Okay, we're less than two weeks out from the official release, not to mention the Buy.com and pirate "early" releases, and so far I've seen exactly ONE mass market ad for 4E, a single page ad in this month's Wired magazine. For a game where one of the intentions was to draw in a new crowd of players, it seems kind of weak to me. Has anyone seem anything else?
Nada..just add it to the long list of mistakes and miss handlement of wotc.
IIRC, they stated somewhere that 2008 is directed at retaining previous edition fans (no comment about that initiative) and 2009 will be when they start trying to attract new D&D fans from the public.
So I guess wait and see...
Interesting... You would think that after the past 9 months of lost goodwill and mis-steps (an evaluation, not a slam at WotC), they'd be pushing hard to attract new people now, not 12 more months out, after the "luster" of a new edition is gone.
Although, if what what others who have found the pirate pdfs have said about the books being all crunch and no fluff, that might make it hard to bring on new people right away...
It's just weird. It's not like Hasbro is hurting for marketing people or marketing dollars.
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IIRC, they stated somewhere that 2008 is directed at retaining previous edition fans (no comment about that initiative) and 2009 will be when they start trying to attract new D&D fans from the public.
So I guess wait and see...
According to the WotC site the "starter box" comes out this fall so my guess is a holiday season push for new gamers.
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Interesting... You would think that after the past 9 months of lost goodwill and mis-steps (an evaluation, not a slam at WotC), they'd be pushing hard to attract new people now, not 12 more months out, after the "luster" of a new edition is gone.
My understanding of the advertising/marketing process is, admittedly, limited. But I've always operated under the assumption that its rarely a quick process. They could have ordered the marketing campaign to begin at Day X, and very little other than massive influx of money could shift that to Day X-nn. In otherwords, they may not be able to shift their marketing strategy EVEN IF they anticipate a problem with sales (which they may or may not).
It's just weird. It's not like Hasbro is hurting for marketing people or marketing dollars.
The thing is, Hasbro may not be bankrolling the marketing for one of WoTC's less profitable products (in comparison to MTG or Pokemon). It could just be WoTC's funding reserves for this product.
The thing is, Hasbro may not be bankrolling the marketing for one of WoTC's less profitable products (in comparison to MTG or Pokemon). It could just be WoTC's funding reserves for this product.
Good point. Here's another theory: Maybe, just maybe, WotC doesn't want to release the advertising flood upon the "new" customers UNTIL they finally get all the bugs worked out and any issues resolved with the Digital Initiative and Gleemax. Having that "current" versus "new" customer break allows them to start off by having the 4E base test everything so they can nail it down in time for that Christmas "push". After all, the DI is one of the championed pillars of the 4E release. Wouldn't do to snag too many new customers who then find themselves turned off and drifting away IF the DI is not 100%, or even 75% complete.
This is pure speculation and is based the the absence of much, if any, DI out in the public view.