We know what’s next in the world of video games. Sony will be releasing the Playstation 4 this holiday season. Microsoft is likely releasing the next Xbox console. The OUYA Android gaming console made a big splash on Kickstarter and will be available this summer. But what’s next in video games marketing?

At the DigitalMediaWire LA Games Conference recently, some of the brightest minds from companies like Zynga, Activision, Electronic Arts, and Rovio shared their thoughts on the future of digital games.

Video is king

One of the fastest emerging trends in gaming is the skyrocketing popularity of video - and not just standard YouTube videos but live video, streaming video, and produced content. Video streaming services like Twitch.tv are immensely popular with “eSports” games like League of Legends or 360PR client, Turbine’s, upcoming game Infinite Crisis, where viewers watch teams of skilled players battle each other – much like any other professional sport.  In fact, the world of “eSports” has spawned professional gamers that make a living by playing in events like Major League Gaming’s numerous competitions.

Fans of games don’t just want to consume content, they want to engage and contribute. Produced video content from providers like Machinima can garner more viewers than the latest NBC comedy (not that that’s hard these days), because gamers crave content about their favorite titles and brands. Machinima videos received 2 billion views in March 2013 alone. Live news shows like Up At Noon from IGN have also found a home on the web. Recently, cable network G4 moved away from its traditional gaming-focused programming and changed its name to the Esquire Channel – the gaming audience would rather find their content on the web rather than on TV.

Free-to-play and the future of game monetization

In the past, video games were designed to be a one-time purchase. Pay $50 or $60 for the game disc, and you owned the full game. Certain game types, like Massively Multiplayer Online Games, required monthly subscriptions. But PC and console games are starting to take a cue from mobile games, moving to a “free to play”  model, which allows you to play the game for free and purchase items or upgrades in an in-game store. This changes game publishers’ marketing strategies immensely, because if you’re offering a piece of the game to players for free, you need to hook them and prove that the game is worth spending money on. Rob Dyer, the VP of Partner Publishing at Zynga, said that “User acquisition is expensive even in the mobile and free-to-play space, and that won’t change. How do you get users to become players, and players to become payers?”

With a traditional console title, game publishers want to drive as many sales as possible on launch. The latest Call of Duty title pulled in $500 million in just 24 hours. Bioshock Infinite has shipped 3.7 million copies since it launched in late March. But with a free-to-play title, the focus isn’t on getting as many players into the game as possible, but keeping your core playerbase happy.

Marketing to smaller, more focused audiences

Keeping that core playerbase happy is what Riot Games has done with League of Legends. Chris Enock, VP of Central Publishing at Riot Games, says the majority of their user acquisition is just word of mouth – many players spend hours playing the game each week so they’re heavily invested in the game and become evangelists. The Riot team speaks to players directly on social media and their website, and the players feel like they’re connected with the folks making the game. Turbine does the same thing with their games Lord of the Rings Online and D&D Online. Community managers have to understand players’ perspectives, understand the game, and keep people engaged. When you’re talking to players that are so enfranchised in your game, says Activision’s Jonathan Anastas, “Any time you’re not 100% authentic, you’re toast.” Certain games have more niche communities, but they are enthusiastic. Instead of an audience of 5 million casual players, it’s more like 15,000 passionate fans that truly care about the game.

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We were honored to be named the Best Small Agency to Work For at the 2013 SABRE Awards last week. We’ve long prided ourselves on creating and investing in a culture that’s rewarding – and just plain fun – for our employees to come to every day. But what does such an honor mean to clients, since they don’t work here and they have their own cultures to care about?

I’d like to be able to say I thought long and hard about the answer to that question but, to be honest, the answer was right there – it’s about talent. An agency that creates the best environment to work in is in the best position to attract and retain the very best talent from across the communications sector. For clients, that translates to the most engaged, skilled and motivated people working on their business.

