74 replies to this topic

[TRiPPY]

Since i got back from Sega i've had a lot of things on my mind. Along with that other topic someone started in the general chitchat forum about promoting NiGHTS.

It seems the majority of us have the same sort of feelings on this. That marketing on this game usualy PHAILS. I don't know how much Sega is going to advertise Journey, or how big their budget is but i think us as a fanbase can really make a good dent in public awareness if we all work together and cause a fuss.

Little efforts snowball into big snowballs and then avalanche.

I was thinking about this lastnight in bed, what we could do, some kind of promotional stunts people would notice or more sensible things that would still make a difference to get him 'out there'. NiGHTS as a game is pretty 'out there' as are most of us XD; so i think we should do him a damn favour and start putting hard effort into promoting him when it matters the most.
In the past we've all created raving hype about this old game. It's lasted 11 years, so i think we're still capable of more.


My little braincogs are grinding up ideas i will discuss with you all later. I actualy told Sega I'd help actively promote the game with you guys, so we all have to do our little bit to help. Sega know we're here and that we're already doing a good job, so lets continue.


*TO BE CONTINUED*
*TODAY OR TOMMOROW*
: D

[Meggiemaccat]

I was planning on snatching a bunch of those magazine ads (buying the magazines themselves, of course, and I saw some little Wal-Mart minizines in a couple of empty carts that looked like they were sent through the mail and I never got one) and sticking them all over the walls of the college I go to, but then I saw on one tack-up-board this little notice that said something along these lines: 'All notices must be approved by the Student Activities Board.' ..... Dammit. XPPPP And now the magazine ads are wrong on the release date, anyway. ^^'

[Hime Blue]

I just had a quick thought as I was thinking about the flyers I'm going to have to roll today... Maybe all of us could start a NiGHTS-promoting effort around our town. I'm just going to list some ideyas (pardon the pun) that aren't fully formed yet.

-if you work somewhere ask if you can post posters, advertising, etc somewhere in your workplace
-if you roll newspapers or flyers or something print out a bunch of brochures and roll them into the flyers/newspapers
-if you're still in school ask if you can post some sort of advertising around the school or on the school bulletin board(s)
-go out wherever you can find local bulletin boards where anyone can post something and post ads up
-tape ads up on lampposts

Just some thoughts. Please merge this with another topic if it's needed.

[The wise Kitsune]

I tried to get a guy into NiGHTS, but he said it was "Gaaaay"

[Niraven]

I usually try off-wall tactics to promote NiGHTS, and it really works.

The first way I do it is when I talk with either family, friends, or just people in general, I mention my line of work which is freelance graphic design and working on a game retail magazine. I mention it's fun because as a pasttime Martijn and I go to lots of game events, and that's when I mention that I was busy covering exclusives on NiGHTS. Usually then they ask what it's about, and I try the family approach of the sweet story of kids overcoming their nightmares with the help of the purple jester named NiGHTS. Most everyone gets hooked at that point.

Other than that, I'll tackle anyone who knows Sonic and use Sonic Adventure's NiGHTS pinball in Casinopolis, which most people remember well and loved, but didn't know anything more about. Sonic is a good way to lead a conversation to NiGHTS and promote the game!

Also, if mentioning SEGA to someone, ALWAYS say "games such as Sonic the Hedgehog and NiGHTS". People will always ask what NiGHTS is, and I've yet to meet a person who wasn't interested even if they had nothing to do with games.

Those are some of my conversational tactics, so go plague IMVU and AIM and other places and talk your heads off about it, lol.

[NNR07]

Bringing it up casually in conversation often works with local people. I did that once with a peer in my grade who was going to purchase a Saturn, so I was giving him game Suggestions, but he blew me off :/.

If I could bring in some past experience, the game 'Destroy All Humans 2' for PS2 (Fun GTA Clone where you play as an Alien killing humans) had a fan-base club run by the publishers, and they'd do special give-away events via this club. One of them was 'Crate a Poster and Post it around and win a Prize', and other things. Let me scavage around my brain and see what I remember from that promo club >>. But, yeah, creating posters and posting it around on Telephone Polls and etc. would work. The best idea I'd have is to put a Teaser on them (Not like a sexual teaser :/. ), like "The Dream Continues", and then have the JoD Logo in the center, and that's it.

[Tangocat777]

Idea: put NiGHTS posters in American Gamestops and NiGHTS gameracks and preordering gifts in Japan. Waiiiiitt........
Better Idea: Somebody photoshop all those banners saying "Buy Zack and Wiki BWii" and make them say "Buy Zack and Wiki Bwii NiGHTS" and then penetrate other online communities. I'll take Gaia.
Other idea: have the ninjas find some more owl quotes and alert special interest communities.

[*~ChAoSkY~*]

AMEN. TRiPPY.
I have been worried about this also! ^_^

Maybe going into different game forums,and making topics of the game, and bumping th thread even if you have the danger of getting banned. xD
And putting little adversting stickers somewhere. :3
AND TELL YOUR RELATIVES/FRIENDS ABOUT IT.
I already got one intrested. :3

I wanna hear other ideas also. :]

But, yeah, creating posters and posting it around on Telephone Polls and etc. would work.

