Chief Strategy Officer in adland. I got ❤️ for writing, gaming, and figuring stuff out. I'm @whatleydude pretty much everywhere that matters. Nice to meet you x
I’ve been in research mode a fair bit of late. Whether that’s reviewing cross-category creative work to generate provocations for clients or doing a deep dive on the data surrounding the games industry’s ongoing round of redundancies (here’s Amir Satvat doing God’s work).
The exploration of these themes has meant spending a lot of time in effectiveness papers, case studies and spreadsheets; looking at data and talking to people IRL.
This kind of work, combined with a renewed dedication to just getting out there and spending time with other planners (hello APG friends!), it’s been nice to be reminded of what it is I love about what I do:
The Ps mentioned are: Problems, People, Prying, Patterns, Possibility, Persistence, and Pitching.
It’s a pretty good list. If I could though, I’d probably add (or switch) two Ps in and maybe switch one P out.
Switch 1: PUZZLES. I like solving puzzles – with data, with creativity, with strategic leaps. Problems are a good thing to uncover but getting to solutions figuring out the puzzle – that’s the main draw for me.
Switch 2:PROVOCATIONS. I like asking questions, yes. And those questions are always in service of getting to better work. But often-times you find yourselves in rooms (or on calls) where there are questions left unasked. The provocative question. The ‘Hang on, why are we actually doing this?’, or the ‘Yes but does the product actually deliver that?’ or the ‘Have we addressed why consumers don’t like you?’ questions. The hard questions you have to ask. And frankly, sometimes the only questions planners can ask.
Switch 3: PITCHING. This is the one I’d probably switch out. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE pitching. We pitched recently and a peer said to me as we were leaving the room ‘James, you were born to pitch’. So lovely. And we won the pitch too. Woop.
The point is, it reminded me that I am lucky to have had the training whereby I now enjoy those situations. So many planners and strategists I meet while, yes, they will at some point have to be able to convince a client of a certain strategic course of action, they might not always enjoy the process of PITCHING. Introversion is a common personality trope among planning folk.
Solving that? Well it’s a puzzle.
If you are a planner and you don’t enjoy pitching, then that’s OK. You don’t have to. You can learn, yes. You can also fake it ’til you make it. But if you hate it, that’s OK too and it doesn’t make you any less of a planner.
All of the above was originally published as part of my Five things on Friday newsletter and, in doing so, I think I accidentally managed to complete the three-writing briefs I set myself in my various social media profiles:
Things of note for the week ending Sunday February 18th, 2024
INTRO
Well howdy. It’s been a rollercoaster week. A lot of getting to the bottom of things while also trying to stay on top of things.
And wrapped up in all of that, figuring out what it means to be kind.
The Mrs has been quite unwell for sometime now, and it’s been amazing to see who shows up in those moments. You know?
The kindness of small gestures. The kindness of unexpected empathy. The kindness of friends just being there. Never underestimate the value of asking someone ‘Hey, how are you holding up over there?’ because you never know where or how it’s going to land and frankly, coming from someone who is going to be saying goodbye to an old friend this week (one I didn’t actually get to say goodbye to), hitting send on that message is better than regretting not sending it later.
So with that, how are you holding up?
I hope your February has been better than your January and that Chinese / Luna New Year is holding true to its promise and bringing you opportunities of evolution and improvement.
“Good leaders are defined by the leaders they leave behind them. Good leaders know the way, go the way, and show the way. Good leaders are what you make them. Good leaders are… you tell me?”
“Good leaders listen. Good leaders create an environment / atmosphere where people can do their best work. Good leaders motivate.
Great leaders coach, encourage, develop, and motivate so that their people perform and achieve above their own potential.”
It got me thinking about a framework (I think) for leadership.
Like, reflecting on some of the great leaders I’ve had in my career, thinking about what they did for me (and for the people around me) and how they made me feel – and then thinking back on what we achieved together I started sketching out a few components of HOW they did that.
Like so:
Draft 1.
In my head, each of these headers has a page behind it discussing what each one means, along with supporting examples.
The one I come back to the most is Psychological Safety but reflecting on Marshall’s input, I think I’m missing stuff around coaching and development.
