain control and progress,” Lapegna said. “Unlike some other The Walking Dead games, players actually have to work with each other in order to succeed (or fail). We are creating a massive world for players to engage with each other and tell their stories on how they survived in the world of The Walking Dead.”

Lapegna said a talented team of artists is working on the game with the goal of pushing the boundaries of what people see in mobile games today, similar to how the studio approached the graphics in Star Trek Timelines. He said March to War will look like no other mobile competitive strategy or Walking Dead mobile game seen before.

In March to War, the player is the leader of their own group of survivors in the DC area and runs into members from a few of the fictional The Walking Dead communities, including Alexandria and The Hilltop. They work together with these groups to learn what it takes to survive in this world and can call on them for help to grow their own community.

“The game’s story is based around Robert Kirkman’s acclaimed comic book series; however, we are creating a gameplay environment that allows rich stories to emerge as players interact with each other in the world,” Lapegna said. “Alliances and friends will form and enemies will be made. There is a deep human drama that comes out of the game systems we’re creating—drama that’s also evident in all of Kirkman’s material.”

The Walking Dead March to War

The game has been in development since early this year. Lapegna said his team has worked closely with Skybound in expanding this universe, which has already been the subject of multiple critically-acclaimed Skybound games, novels and the AMC TV series.

“In regard to working with Skybound, they really look to our expertise and experience to design the right game systems and player experience that will build a fun and successful game for their fans,” Lapegna said. “They are very involved in the process and provide great feedback, but give us the creative freedom to do what we do best: make games!”

Players will get to recruit some of the famous characters from the comics to become a part of their advisory council. The game will launch with well-known characters such as Michonne, Rick and Negan.

“Our gameplay is centered around controlling scarce resources on a shared multiplayer map,” Lapegna said. “So, the location we chose plays an important role in setting the mood and experience for players. We wanted a location that would allow us to create a beautiful 3D world, show a place that was once living and fit it in well with where the story is now. We’ve built some really incredible technology to recreate the look and feel of the area and are really excited to start sharing some images of it with the world.”

Just as Disruptor Beam did with Game of Thrones and Star Trek, this Walking Dead game has been designed for multiplayer.

“We made a decision within the team early on to create a game that was multiplayer at its core,” Lapegna said. “We believe it is important to both stay authentic to The Walking Dead, as well as create a game that can support and engage players for years. The game is built around the control of scarce resources, and as time goes by, players will become more and more dependent on each other to have access to those resources. Players will need to initiate trades or attacks on each other to maintain each of their communities.”

Disruptor Beam has been able to apply lessons learned from its previous two licensed IPs in developing this new comic book-based game. From a gameplay perspective, Lapegna said a key lesson learned was the value and connection players feel to the characters.

“When we created Game of Thrones Ascent, we added the idea of Sworn Swords, minor non-canonical characters that players could send into battle or as spies against the enemy,” Lapegna said. “Based on their popularity, we doubled-down on characters with Star Trek Timelines and built a game where players could collect their favorite Star Trek personalities and put them in situations together to solve in-game conflicts. The success of Star Trek Timelines can be attributed to these characters.”

While many readers and viewers become interested in The Walking Dead for the zombies, Lapegna said they soon learn that the walkers are not the true source of drama; it’s the human drama that is created as well as the relationships that form through the stresses of trying to rebuild society. Disruptor Beam takes that element, as well as the notion of rebuilding society, and builds that into the gameplay experience.

“It’s a fascinating world with rich characters that can tell such meaningful stories,” Lapegna said. “We all have a fantasy of what we would do if we were in that situation, and the ability to play out that fantasy in a video game or a television series touches on something truly human.”

Netflix Gifts ‘Gilmore Girls’ Fans By Turning Cafés Into Luke’s Diners

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Netflix is celebrating the sixteenth anniversary of Gilmore Girls as it gears up for a special, four-part event called Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life debuting November 25. Anyone who’s watched the show knows that coffee is pretty much the meaning of life, and java lovers had one heck of a “Gilmore time” on Wednesday morning with the sudden pop-up of Luke’s signs around 200 local coffee shops.

