You may have read on my personal blog that my family is a bunch of geeks. More specifically - gamer geeks. The longest running obsession has been World of Warcraft. Last summer my son started playing Warhammer with his friends. Before the game was even released, there was significant buzz around the Internet, much of it created by gamers posting on their blogs. My son and his friends became avid blog readers, scouring posts for tips and sneak peeks, spending hours discussing what characters they would choose when the game was released.
My son will sometimes share with us interesting tidbits that he reads on his blogs. But the tidbit he shared with me tonight is far and away the most interesting I've heard. It sent my "marketer's senses" tingling!
Mythic Entertainment, creators of Warhammer, has recognized some of the more popular bloggers as the ambassadors that they are. So, in honor and preparation of an upcoming patch for the game, they sent out packages to several well-known bloggers. Far more clever than the traditional press kit, these packages were clues to the contents of the patch. And of course, as bloggers are wont to do, the recipients blogged about the packages, discussed what the clues could mean, AND linked to other bloggers that had received similar packages - similar, but with slightly different clues.
It looks like they sent some bloggers packages of related items, and some bloggers received "bloody" and black-lipstick-kissed Valentines.
Some links to the resulting posts:
- Creative gag hints at new Warhammer Online class reveal on Jan. 29th
- A Mysterious Package arrived from Mythic Entertainment
- Mythic prank hints at Orc Choppa career coming to WAR next week
- Mythic hinting at possible 'Death Night' live event in February?
- My Bloody Valentine
- Poems? Witch Elves? …Death Night?
- Something from Mythic Comes My Way
One blogger posted a picture/scan of the actual promo literature.
At Mythic Entertainment, we love bloggers. That's why we've sent you an exclusive hint at what's coming up for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. See if you and your readers can figure out what we're planning. See you in game! - The Warhammer Team
This is MARKETING GOLD. I mean, really. This wouldn't be an expensive campaign. A few, well-thought-out packages, sent to industry thought-leaders, with a clever and fun twist - they have to figure out what it means.
And I love that each blogger received slightly different clues. Mythic even went to far as to sequentially number, and include a letter, on the back of the Valentines. This picture of one of the valentines indicates it was #6 out of 13. Give that kind of a clue to a bunch of plugged-in gamers, and you are basically guaranteed they will launch themselves at their computers to start trying to figure out who the other 12 are, and what it all means. The blogger at TheGreenSkin described his reaction, "Like a ravenous goblin in an orphanage, I was twitching with excitement as I ripped open the seal."
The packages were clever as well - TheGreenSkin.com received an actual DVD of Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Predator", with a post-it note indicating he should "Go to 1:16:06". When he fast forwarded the DVD to that time in the movie, he heard a quote that gave him a clue to a possible "career" to be included in the forthcoming patch.
Keen & Graev's "Mysterious Package" contained "Hair color creme (with Fruit Oil Concentrates), A Hair Cut Kit, and a message saying more to come on January 29th…". The bloggers discussed various options for what the "mysterious package-turned-puzzle" could signify, then opened the discussion for comment from their readers. There are currently 110 comments. When was the last time a direct mail piece you sent out generated 110 comments on one blog post?
To bring the campaign full circle, Mythic posted about it on their own blog, including a list of links to bloggers who had posted about their goodies from the mailbox.
I think this is just brilliant - a Scrappy Marketer's Hat Tip to the marketing team at Mythic Entertainment. Kudos. Well done. I bow to your greatness. Now, I don't suppose you have any openings for someone who could appeal to the crafters in your audience....?
Next post: the main marketing lessons you should pull from this blogger outreach campaign
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