That´s a pretty good idea, IMO! D:

[DARiA]

Thanks for a good idea! I've been thinking about searching NiGHTS fans here in Russia, now I know where should I start from!

[apti]

I'm not really the type to randomly bring up random topics in a conversation, and I don't really know many people who I think would genuinely be interested... so I was thinking about maybe putting together some "public art" pieces to hang up in conspicuous areas.

Not just posters for the game or boring stuff like that, things like, hmm... putting lines of painted cardboard blue chips and stars on the walls, or making simple Pians out of pipecleaners and pompoms and hanging those up in odd places, or acting out scenes. Stuff that's going to catch peoples' attention but at the same time be ambiguous. Of course, being too ambiguous will defeat the point entirely, so probably around some of these things you would write the name of the game, the address of Sega's official site for it, or maybe even nightsintodreams.com.

I think this sort of method might help in attracting interest without immediately making people think "that looks gay, I don't like it. durrrrrrrr." It's more "internet viral" and I've seen it done before for games like Mario or Pacman with success.
Granted, those games don't really need any interest drummed up and were mainly done for fun, but I think it would be helpful in our case.

[Kori]

I was thinking of putting up pictures and such, and I like the ideya of ambiguous promos! But yes, it'd hafta be something attention-grabbing... like those pics of Elliot and Claris "falling" into a dream with all the ideya surrounding them. I know we can't use those exact shots, but something like that and a caption like, "Where will you dream tonight?" The most appealing factor of NiGHTS, I think, is the possibilities our dreams offer. If we play up on that, we'd get loads of people's attention!

As a last resort, my dad suggested something a bit more viral.. XD

"Leave Sega alone!! They're going through a really hard time right now, their main mascot's been butchered so much and everyone's making fun of them and you people don't know a good game when you see one! Anyone who doesn't buy NiGHTS has to go through ME!!"

.........

*shot, beheaded, drawn, quartered, and eventually banned*

[The wise Kitsune]

Oh! Do you guys know Stumble Upon? Well if you do, then I added the Webbysite as a link, so if you stumble on it, you know why! If you dont, then go get Stumble upon!

[Machenstein]

The most I have done to get NiGHTS "out there" was introduce a couple friends to NiGHTS through the Saturn original and then tell them about the sequel. They are very young and they come over my house on occasion to play my games. Luckily I always have my Saturn hooked up to play NiGHTS so I thought I would introduce them to such a unique game. I told them how old the game was so they understood and saw past the out-dated (but still pretty) graphics. For some reason the game looked hard to them so they just wanted to watch me play instead. Don't get me wrong, I would always offer them a chance to play, but they insisted they watch.

Anyway, from Spring Valley to the final battle with Wizeman, they were wide-eyed, watching continuously as NiGHTS flew through the surreal and unpredictable dream worlds and fought the imaginative bosses at the end of each level. They watched as Elliot and Claris stumbled into Nightopia, met NiGHTS, defeated Wizeman and the Nightmaren, woke up in the real world to overcome their fears, and, ultimately, meet each other at the Twin Seeds concert, just to see NiGHTS out the window the night after. Yep, all the way through.

I told them about the Wii sequel shortly after and, to further pique interest, told them how long it's been since the last game. Ever since, they have kept asking me "when's the NiGHTS game coming out"? Sadly I have to keep telling them about the delays. Nonetheless, I can only hope they will spread the word to their peers as well. We fell in love with NiGHTS eleven years ago as kids. We can make it happen again with today's generation. I know it.

[Madfish]

How about making sure your playing NiGHTS when your expecting guests,

"What's that your playing?
Oh it's called NiGHTS, would you like a go?"

Later...

"By the way the new one's coming out soon on the Wii...."

Word of mouth is some of the most effective you can get : )

Alternative idea:- Whistle (or hum) Dreams Dreams until people ask you what it is/where it's from

-------------

"Night comes along catches me crying,
waiting for that one single dream
Take me away and send my spirits flying
before the morning steals my life again,"

- Dragon Fire

[Hime Blue]

Actually, I managed to pique two of my friends' interests in the game. I was doodling some NiGHTS stuff at lunch and both of them peeked over, demanding to know what it was. I ended up explaining the general story to them (the non-Europe/Americanized version) and they're still asking specifics! This is actually a really good accomplishment for me since one of my friends has never really been into video games and the other is a girl I'd never expect to get so into NiGHTS. Then I managed to pique interest in one of the kids in the STAFF (it's a weird 'faith family' program they have going on at my school, you meet with a teacher and about 19 other kids every morning to do the national anthem, pray, and read announcements) group I'm in by single-handedly explaining why I'd bought a dream card deck. And then I got into discussing Jackle. Needless to say, she immediately latched onto the idea.

I was thinking about printing out a stockpile of NiGHTS brochures and rolling them into the flyers I deliver closer to launch.

[viperxmns]

I've been known to break the news of JoD's existence to unaware NiGHTS fans.

[MidgitLD]

It's been proven that the very best advertising is word of mouth between people. Often, that will make or break something despite its big project commercials and such.

[Tangocat777]

How could they prove that?