From 7 a.m. until noon, fans enjoyed a little piece of Stars Hollow with a free cup of coffee served in a special Luke’s cup. Under the sleeve was a quote from the show about, you guessed it—coffee—and a few came with a code to enjoy three free months of Netflix for non-subscribers so they can binge watch the show before the new episodes air next month.

Baristas even donned plaid shirts and wore their hats backward as an homage to Luke, the fictional diner’s owner, alongside a cutout of the character holding a firm set of ground rules. Another nearby sign from Netflix encouraged fans to break the cell phone rule and post pictures of their special Luke’s coffee in anticipation of the anniversary special. A number of characters also started popping up on the official Gilmore Girls Instagram account, such as Rose “Gypsy” Abdoo and Grant-Lee “Town Troubadour” Phillips—although the infamous Lorelai and Rori had not made an appearance the last time we checked.

To fully get viewers in the mood for fall in Stars Hollow, a website has appeared with information about the show’s locations as well as the town’s history. There’s even an email address that can be used to ask Luke life advice which we, of course, have taken advantage of. (Response pending!)

For those who witnessed the Luke’s pop-up activation this morning, many will be inspired to re-watch the show or check it out for the first time, a great way to build excitement and start conversations about Netflix’s forthcoming show.

Thanks To Gamers, The VR Market Could Exceed $50 Billion By 2021

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Following Google’s big Pixel and Daydream View reveal on Tuesday, Oculus Connect currently underway, and press reviews pouring in for the Playstation VR, virtual reality markets are poised to attract holiday shoppers in a big way. When it comes to a rising technology like virtual, augmented and mixed reality, however, there is a need to play “the long game,” appealing to multiple markets and industries for many years and innovations to come. Thanks to gamers, virtual reality might actually take hold.

A new Juniper Research study predicts that hardware revenues from VR headsets, peripherals and 360-degree cameras will reach over $50 billion by 2021, up tenfold from an estimated $5 billion in sales this year. This rapid growth, Juniper predicts, will arise from a widespread adoption of VR by smartphone users as well as high prices for VR headsets. While the cost for “holder” headsets (used for smartphone VR), estimated to remain low, more sophisticated platforms like Google Daydream are projected to produce more moderate revenues in the short term.

SuperData Research estimates Google Daydream sales to reach $450,000 by the end of the year and continue on an upward track to $14 million by the end of 2020. As a whole, the company forecasts a total market for virtual, augmented and mixed reality gaming to reach $8.8 billion globally, which will lead to applications in other fields. In fact, the non-gaming market for this technology is estimated to far exceed that of gaming by the tune of $31 billion. The fashion industry, for example, has adopted the use of VR and 360-degree video for years and will no doubt find new ways to implement the technology as it becomes more sophisticated. The New York Times offers a variety of documentaries and reporting in VR, as well, a practice that may soon become commonplace.

While the use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality is limited only to the imagination (and technological advancement), being new and exciting is never a guarantee of long term success. SuperData noted the importance of variety in where and how consumers can experience the technology.

“Critical during this initial adoption phase will be the ability to establish a rich ecosystem of content providers that in turn will bear the fruit of VR and deliver on its promise,” SuperData said in a statement. “Because of that we expect a seasoned participant like Sony to do well during this initial stage, reaching an install base of around 2.6 million units by year’s end. The strategy of both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift to pursue the high-end VR market is a longer game, especially considering the initial issues Oculus suffered during its retail rollout.”

Could the market really jump that high in a relatively short amount of time? When you think about the market for cell phones just a few years ago, it’s easy to understand the explosive power of technology that advances in a short amount of time. If VR becomes an integrated part of everyday life, it’s perfectly reasonable to predict growth of this magnitude. After all, who ever imagined that pagers would cease to be cool? Trust me, we were cool.

Source: SuperData Research

‘Football Heroes’ Brings Arcade-Style Action Back To Gaming

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For football fans and fervent video gamers of America’s favorite gridiron sport, it’s either Madden or bust. Such is the culture in 2016 for the preeminent football title that outlasted the likes of Tecmo Bowl, NFL Blitz and the 2K-produced football games of the early 2000’s.

But not all games have to be best enjoyed on a console or become the next best eSports phenomenon. That’s where bite-sized mobile experiences like Football Heroes Pro 2017 come in. The arcade-simulation game, an NFL Players Association-backed project, plan on bringing fans back to the glory days of gaming.

