bryce hunter

1. Building Better Brands through Gaming
Bryce Hunter
Temple Street Productions

2. A quick history...
Shipped over 100 games across three companies
Managed a catalog of over 300 brands

3. What is a brand?

4. "... the intangible sum
of a product's
attributes."
David Ogilvy
Ogilvy on Advertising

5. Name
Packaging
Price
History
Reputation
Advertising

6. Never forget
The Community Response

7. So do your homework
Who is your target demographic?

8. Name
Packaging
Price
History
Advertising
Controlled
Reputation
Community Response
Uncontrolled

9. It's often easier to ignore your brand...

10. Because you don't want to focus on just one
character,

11. Because it's "Marketing" and you’re
"Creative",

12. Because you need to move fast,

13. Or maybe it's because you have an asshat of
a client.

14. Let's break it down...

15. Demographics
What do you want to make?
Who wants it?
Where can you find them?
What do they really want?

16. Example

17. Controlled
Name

18. Think about Transmission
Read, Remember, Spell
Acquisition (You to User)
Say, Hear, Spell
Organic (User to User)

19. Think about Legal
Web Address
Social Address
Trademark
(Word Mark vs. Design Mark, TM and R)
Copyright
(Start © 201X flagging it immediately)

20. Example

21. Controlled
Packaging

22. Think about Flow
App stores are easy, it’s a combination of Name and…
Icon Preview Screenshots Text

23. Example
Icon Preview Screenshots Text

24. Controlled
Price

25. Think about your Demographics
App Stores let you control this variable (most of the time).
Remember to test different monetization strategies and
discover what works best for your players and your brand.
Promotional Free // Free with In App Purchases // Free with ads // Premium // Subscription // Super Premium
COST TO USERS
$$$$$$ $$$

26. Example
USD $0.99

27. Controlled
History

28. This is only Semi-Controlled
Think of your future-self
Don’t be afraid to rewrite history
The internet doesn’t forget
but consistent improvement is
the best path to forgiveness

29. Example

30. Controlled
Advertising

31. Invent your core user
Seriously actually give them a name.
Amount of free time
Disposable income
Current attention
Etc...
How can you reach them on their terms?

32. Example
Alejandro Gonzalez
31 years old
Accountant
Has kids
3 hours/day of interrupted free time
Also playing a FPS
Willing to pay for a premium game
Reads Polygon

33. Uncontrolled
Reputation

34. Based in History
Move the needle in your favour with…
Do things that don’t scale (paulgraham.com/ds.html)
Build a community (social, telescopeapp.org)
Leverage the reputation of others (partnerships)
Start before you launch (very hard to find the time)

35. Example
The first 1000 racers can submit a photo to be wrapped on
their kart
Start a community site for kitten adoption
Reach out to animal activist and racer (Google says Leilani
Munter would be a good fit)
Reach out to Polygon about the ridiculous game idea

36. Uncontrolled
Community Response

37. You've done your best
There’s a point where you have to hand your baby off.
Release early, release often but release something you are
proud of.
Monitor your analytics, monitor your communities then
design solutions and adapt.

38. Example
Going to follow the Mario Kart standard of four tracks to a Cup
Only release the first cup
Only release 3 kitten racer styles
No vehicle performance customization
Only 3 power-up items
Reach back out to the community to vote on their most
demanded features (new tracks, kittens, vehicles, power-ups,
etc.)

39. Final Note
Additional Branding Opportunities

40. Distill, distill, distill
Every element of your product is a chance to refine its brand.
Characters (obviously)
Menus
Items
Font
Background Assets
HUD
Music
Even control schemes