[Kori]

This is true, MidgitLD! Working in customer service, it doesn't matter where I work - they always stress the power of word-of-mouth. If one person says one bad thing about (fill in the blank), that's gonna spread faster than a bad prom date rumor. @_@ The more good is said about it, the more people will get their friends talking, and the more people will play! Personal recommendation has more power than a big corporate image. (Not that NiGHTS is corporate, but you know what I mean. XD)

[MidgitLD]

How could they prove that?

Advertising 101, dear TC. XD Unlike Kori, I learned it in a culinary arts class when we covered management instead.

Granted, just word of mouth alone would take something a long time to get around. But if you put up fliers, posters, adverts, commercials, ON TOP OF getting people to spread the word, you get far better publicity. Stop and thing of how many times you've heard someone, or yourself, say, "Hey! Did you see that commercial/poster/flier/billboard/ect?" You or the other person may not have seen or heard the company advertisement, but by talking with someone who had, one has spread information of a product or service.

[Exploding-Man]

I suggest viral marketing. Play off of other pop culture sh!t with flyers.

My own idea is a variation of the old street art campaign: http://bullshitando..../andreposse.jpg with NiGHTS for flyers. IE NiGHTS has a posse.

And idonno, just think along the lines of "If I saw this, would I look at it and want to find out what it is if I knew nothing about it?"

[Madfish]

Advertising 101, dear TC. XD Unlike Kori, I learned it in a culinary arts class when we covered management instead.

Granted, just word of mouth alone would take something a long time to get around. But if you put up fliers, posters, adverts, commercials, ON TOP OF getting people to spread the word, you get far better publicity. Stop and thing of how many times you've heard someone, or yourself, say, "Hey! Did you see that commercial/poster/flier/billboard/ect?" You or the other person may not have seen or heard the company advertisement, but by talking with someone who had, one has spread information of a product or service.

More importantly, those swayed by such advertising into chancing something new will tell those they know, swaying them a little. Most people I know put more stock in their friends opinions than a random advert that though sparks some interest doesn't convince someone to splash out £40 on a game (About the UK going rate for a new release)

------------------

"Who could you ask when they lack understanding?
Who could you tell that you're not of their kind?
More than just human shape, not only hairless ape.
What could they find inside your mind?"

- 'The Wolf in You' by Chama

[ayamemaiden]

Random flyers in public could help.

[Nellie Francis]

At my school's Japanese Club, there is going to be a 'Culture Day' where people are introduced into the Japanese Culture. Now I'm going to plan on making a picture relating to NiGHTS, if not exactly NiGHTS...

[Madfish]

What about banner ads?

---------

"All together we're banding
And we're looking for a happy landing
Flying high, through the sky
And finding our place in the sun!"

- 'Flying High' - Ralph Reader

[Icachan]

I have no clue about the actual legal issues, but I find it hard to believe that Sega would whine about copyright when the images are used to promote one of their games. For free, at that. ;D

[viperxmns]

Guess I could always make myself a bold NiGHTS t-shirt, ..something I've been putting off for a while.. wonder when we'll see official ones

I had that one idea I had http://www.nightsintodreams.com/forum//ind...p?showtopic=563

But maybe just a picture of him, and it says in huge letters 'this is NiGHTS'.. or when there's a new precise JoD release date, put that on there

[Xenon]

I actually started putting adverts around my town already, lol. I made a tri-fold marketing brochure and copied it something like 75 times just taping them to whatever the tape would stick to. ^.^

[animejosse]

Apologies to Hime Blue, for some reason your post disappeared when I merged your topic with this one >_O Sorry about that.

viperxmns, your link isn't working D:

[viperxmns]

Gah.. dis-

[Meggiemaccat]

..... *snrrrrrrrrrrrrk* XDDD I'm very sorry; I keep thinking of the running joke people have here with what Owl used to say sounding just plain wrong. ^^' *smacks self* I'm very sorry, but that can and does get taken/twisted the wrong way.

[viperxmns]

teheh.. I sketched that before we knew of the owl's existence, I think.. ; ) (just puttin' that out there)

[Meggiemaccat]

..... So they sue you for providing free advertisement? XDDDD

[Maki Izumii]

I've already got NiGHTS-y stuff on the way I can use for getting the word out. <.<

[Jof]

*Is hatching evil secret collaborative NiGHTS advertisement plan*

: D Oh it's gonna be good.

[Madfish]

*Is hatching evil secret collaborative NiGHTS advertisement plan*

: D Oh it's gonna be good.

Oooo can I help? I'm good at evil!

---------

"Why can't you be evil like your cousins?
Lucricia was the cruelest in the crowd
She brewed up evil potions by the dozen
Be just like here and make your mother proud!"

- 'We're Witches' MLP Movie

[iLLViLLAiN]

The ultimate way I can think of is by creating a meme. The internet goes crazy over these things. Like photoshop Master Chief to look like Reala or create a funny techno remix. Something like that.

[Jof]

The ultimate way I can think of is by creating a meme. The internet goes crazy over these things. Like photoshop Master Chief to look like Reala or create a funny techno remix. Something like that.

Gotta love board memes.