But instead of Bo Jackson running circles around the competition as if it were a car race, gamers can still enjoy a throwback experience with the contemporary likes of every current active player in the league thanks to the NFLPA licensed edition.

Michael A. Marzola, president and creative director at independent developer Run Games, joined [a]listdaily to explain how he plans to run his arcade-style football game straight into the chests of the competition.

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What kind of a game and experience can we expect with Football Heroes Pro 2017?

The game features NFL Players and is very much inspired by classic arcade styled games such as Tecmo Bowl and NFL Blitz. We wanted to bring that fast-paced, over-the-top action from old school football games to mobile devices, although we wanted to make the controls simple enough so you could play the entire game with one finger. We created something that has depth but something any football fan can just pick up and play. And we did not stop there. We added lots of cool super moves like ‘rocket shoes,’ which sends your player rocketing down the field, and ‘flaming pass,’ where the ball catches on fire and increases the speed of the pass and accuracy, as well as ‘fumble tackle,’ where a certain hard, if landed, guarantees a fumble. These moves along with 50 others allow players to perform incredible acts to increase the excitement and allow players to turn their favorite NFL players into super heroes.

Many mobile games are designed for short experiences. Does Football Heroes Pro 2017 follow that trend?

We have definitely shortened our game length through iteration. At first we resisted, we wanted to bring a console-like gaming experience to mobile, but as we played the game and integrated the game into our real lives, we realized that shorter game sessions were better for the game. Sure, it’s less simulation, but it makes the game more fun—and fun should always win.

What kind of feedback have you been getting throughout the early stages of the launch?

The feedback has been incredible. We have had over nine million games played in the first week. I mean, those numbers are just staggering for a small developer like us. We have addressed a lot of issues that players have had with the previous games, so mostly its small notes about player stats, or ‘why this player is better than this other player.’ So those are good problems to have. I’m just really proud of the response Football Heroes Pro 2017 is truly the best game we have released as a studio.

How did you work with the NFL Player’s Association to secure the deal? What is the hardest part about procuring a partner of their magnitude?

We entered into the NFLPA Mobile Madness Challenge and won the competition. We had to fight pretty hard to win that contest as we were competing with some biggest names in the sports game space. Fundamentally, we won because the NFLPA liked our previous game: Football Heroes 2015. I have no issues saying there are only two simulation football worth playing: Football Heroes Pro 2017 or Madden Mobile. We’re proud to outperform publicly traded companies in the sports genre both in quality, and revenues. And we feel incredibly grateful that the NFLPA decided to go with a smaller independent developer like us and it has paid off handsomely for both the NFLPA and Run Games.

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The NFL has a plethora of marketable players. How did you choose your core group of perennial Pro Bowlers? How does the rights work?

As major football fans, it was too hard to choose—so we just put every player in the game! We have over 2,300 NFL players in Football Heroes Pro 2017. So, if they suit up on Sunday, they are in our game.

How do you plan on growing your core consumer base?

We have a very active and vocal community and we are constantly interacting with them and iterating based on their feedback. We believe that retaining and keeping your player engaged is the number one thing you should be doing if you’re making a game that is a live service. We have cut major features from the game that we liked and even some features that were monetizing well because it upset our players. Players who spend money and players who do not spend money should have a good time playing your game. And our players are key to growing our business so we will do everything we can to keep them happy. We also do some light Chartboost and Facebook user acquisition via interstitial ads and use Chartboost to cross-promote our apps.

How are you standing out from an increasingly crowded mobile market?

We just focus on quality and building games that we want to play. I previously worked for Activision and EA, and I started my own studio in Run Games to build games and experiences that I was passionate about. For us to stand out, it’s about having a clear voice and executing. If enough other people want something, you can carve out a space that is not overcrowded and you should be successful and slowly build an audience. To date, we have nearly five million players in the Run Games platform based mostly on viral, word-of-mouth and being featured by the platform holders.

Follow Manouk Akopyan on Twitter @Manouk_Akopyan

How SiriusXM Is Using Satellite Radio To Jump Into The ESports Ecosystem

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With Newzoo forecasting eSports revenues for 2016 exceeding $493 million, which is up over 51 percent from 2015, there’s more activity than ever in competitive gaming. The latest company to get into the eSports scene is SiriusXM.

