Advertising and player strength

[Castlebuilder]

I agree that advertising is important, but if Reaper has to bump up the prices of their product in order to pay for big, fancy adds, I don't like the idea. It seems that Warlord is growing very well. I started running Black Lightning events last spring, and now my store has a great following. I've also been contacted and run events at other stores in the area to help introduce the game there. From what I can tell, Reaper realizes that it is going to be a challenge to compete against other companies big flashy adds. They want people to get a chance to play the game and see how cool it is. Reaper is very supportive of their Black Lightning reps and from what I've seen, that does work.

 

Castlebuilder

[Saint of Sinners]

What Warlord needs is celebrity endorsements.

 

Ok, here's the plan

 

We send several celebrities Warlord T-shirts, hats, thongs, and what nots. Then hopefully they'll wear.

 

I'll start the list of celebrity:

 

Jessica Alba

Jessica Biel

Allison Mack

Avril Lavenge

Jessica Simpson

Michelle Gellar

Jennifer Aniston

Countey Cox

Jennifer Love Hewitt

[roe_games]

What made the difference here at our little store was the BL program and demonstrating the game. Once people saw the miniatures painted up, people playing the game and got to demo with both the system and the miniatures it pretty much exploded. Our little shop went from having the two books we opened with last November (1st printing) and about 10 of the minis that people had ordered for D&D Characters to... Every miniature in the line with 2 blisters of all adepts and 3 of each grunt model. We also have about 12 people signed up on the reaper board and reporting games played here at the store and at home. So, if you're interested in getting Warlord going in your area I recommend signing up for the Black Lightning demo team, getting 2 small factions painted up and get your FLGS to give up a little room and support (flyers or whatever). If you can get that done then people will see the game and miniatures and you'll win over new converts/opponents.

 

Just my $.02

 

Steve

[vongarr]

Sending out review copies and adding some bulk to the warlord website are the cheapest, and the best way to advertise, I think.

 

Afterall, If someone see's a favorable review to Warlord (which was a review copy, sent to X website) and then goes over each faction, seeing painted miniatures & also seeing a large amount of background...The sale is made is the person is interested enough, and has the funds.

 

As it is now, the only review I found was a small one on The miniatures page, and there are no faction sections whatsoever to speak of. It makes it hard to get into the game.

 

Doing those two things would be cheap, and the only recurrent cost would be the occasional review copy, along with the bandwidth needed to host the faction sections.

 

Also, without the proper amount of self advertising the game on reapermini.com, one might think that the game isn't well supported. That was my first impression upon seeing the site.

[Froggy the Great]

The problem as I see it, and hopefully I can express it without sounding like I know more than those at Reaper who make the ad decisions, is that most of the crunchy info about Warlord is either behind a login and password at Reapergames, or it's in a book that comparatively few people carry because they don't know it's a game.

[mooseyjoe]

I would like to see a more eyecatching display for warlord. The game is great. Anyone who plays a demo will love it. Problem is you can't always be doing demos. Compared to other inferior games, warlord has very little in the way of an attention getter.

 

 

Jonathan Enters the store

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

 

 

Hey loook at those space marines.

Hey look at that warmachine poster.

Hey all those D20 books are 20% off

Hey look at all those painted minis

Hey look at this new chaos champion box set

hey look at that rack of warmachine miniatures with the cool box sets on top

o yeah. There are some warlord minis under that rack. I did come here to buy those didn't I? Guess so. maybe I'll look at those now. Good thing I play this game already because no one would come over here to look at these if they didn't know what they are.

[Vil-hatarn]

While Reaper does sell posters for their games, I've never actually seen one anywhere. A few variants on the posters would be very helpful, I think. That and word of mouth is enough to make the game grow without seeming too...not quite sure what the adjective I'm looking for is. The point is, some companies advertise to the point of annoyance. Reaper is fairly subdued, and I don't know about other people, but I like them for that. A bit more advertising would help them, but a lot would just annoy people and waste money.

[Dragon Snack]

I think it all comes down to individual stores. They will promote what sells and makes them money. Just because a poster exsists doesn't mean it will be put up on the wall.

 

You can't ignore the market share of GW, so they get promoted.

 

Warmachine has started to generate some buzz, so they get promoted. It doesn't hurt that the minis tend to be more expensive (more cash in less space is better for the store).

 

WotC is another 800 pound gorilla plus they get the D&D or SW fanatic, so they get promoted.

 

Reaper? Well they have good minis, so they may get carried. It's when someone can SHOW the store that the game will get played (and minis will be bought) that they will start to promote it.

