I'm not sure if this has been discussed. Somehow CoX used to advertise in Stuarts comic book store on the TV show the Big Bang Theory. Almost every episode that featured the comic book store before it burned down had some sort of poster, standee or someone wearing a CoX T-Shirt. I snapped this picture off my TV today on one of the reruns, it must of been right around when CoV came out. Anyways I always thought it was kind of a cool subliminal way to get the CoX name out there. Is this something that might be able to happen for City of Titans too?
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Two things. One, CoT isn't quite at the point where it is ready to advertise. (In my opinion. MWM's opinion trumps mine). Two, while I'd love to see an ad for CoT during an episode of Flash or as a background element in Daredevil, that's got to be expensive...
What you're essentially talking about is Product Placement, which is close to but not exactly the same as advertising.
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You would have to talk to the marketing department, but I think that sort of advertising only works when you've already established a brand name, and you can discern it from just a glance. :{
I might be wrong but I always heard that the people who make Big Bang Theory just happened to be big fans of CoH and they put all those posters in the comic store as "friendly easter eggs". I don't think Cryptic or Paragon Studios had any direct involvement with paying to have the game "placed" or advertized in those episodes.
It might be worth the effort for MWM to try to contact the Big Bang folks just to make sure they are aware that games like CoT are in the works. It'll be pretty much up to them if they want to put up any CoT art or logos as "friendly support" at that point.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
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Yeah, it might be something as simple as "give us some materials and we'll figure out what to do with them."
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agreed...worst they can say is "no"
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By the way, Jets, I think this was an excellent observation.
"THE TITANS ARE COMING! THE TITANS ARE COMING!"
Thanks for all the great feedback everyone. Saw another CoV standee on Big Bang today, my wife asked me, "Are you going to take another picture of the TV?". LOL.
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Don't forget about "[url=http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Sweatpants]Captain Sweatpants[/url]". This guy is one of the "regular customers" of the comic store who always wears a blue t-shirt with the Statesman Star from CoH. The main characters have referred to him as "Captain Sweatpants" because that's all he ever wears. According to the Wiki he's been in 11 episodes so far.
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
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He is in the picture I posted above, right between Sheldon and Howard, he is wearing his Statesman shirt tucked into his sweatpants pulled up to his navel. :-D
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Ah so he is. I didn't expand your picture at first and when small he's practically invisible in that pic. Between him facing sideways and the comic books behind him he's wearing the perfect "comic book store camouflage". :)
CoH player from April 25, 2004 to November 30, 2012
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Oh god dammit. I thought I recognized the symbol on that guy's shirt the few times I have seen him when I was forced to watch that show with my family.
Formerly known as Bleddyn
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WCqnt88Umk]Do you want to be a hero?[/url]
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Oh wow, yeah, I never put two and two together that the star on his shirt was Statesman's emblem! I'll never look at Captain Sweatpants the same way again :D
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
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Sorry but I need to call this one the way I see it. If anything like a classic business plan exists (which you figure would include a marketing plan, ad campaign, etc.) we have not been privy to it. You can argue that such info is premature or not yet for public consumption. And that's ok. But it does scare me a little though because what I have mostly seen so far is an unorthodox strategy of getting cozy with multiple competitors rather than a promotion of a unique (and superior) product. I'm still not sure in my own mind if this is some sort of club/volunteer effort of people who want to do this "for the love of the game" or a fledgling business where the expectation is to eventually be able to feed their families... or do even better. I guess time will tell.
Of course, what marketing strategy is pursued also depends on funds available at that point in time...
[i]Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...[/i]
It's not solely up to the Dev's to promote the game, the Dev's and us are part of the same community and share the same ambitions, it is also up to us to spread the good word. Anyone who knows me outside of the forums knows about this game, because I tell them how excited I am for it whether they want to hear it or not. I encourage everyone else to do the same. I would love to help the team out with game development or site creation but I don't have the time or experience to help in that field. But one thing I am good at is annoying people with trivial information such as what the current status of CoT is! xD
The Carnival of Light in the Phoenix Rising
"We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them." - The Ancient One
Avatar by lilshironeko
Word of mouth is incredibly powerful
Hell, I even do it in other games (not directly into broadcast) but with guildies/corp mates/people I team with in dungeons/raids if they are not in my guild.
And the thing is, I slip it in when it is *appropriate* about it. I did this all the time with City of Heroes (and other games to be honest) when people go "It would work if X game did this". I would then go through my library of games that I played and go "yep it could work IF" or "no, there is this problem and this and this to resolve. Look at X game to see what they did".
Stuff like that works wonders. It gets people into trying out the game (even better if the game has no entrance fee to play).
Product placement or commercials for CoT in shows that are strictly Marvel or DC seems unlikely to me. Those comic companies have their own MMOs to promote (such as they are). I'd think it would be a bit of a conflict of interest for them to promote a game that directly competes with games that support their franchise.