Steve Cohen, senior vice president of sports programming at SiriusXM, said radio is a unique platform in that it connects experts with fans in a way that no other medium can for real-time advice and discussion.

“We’ve seen fans drawn to that kind of connection on our channels that cover more traditional sports, and we are seeing it with eSports as well,” Cohen told [a]listdaily. “Fans of anything want to get closer to the thing they love. Radio—if it is well-produced and entertaining—will do that for a listening audience. Our goal is to make gamers better, more engaged and more knowledgeable through shows like Machinima’s Inside eSports Radio.”

Hosting the new show on Bleacher Report blends well with the sheer amount of activity in the traditional sports business. The Philadelphia Sixers recently acquired Team Dignitas and Team Apex; Magic Johnson was part of a sports group that acquired Team Liquid; Los Angeles Rams lineman Rodger Saffold owns Rise Nation and Shaquille O’Neal and Alex Rodriguez are co-owners of Team NRG.

“We love the crossover,” Cohen said. “We’ve been covering teams and athletes in-depth for quite some time, not only on SiriusXM Bleacher Report Radio, but on our dedicated 24/7 channels—like SiriusXM NBA Radio and others. So these athletes and executives know our platform well and are often on as guests. ESports is another topic we can engage some of them on, and they enjoy the topic. Jeremy Lin or Rick Fox, for example, can come on SiriusXM and talk about their passion for both basketball and eSports. They are reaching fans of both, and making more fans as they do so.”

Cohen said SiriusXM is always on the lookout for what’s growing and what’s next, and they want to serve that audience that’s interested in games like League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch, Call of Duty and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO).

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“ESports is great content that appeals to a nationwide audience,” Cohen said. “There are a tremendous number of interested listeners we can reach, and we can devote ourselves to producing the kind of expert, in-depth programming that we expect they’ll be drawn to.”

Given that eSports fans typically consume content digitally and on mobile devices, SiriusXM can cater to this audience.

“Our subscribers can tune in through the app, through the radio in their car or home, or through the computer,” Cohen said. “We are easy to use and can reach you wherever you are. That, along with our broad spectrum of programming, makes SiriusXM appealing to people of many ages and with many tastes, no matter where they live.”

Cohen said with 150 channels, SiriusXM appeals to many demographics.

“ESports fans are dedicated and loyal, and delivering them great programming every day is an important endeavor for us,” Cohen said. “We are not Arbitron-rated and we don’t track listenership for individual shows. Our spectrum of content is designed to appeal to as many listeners as we can and keep our subscribers engaged and happy throughout the year. Simply put, if you produce great content you will find an audience and it will grow.”

Jason Dimberg, senior vice president of programming at Machinima, said the eSports show covers eSports for existing fans.

“We’ll continue to report on, analyze and discuss the topics on the minds of the fans and players around the globe,” Dimberg said. “We also want to provide elements that can make the eSports world more accessible to people who may not be as familiar with the subject matter at the center. We’ll tell the human side of the players’ stories and provide insight to the lifestyles that surround the eSports world.”

As for SiriusXM, this initial Machinima and Bleacher Report partnership is just the beginning. “We are always on the lookout for more great content, and we are constantly building and improving, so stay tuned,” Cohen said.

InMobi Details Approach Toward Mobile Game Marketing

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InMobi is one of the world’s largest entertainment ad platforms. It does a significant amount of work globally in the US, China, India and seventeen other markets, reaching 1.6 billion users worldwide—including over 200 million Americans—and about 50 percent of that relates to video games. The company’s goal is to find ways to enable users to discover more of what they want, whether it be digital content, services or products.

KC Srinivas, vice president and general manager for gaming at InMobi recently spoke with [a]listdaily to discuss the company’s philosophy toward mobile game marketing and how to engage a large global audience.

Three Steps To Success

KC Srinivas, InMobi VP and general manager of gaming
KC Srinivas, InMobi VP and general manager of gaming

InMobi’s approach to mobile game marketing breaks down into three parts starting with user acquisition. “User acquisition has become extremely expensive, especially when it comes to high quality user acquisition,” said Srinivas. Also, once you acquire a user, even a quality one, there’s no assurance that they’ll pay for content. “All the game developers know that no more than 3 to 5 percent of users end up paying for in-app purchases.”