It also means less turn-over. 360 was launched just over a decade ago and our practice leaders have all been with us 5+ years and many of our supervisors have been here just as long. They’ve created a strong base for us to add to with new talent – people who bring fresh ideas and new approaches that we readily integrate with established, proven practices.

Our key learning in building a “best agency to work for” over the years is that culture is everyone’s responsibility and can’t be owned by one person or one department. We rely on our entire staff to engage in employee engagement, whether they contribute to professional development, operational, social or other activities that enrich our collective experience and keep us at the forefront of emerging trends, tools and best practices for our clients. That means senior staff have to be open to ideas coming from all levels – and acting on those ideas. We are and we do.

One of our most recent employee engagement activities focused on “strength-training.” Each staff member had an opportunity to participate in a series of 1:1 coaching sessions to identify strengths, both realized and unrealized. Next, we hosted a “speed-dating” session, in which staff members compared strengths with co-workers and discussed how they can help each other convert unrealized strengths to realized ones. 360’s strength-training program culminated with a team-building exercise in which our coach tumbled up individual strength profiles to an agency strength profile and we discovered as a team what unrealized strength – courage – we needed to work on. We found senior team members were less willing to take risks than younger team members – and that the younger team members could be relied upon to help us be more courageous as an agency. That’s given rise to younger team members taking the reins more at weekly staff meetings, presenting their approaches and accomplishments for all of us to learn from and be inspired by.

I’m so thankful for and proud of our teams in Boston and New York, and can’t wait to see what they come up with next – for 360 and our clients!

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This past weekend hundreds of mom (and dad) bloggers gathered in Laguna Niguel, CA for the fifth annual Mom 2.0 Summit. The conference was created as a place for bloggers and brands to connect to share best practices and to discuss partnership opportunities. As usual, the cream of the crop bloggers (such as Christine Koh of Boston Mamas and Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks), brands (like Dove and Whirlpool) and even celebrities (Amanda Peet and Nia Vardalos) were in attendance.

I had the honor of joining three intelligent and savvy marketers, Cindy Meltzer founder of the Social Craft, Monica Teague Clark Whirlpool Corporation’s Senior Manager of PR & Brand Experience, and Adam Keats Senior Vice President at Weber Shandwick, to speak on the panel titled New Partnership Opportunities: Influence Beyond your Blog and the Shifting Priority on Expressions Over Impressions. With the help of moderator Doug French, we spoke to a room of bloggers about how they can use their interests, expertise and offline affiliations to partner with brands in ways that extend beyond the blog. This includes extended and one-off brand ambassadorships and partnerships.

We discussed how blogger/brand relationships are like dating – it takes a sincere effort from both parties to make the relationship work. Monica from Whirlpool added a family metaphor, explaining that once bloggers are in the Whirlpool “family” they are always part of the team. Like a family, we are interested in bloggers beyond their blog, we want to learn about their entire sphere of influence – online and offline. There was plenty of blogger/brand “dating” at Mom 2.0. A reminder that the most enduring relationships are initiated face-to-face.

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Our fast-growing New York circle has moved downtown to 180 Varick Street, right in the heart of the city’s new agency and media district…a  veritable creativity central.  Viacom, Saatchi & Saatchi and Wieden & Kennedy are just a few new neighbors worth noting.   Along with some awesome foodie joints like Blue Ribbon.

Our creative and culinary juices are flowing!

And we’re just a hop, skip and a Metrocard to big media.  The subway stops on our corner.  Today, GMA, you name it, we’re there in a flash.

360PR’s New York circle has grown and moved!

180 Varick Street • New York, NY 10014 | (212) 729-5833

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No event provides a better view, all in one place, to what’s new in natural than Natural Products Expo West. From foods to household cleaners to pet products, Expo West showcases the hottest products heading to natural and mass grocery shelves this year.

360PR and many of our Healthy Living practice clients had a healthy presence at this year’s Expo. We’re excited to share some of the trends we’re leveraging to connect better-for-you brands with media, bloggers and consumers this year.