 

It's not a coincidence that the big LGS here has a big Reaper section with Frosch, Kellyn, and myself running demos almost every week.

[drjsallison]

It's not a coincidence that the big LGS here has a big Reaper section with Frosch, Kellyn, and myself running demos almost every week.

 

OK, now I'm just jealous

[Reaperbryan]

I'm going to chime in and agree with many of you -- the single biggest promoter of Warlord is our Black Lightning Demo team. We have very committed, enthusiastic, knowledgable, and fun-loving people teaching our game for free every single weekend somewhere in the world. On our Homepage, you can see upcoming registered events, and if there's one near you - GO! Really, go and see, add another body to the crowd. Even if you already play Warlord, go. Most people, if they see a gorup of people playing a game, will look in. WHo knows, you might encourage another new player to take a closer look at those little purple packages.

 

And if you really want new players, or ANY players in your neck of the woods, join BL. It isn't overnight, but from the first demo you'll meet prospective players - and after a few weekends, a couple of people who seem to keep returning over and over, a few questions about what the game does next (after the demo is over: what else can we do? Do we get more weapons? Spells? what about that faction? I didn't see those on the table, what do they do? [/fanboy]), you'll have a small group of regular players. Then you can run tournaments for them, which draws even more attention. Then plan scenario nights. More demos, more players. See - like the man said - it snowballs.

 

But it starts with You. It starts right now. Join the team, or simply participate in a demo. The regions where Warlord is hot, the stores where the game is played, all have an active BL member or 3 that keeps the game going, keeps the excitement up.

[spiritual_exorcist]

It is very clear that this is true, but I think Reaper could do more to promote their games.

 

Brushmaster is a Black Lighting member in our area, and he has drummed up a fair bit of support (and I will help him in any way I possibly can), but my impression is that Reaper relies too heavily on Black Lighting members.

 

If sales of Warlord are far higher than what was initially expected (As has been suggested by Reaper employees who frequent this board) why arn't we seeing some of the unexpected revenue being poured into even a small scale advertising campaign?

 

I'm not slagging Reaper, I'm just sitting here waiting for them to take advantage of the great game, and great miniatures they have, by taking a more progressive role in marketing it. I love this game, I love this company, and all I want to see is this game flourish and grow. I do intend to take a more active role, as my work scheduele has just changed to facilitate a more active participation in the local gaming scene.

[Brushmaster]

See - like the man said - it snowballs.

Thank you RB - quite true ! I don't know that this or that form of advertising is as effective as promotion through demos . I've seen games , cards and books come into my LGS , with or with posters/flyers and unless some individual knows about it , the rules , etc , it just dosn't get off .

An example , Starship Troopers . You all know the movie , well most should , well I've seen the game on display at my LGS but no takers . Whereas , Warmachine and Warlord have people demoing them at my LGS and aren't doing that badly , only problem is that my LGS has problems getting in enough Warlord stuff (distributer problems) .

I wish I could do more demos but work and family restrict it a bit , so if you are really interested in promoting the game , join the team and there are benefits for your efforts .

[spiritual_exorcist]

I wonder if distrubutors are the way for LGS to go here in Australia as opposed to them dealing directly with Reaper, I find it funny that the LGS you frequent Brushmaster (i have had dealings with them as well) always has trouble getting things in, when Tin Soldier in the CBD seems to get their Reaper products in very quickly. I find it hard to believe that getting Reaper products in here to Australia is hard if another store seems to be doing it so easily. Either the LGS is screwing their customers around, of the distributor is screwing the LGS around.

 

I buy all of my Roleplaying accessories local, and I'd love to support a local store in purchasing my minis, but it isn't really that feasible.

 

As far as actually joining the team, I am certainly considering it these days (in fact I have been for some time), but I just don't feel like I currently have the time to do Reaper and the Black Lightning team justice, so I'll wait to see where my life and work situations take me before obligating myself.

[Brushmaster]

As far as actually joining the team, I am certainly considering it these days (in fact I have been for some time), but I just don't feel like I currently have the time to do Reaper and the Black Lightning team justice, so I'll wait to see where my life and work situations take me before obligating myself.

I didn't actually mean you SE but everone get out there if you can !

[Kengar]

I only just got interested in the game myself (with a little luck, my Crusdars v. Necropolis box will arrive today), but when I asked at my FLGS here in the DC area, they seemed kind of down on the game. Neither of the guys at the counter had played it, but it didn't seem to be selling very well. (Though I think the individual figs were getting picked up for RPG use a bit).

 

I wonder if it has to do with being deep in the heart of GW country?