Srinivas further explained that “InMobi’s philosophy is of an end-to-end marketing automation. We don’t look at just one part of the overall chain. We want to ensure that a game developer who works with us sees us as partner across every part of their user life cycle.”

InMobi finds potentially high spending users based on a deep targeting demographic, psychographic, targeting mechanics. A lot depends on game mechanics and game genre, but additional some additional factors include what other games users play, what days and times they play, the user’s demographic and income, and more. “Take all these signals and put them into a package that allows for a game developer to target users that are very likely going to be what they would call ‘whales.’”

The second phase is community buildout. Not only do developers need users that will spend money, they need ones that will build a community. “Most games today that market themselves aggressively are social games.” You’re either playing in a community in PvP (player-versus-player) or forming teams, like the different teams Pokémon GO offers. “The community element is humongous,” said Srinivas. Part of InMobi’s goal is to build a significant community of users who may not spend any money, but they love the game and will help keep it going.

The third phase is more opportunistic and asks: when do you want to be top of charts? “Back to school is a great time to be top of charts,” said Srinivas. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day weekend and other holidays are also good times to be listed in the US top 20, and “gives a significant organic bump that they (apps) are otherwise unlikely to find.” Organic bumps for good games can range anywhere from 8-20x for paying users, according to Srinivas.

Getting into the top 20 on Google Play or Apple’s App Store comprises of whole gamut of factors, but InMobi understands the dynamics needed to make it happen. One strategy is using influencers to review the game and reach out to users through Twitter and YouTube among other channels.

After those steps, there’s a remarketing platform that’s geared toward players that complete a few levels but don’t engage with the most exciting parts of the game, where they are most likely to make a purchase. “It’s similar to retargeting in the desktop world, but more customized for app developers in an app environment.” The aim is to engage users who have already installed and played the game. A developer can bring them back for more engagement for longer session times and a higher number of sessions per day in the hopes of turning them into loyal users.

InMobi sees itself as a primary partner across these three elements, in addition to retargeting users for a larger scale. For example, Srinivas discussed a successful campaign where InMobi worked on both user acquisition and ad monetization. The company used its location and demographic targeting tools to narrow down an audience of tens of millions of users to a few million, which then became the core user base. Then they were repeatedly shown different propositions from the game. This led to a very high install rate, and the game continues to appear on top 20 rankings on a monthly basis. When it came to ad monetization, InMobi worked with the developer to build a native experience that worked well with the gameplay, and Srinivas describes the title as one of the most well ad monetized games in the world.

Being Heard Above The Noise

When asked about the issue of discovery on the crowded mobile market, Srinivas explained that “the App Store is noisy; extremely noisy. Not only do you have the same set of names that area always in the top 10, but you also notice that some of the bigger companies with a lot of muscle are able to always be in the top 10.” Meanwhile small and mid-sized companies may occasionally break into the top 10, but are generally more focused on building a strong user base.

“To remove noise from the App Store, a user has to choose what he or she wants to see,” said Srinivas. “As a user, I’m aware of exactly what kinds of apps I’m likely to play, or at least likely to explore.” However, none of the app stores allow users to choose what kinds of apps interest them, although Srinivas states that Google’s recommendations based on past purchases is a good starting point but very few users go to app stores to explore new things. More often, they discover apps offline, then go to the stores to download them.

So, the problem that companies like InMobi set out to solve is “how do we make sure the user is a player in the entire process of the app marketing business?” To help solve this issue, the company uses a set of tools to analyze user acquisition campaigns, where users select ads from a carousel and provide feedback about whether or not they like an ad and if they’re likely to install a game. “Philosophically, we believe that the choice of what ads the users wants to see has to be with the user. Since the platforms—iOS and Android—aren’t doing that, inMobi has taken a step to give users an opportunity to see certain types of ads.”

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Srinivas said that users know that seeing ads is inescapable, since they keep games free-to-play, but inMobi helps the experience by giving them a choice of what to see. “Give the choice back to the user, knowing that they will have no choice but to see a few ads every day on the free games that they play, and then present opportunities for them to discover not one but a number of different apps they may be interested in.”

