Summer Advertising Blitz

Work at the studios has been moving along nicely. The majority of the work is focused on the upcoming game release, along with maintaining the various social media sites, Patreon, the Zazzle store site, and others. Advertising is a key element to the success of any business, and overall the studios have had a relatively small advertisement footprint. Part of this is by design, and part of it is by circumstance.

The "by design" part is because a large effort in advertising is going to erupt once the first game design is ready for launch. This is expected to build up hype beyond what information is already out there and really focus on bringing in interested people to take a look at the game system and make the decision to buy or not. The "by circumstance" element is simply because of all of the different methods of getting the name out to the public, and the myriad of forms that advertising can take often leads, as in this case, to trying out one or two options and see where that gets us. For instance, the Zazzle storefront has picked up a trickling of orders all on its own based on the variety of products for sale and people stumbling upon things that interest them. Page hits on Deviant Art are letting people know about the digital art aspect of the business. Facebook keeps those who are following the business there in the loop, even if they do not regularly come to the main website here. Each of these efforts are paying off, even in small quantities, and have cost next to nothing but the time invested in getting the campaigns off the ground. This works only in so far as keeping operating costs low.

Launching an advertisement campaign is both exciting and nerve wracking. The first major effort will be targeting local businesses to know about the design and branding elements that the studio offers. The first mass mailing will look like the image posted above. Additionally, this type of advertising can go into other areas to gain more attention outside of the surrounding area where the studios exists physically. Measuring success is important when committing financial resources to advertise. Getting a good return on investment (ROI) means that a campaign was successful and may prove beneficial to do again in the future. 

Getting Extras

As we move into the second half of the year and progress continues towards getting the studios' first game release... well, released, there was talk about whether or not anything was needed to make the game a reality. The end answer is no, there is ample funding to see the game through its development stages and into production. Having satisfied that question, another thought emerged. Would anyone want more? I know from past experience I have enjoyed getting the opportunity to pick up exclusive content, or promotional items, from a game or genre that really interested me. Having said that, I considered some options on how something like this could occur. The result was Patreon.

Patreon is a way for artists, designers, and others to put out things they love while obtaining financial backing to put out those things. While the studios does not need financial help to release the game, anything extra is not in the budget, even if sales were to come from additional items. However, without knowing what demand, if any, there is for the variety of promotional and bonus offerings that could come from this endeavor, it makes little business sense to have a bunch of products made and have them sit on a shelf. Patreon allows me to determine what interest there is for these sorts of extra goodies, or swag as some refer to it, and allow it to fund itself. This way, for friends or fans, who would like extras from the game they can support it to the level they choose rather than becoming locked into a purchase price for something that is too costly and delivers none of what they want.

Check out the Patreon site here to see all of the extras that are planned along with the launch of the game.

Muninn Designs goes live

Muninn Designs is a creative brand of the studios and has released Series 1 of its skateboard designs. The poster displayed to the right is the social media and art website advertisement that showcases elements from the designs and the boards themselves. Muninn Designs also has its own page here to allow everyone to see the boards individually and order them through Zazzle if interested.

Over the coming months, Muninn Designs plans to release a second series of board designs showcased around the raven theme while introducing new creative elements. Also in the works for later in the year is a subset of skateboard designs revolving around a second, unique brand direction. This branding will be revealed here and across social media closer to the release of those designs.