Ancient Grains

Ancient Grains is an exciting category that includes such exotic-sounding grains as amaranth, quinoa, sorghum, millet and kamut. Taking more real estate on our plates, these grains are more than simple side dishes. They’re now available in waffles, breads and more foods, giving consumers an array of ways to add nutritional benefits, from omega-3s to a protein boost. Spurred in part by the popularity of gluten-free food, ancient grains are emerging as the new superfood. Bloggers like My Healthy OC and Natural Products Insider are hot on the ancient grain trend.

We’ll Cheers to That

Consumers’ desire for flavor, variety and health benefits is driving innovation and creativity in the beverage category, redefining what we expect in our drinks. From Bai’s Antioxidant Infusions to Good Belly’s new Fermented Probiotic Coconut Water to Tumeric Alive’s New Pure Prana drink featuring an impressive ingredient list, including turmeric (of course), ginger, cardamom, spearmint, coconut nectar, coconut oil, lemon, sea salt, black pepper, cinnamon and more, brands are packing more punch into each can, bottle or pouch.

And with 47% of 18 – 24 year olds saying they like to try new and unique beverages (source: Technomic, September 2012), smart brands have millennials in mind and are using social media to whet their appetites..

GMOs and Labeling

Whole Foods’ widely publicized announcement that it will require GMO labeling on all products by 2018 has the potential to move GMO awareness to a more mass-market audience this year and this is just one indication that reading labels is a priority for consumers.

In fact, research shows more than half of Americans report regular label reading and at 360PR we’re leveraging National Label Reading Day on April 11 for many of our clients.

Consumers today are eating up ingredient and other information available on product labels and media is responding with thoughtful coverage like this Prevention feature on the 100 Cleanest Packaged Foods. For brands, a combination of less + more is winner – less as in shorter, simpler ingredient labels and more as in more frequent and readily accessible information to empower and endear consumers to brands. Label reading is so important to our Sir Kensington’s client that they feature their labels front and center on their web site to help consumer see the difference!

Packaging Spotlight: Pouches Offer Healthy Food on the Go

Originally introduced for babies and toddlers, several brands are betting that easy to grab-and-go foods in pouches will also be a hit with adults looking to refuel on the run. What’s so exciting about pouches? From chia to yogurt, the Expo hall was full of super healthy options that are also portion controlled. Pouches are also thought to be a more sustainable solution for packaging as they’re light to ship and can be easily stacked on palates.

Brands like GoGo squeeZ and Happy Family were recently included in this trend-spotting Wall Street Journal piece and it’s no doubt that these tasty packs will continue to be exciting to media who can easily sample them on media tours and blogger events.

Quick Bites from Expo East

Massive in scale, Expo West features over 2,400 exhibitors, many of them offering delicious samples. 360PR asked editors and bloggers covering the show – and covering healthy living trends all year-long – for their most memorable bite at this year’s Expo.

Maxine Wolf, Publisher of Kiwi Magazine
“Brown Cow Cream-top Greek Yogurt in Maple was so yummy. It’s good enough to be dessert! It’s really creamy and the maple flavor is to die for. It’s a nice full fat treat that’s worth every calorie.”

Lisa Olivo, Associate Editor at Nutraceuticals World
“I’m a big fan of kefir, so I was excited to see many popular brands expanding their lines beyond cultured dairy drinks to new formats that deliver probiotics. For example, Lifeway Kefir, which has been very successful in the marketplace, introduced new Frozen Kefir Bars and freeze dried kefir melts for kids.”

Kasey Potts, Blogger at Kasey’s Kitchen
“One of my favorite things I stumbled upon at Expo West was Kelapo Coconut Oil Spray. I use coconut oil in a ton of my cooking so having it in an easy aerosol spray is so helpful! I also became strangely addicted to all the freeze-dried fruit and vegetables from “Just Tomatoes.” I’ve found myself putting them in everything!”

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Image sources: www.mywheatgerm.com and http://www.feedourfamilies.com

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