When asked if there as a different approach toward promoting iOS games compared to Android games, Srinivas said “Broadly, no.” Android users are generally very similar to iOS users. However, the mechanics of marketing are different, since iOS does not allow incentivisation. You can’t market to iOS users by offering an incentive to install a game, as it is considered a rigging of the ranking system. InMobi agrees with this approach and does not participate in any incentivized ad buying, even though Android allows it. “The App Store ranking has to be organic. It has to be run by IP, not by incentivisation of users.”

Other differences include how the average revenue per daily active is significantly higher on iOS, and the Android user base suffers from heavy fragmentation, making it more difficult to determine where IAP revenues will come from. Additionally, ad monetization is significantly better on iOS compared to Android, because clicking on an ad link automatically takes users to the App Store, while Android users are presented with a choice of opening the link in a browser, Google Play, or some other program. For most users, this extra step interrupts the action and at least half of them drop off at that stage.

VR Isn’t For Casual Gaming

With the new generation of mobile devices on the horizon, particularly ones that support Google Daydream, we asked Srinivas how he thought VR would impact mobile game marketing. He explained the differences in delivering messaging, and how some things are best conveyed in a short tweet, while others may be best suited for a blog post. Movies are a prime example of an industry that was changed with the introduction of 3D technology.

“Fundamentally, 3D brings a new angle, and I think that’s what VR does,” said Srinivas. “VR delivers some experiences that you simply cannot have in any other form.” Examples include live events such as sports and concerts, where VR can give users the perfect view. The next level is experiences, such as skydiving.

“VR content will occupy spaces that mobile gaming cannot fill,” Srinivas said. “Therefore, a lot of what you see today as HD gaming will very likely move into VR gaming in the future. HD is basically catering to a need where the definition is not good enough. People want to be in a world.” However, he follows by saying “what you’re not going to find is VR being very big on casual gaming. Fundamentally, casual games are best for different settings. VR is for more immersive settings, and it’s not necessarily the best medium for that kind of gaming.”

Although InMobi is seeing an increase in VR ad networks and ad-tech platforms, Srinivas doesn’t personally believe in them. “VR is not going to be an ad monetized freemium business for a long time to come. It is a premium business where users will buy content that they want to consume in VR format. Therefore, we may not see any kind of ad platform catering to VR content for a very long time.

“I do foresee that VR gaming will be more similar to PC desktop and console gaming than anything else. Since I don’t believe VR will have a strong component of casual gaming, we’re not going to find a lot of VR advertising or ad monetized titles. Things change, and I may change my opinion, but that’s where I stand today.”

Sonos CMO Talks About Connecting With People Through Listening

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Sonos wants to make every house feel like a home using the power of listening to music out loud. To promote its wireless speakers, Sonos has created listening out loud experiences by opening a flagship store in New York City and building a listening room at the Rough Trade record store in New York that’s designed in partnership with Airbnb to be like a one bedroom apartment. In fact, the Rough Trade listening room is so comfortable that Airbnb held a contest to rent out for one night. Sonos also recently announced that its products were coming to Apple Stores, complementing Apple’s emphasis on wireless audio technology and its AirPods.

Joy Howard, CMO at Sonos, recently spoke at the New York Media Festival alongside Absolut Vodka’s Afdhel Aziz about creating deep and memorable promotional experiences. For Sonos, it’s about finding spaces “where music is important and listening matters” and using music to elevate the experience.

Howard sat down with [a]listdaily to discuss creating listening out loud experiences that truly speak to audiences.

Joy Howard, Sonos CMO
Joy Howard, Sonos CMO

What is Sonos’ approach toward creating ideal music experiences to promote its products?

The experience that we want to create is one that’s first and foremost in the home. So what we’re trying to do outside of the home is to give people a sense of what it’s like to experience the product in their home.

In the home, we’re trying to create an experience where music is restored to the center of the home life—and a way of experiencing music that fits the way that you live: simple, seamless. One which, first and foremost, technology disappears. I think most people’s experience with music is complicated by technology, and what we want to do is create an experience where that technology disappears, and you just connect with the music.

Your co-panelist talked about using technology such as VR to create engaging experiences. Do you think Sonos would consider creating a high-tech experience to promote its products?

Not in the near term, because what we’re looking to do is get people to connect more with listening. So, I think we’re more likely to create experiences that are less mediated by technology than more mediated by it. What we found to be very powerful is just to bring people together around music, period—without a lot of other distractions.

It seems as though a lot of people see music as a personal, solitary experience. How is Sonos changing this perception?

This is a huge preoccupation of ours. Because there has been so much innovation in the way music is experienced on devices, we’re really focused on innovating on the shared experience out loud. We’re spending a lot of time thinking about how we help people almost navigate the tension between my personal experience and my shared experience with you.

What is your approach toward reaching the millennial and Gen Z demographic?

The first thing that we do is make sure that what we do is relevant. So when we’re putting paid communication in the way of a millennial or someone even younger, we’re thinking about having it be very relevant. So it needs to be based on some sort of insight that is meaningful to you, and we need to be providing some sort of information that is useful to you. And I think doing it in a way that is as relevant and least interruptive as it can be. So, [we’re] really thinking about the spaces people are moving through, where they are more receptive to a media message, and then delivering it in that space that’s really relevant.

It’s honestly the old-fashioned, tried and true way of connecting to people. Don’t be annoying, don’t be an asshole, try to be interesting, try to be relevant.

In your panel, you talked about learning to spot bad ideas early on. What are the signs of a bad idea?

Some signs of a bad idea: first it depends on a celebrity to deliver it. Second, you could swap any brand out for your own brand in that idea. Third, it’s outrageously expensive. Four, it’s really annoying (laughs).

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How did the promotion with Airbnb and Rough Trade to have a rentable listening room in a record store come together?

This is how the Airbnb partnership came along, and now we’re finding all kinds of ways to activate it. So, we’re in an exploratory phase with them around the best way to activate. We’ve done three things with them already. Rough Trade is one aspect of the partnership, and we’re still exploring what most productive way to partner is.

It (the partnership) came about because the guy that leads product marketing at Airbnb used to work on Google Play Music. So he’s pretty familiar with Sonos, and that’s how I knew him. I was talking to him recently about what we could do together, and I just happened to call him right after Airbnb held its annual festival for hosts, which is called Airbnb Open. Every year, they bring hosts together and have a festival for their host community. This year, they held that festival in Paris, and they were there during the Paris attacks.

After the attacks, everyone was locked in their apartments under martial law while they were trying to find the suspects. The leadership team at Airbnb were locked in an apartment in Paris that had a Sonos system for two days, and one of the ways they passed the time was sharing music with each other—listening to each other’s playlists, talking about the different music that they had in common or they didn’t. He said that was really one of the ways that their time together became more bearable. So it just seemed natural that we would do something together after that.

The big idea for Airbnb is to make anywhere feel like home. For us, one of the things that we do is make a house feel like a home. So the idea of the partnership is: use the power of music to make anywhere feel like home.

Are you working with Apple to create listening experiences now that Sonos products are sold in Apple Stores? Are you taking advantage of Apple’s emphasis on wireless audio technology?

It sort of has been picked up naturally in the press already as a result of our announcement that we’re going to be distributed in the Apple Stores. We’re still in the early phase of that partnership. We’re really excited about the work that we’ve done already together, but I can’t comment too much about what we’re going to do in the future.

What is the most important thing to keep in mind when conveying the Sonos experience?

The most important thing is to [let people] experience it firsthand. By far, the most effective and impactful way that we can wake people wake up to the pleasure of sharing music out loud together by actually having them do it. That’s why we opened a store; that’s why we’re doing these partnerships with Airbnb where people can experience the product in their home environment.

I think most people don’t understand what the product is. So, rather than get into a big explanation of how we use your Wi-Fi to send music throughout your home, we just want people to understand that it’s very simple to use, it’s very easy to setup, and with it, you can fill your whole home with music.

So, what is your favorite song to share with others?

Right now, I’m really getting into Sam Cooke’s version of “A Change is Gonna Come.”

Google Unveils New Line Of ‘AI First’ Technology

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During its Tuesday event keynote, Google unveiled a new line of products designed to be “AI First”—a term the company used to describe the current age of technology use, particularly on mobile. Google recently found that 87 percent of survey participants turned to search functions first when looking for information. The natural progression, the company feels, is a personal AI assistant to take searches even further.

“Okay Google”

As a company whose name is synonymous with internet searching, creating an AI assistant is the next step in Google’s business model. Rather than attempt to copy Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana, however, Google intends to set the standard with the knowledge base its known for. Google CEO, Sundar Pichai revealed that the company has 70 billion facts in its knowledge graph to date and Google Assistant is learning from each experience. For example, the company’s machine learning software can analyze and caption images with 93.9 percent accuracy today, compared to 89.6 percent in 2014. The program can now count objects as well as recognize colors, adding additional depth to its automated descriptions.

Text-to-speech has also improved, especially in the realm of language translation. Pichai described the company’s neural machine that analyzes sentences rather than phrases so that translations are closer to how a human would speak or write. The improved functionality is available beginning Tuesday for translating Chinese to English.

Google Assistant can be accessed by either saying, “okay, Google” or pressing the home button. For marketers, this is good news because Google specifically mentioned the ability for the new AI to pull recommended information from businesses and partners. The AI will even bring in outside messenger apps for assistance, as demonstrated by using Uber.

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Pixel And Pixel XL

As expected, Google unveiled its first phone, built from the ground up by the company: the Pixel. Pixel phones are the first to come equipped with Google Assistant so that users can access the AI immediately. In addition to Assistant, Pixel phones feature:

  • 5″ screen / 5.5″ XL
  • 4K resolution camera
  • Unlimited storage for up to 4K photography and videos on Google Photos
  • Android Nougat 7.1
  • VR capability with Daydream
  • 2,770mAh battery / 3,450mAh battery XL that reportedly charges up to 7 hours worth of battery time in just 15 minutes
  • 24/7 chat or phone support
  • Google Duo, a video chat program that works across Android or iOS
  • 3 colors: Quite Black, Very Silver and Really Blue
  • Retail price: $649

Google has partnered exclusively with Verizon to offer data coverage, but the phone will be available for purchase from a variety of retailers, including Best Buy and on the Google Store, the latter of which offering payment plans of $27 per month.

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Daydream View

The new VR headset by Google is designed for comfort and convenience, as it’s constructed from fabric and is 30 percent lighter than comparable headsets. The Daydream View fits over glasses, as well—a problem that most other headsets do not address. Daydream View comes with a remote that doubles as a game controller, as demonstrated by the exclusive Harry Potter-themed VR title, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (based on the upcoming movie), in which the user’s controller becomes a magic wand. By the end of the year, Google anticipates programs from over 50 partners, with “hundreds more” to follow in the near future. The remote itself stores inside the headset to prevent loss.

Google Wifi

Google unveiled portable Wi-Fi units designed to handle the needs of a small home or a large family, mobile and accessible throughout the home. The system is designed to customize placement based on where you need Wi-Fi the most and lets users control access. Google Wifi will be available in November for $129 each or in a 3-pack for $299.

Google Home

“Okay, Google, when was the last time I washed these sweat pants?” Ok, so maybe Google Assistant isn’t quite ready to handle our busy lifestyles just yet, but it can handle a variety of wireless tasks such as playing music, answering questions and even dimming the lights, controlling the thermostat, etc. Google Home is voice-activated and linked to a number of partners such as YouTube Music, Google Music, Pandora and of course, the internet. Users can obtain answers, access music and even flip a coin, as demonstrated during the keynote.

Google Home, which uses Google Assistant, is integrated with Chromecast, so users will be able to cast photos, video and other compatible services to their TVs with a simple voice command. With Google’s upcoming Chromecast Ultra, users will be able to cast in 4k starting in November. Google Home will retail for $129, with 6 months of free access to YouTube Red. Chromecast Ultra will retail for $69.

Takeaways

We may not have flying cars, but technology is definitely moving toward a world of artificially intelligent technology. As the technology giant attempts to create a “personal Google” for each user, brands will be no doubt have access to even more ways to connect with their user base on a personal level. Bringing true virtual reality to the mobile user is a big step in making it accessible to the masses, who are more likely to invest in a headset for a phone they’re already using as opposed to a headset and a new console and a new high-end PC. SuperData Research estimates Google Daydream sales to reach $450,000 by the end of the year and continue on an upward track to $14 million by the end of 2020.