This newsletter is and always has been a way for me to think out loud so getting ANY response to that thinking is absolutely welcome – even better when it’s positive 😁
I’m still thinking about it all and I’m still not done on Fortnite either but we’ll revisit it another day.
–
Right then, that was quite the lengthy intro wasn’t it? Shall we crack on with the actual things now?
Let’s.
TO THE THINGS!
1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A PLANNER?
aka ‘On Figuring Stuff Out’
Kind of a tangential / follow on point from the data-led opener to this week’s edition – I’ve been reflecting on what it means to be a planner.
I’ve been in research mode a fair bit of late. Whether that’s reviewing cross-category creative work to generate provocations for clients or doing a deep dive on the data surrounding the games industry’s ongoing round of redundancies (here’s Amir Satvat doing God’s work).
I’ve been spending a lot of time in effectiveness papers, case studies and spreadsheets, looking at data, and talking to people IRL.
This kind of work, combined with a renewed dedication to getting out there and spending time with other planners (hello APG friends!), it’s been nice to be reminded of what it is I love about what I do:
The Ps mentioned are: Problems, People, Prying, Patterns, Possibility, Persistence, and Pitching. It’s a pretty good list.
If I could, I’d probably add (or switch) some Ps in – and maybe switch one out.
Puzzles. I like solving puzzles – with data, with creativity, with strategic leaps. Problems are a good thing to uncover but getting to solutions figuring out the puzzle – that’s the main draw for me.
Provocations. I like asking questions, yes. And those questions are always in service of getting to better work. But often-times you find yourselves in rooms (or on calls) where there are questions left unasked. The provocative question. The ‘Hang on, why are we actually doing this?’, or the ‘Yes but does the product actually deliver that?’ or the ‘Have we addressed why consumers don’t like you?’ questions. The hard questions you have to ask. And frankly, sometimes the only questions planners can ask.
Pitching. This is the one I’d probably switch out. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE pitching. We pitched recently and a peer said to me as we were leaving the room ‘James, you were born to pitch’. So lovely. And we won the pitch too. Woop.
The point is, it reminded me that I am lucky to have had the training whereby I now enjoy those situations. So many planners and strategists I meet while, yes, they will at some point have to be able to convince a client of a certain strategic course of action, they might not always enjoy the process of PITCHING. Introversion is a common personality trope among planning folk. Solving that? Well it’s a puzzle.
What I am trying to say is this: if you are a planner and you don’t enjoy pitching, then that’s OK. You don’t have to. You can learn, yes. You can also fake it ’til you make it. But if you hate it, that’s OK too and it doesn’t make you any less of a planner.
I think in writing this thing this week I’ve managed to complete the three-writing briefs I set myself in my various social media profiles:
On writing. On gaming. And now, with ^ this thing ^ – On figuring stuff out.
Guess I should write it up into a separate post for the ol’ blog then really. I’ll get right on that.
PS. ‘So you want to be a strategist‘ is still the best collection of learning materials I think I am yet to find for entry level strats and above.
2. GODZILLA MINUS ONE
I saw this movie right before Christmas and it was incredible.
Those exclusives are all but confirmed as: Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and Grounded.
All solid games. All well worth playing.
For those paying attention, the writing on the wall for this has probably been on the wall since the Activision deal was announced. One might even draw a dotted line back to Todd Howard’s email challenging the status quo for Bethesda.
Big fan of Apple rebranding mixed reality games – that have been on Quest for ages – as ‘spatial gaming‘ (not a thing) but it’s standard Apple to rebrand something to make it its own, right? Even if the name does suck.
The big news is, however, thanks to the Digital Markets Act here in Europe, Fortnite will be coming back to iOS very soon indeed. With Lego Fortnite live and the The Disney [Fortnite-adjacent] Universe almost certainly launching at some point in 2024, Epic getting its iOS developer account back is PERFECT timing.
I ‘cover’ games a bit with this newsletter (and a few other agencies try and fail miserably with some terrible attempts on Linkedin). George’s however is consistently as insightful as it is enjoyable to read.
Well-researched, well-written, and well worth your time. Go get.
4. KINDNESS
My incredible other half reminded me of this poem yesterday. Given to me by my therapist when things were pretty tough a few years back I hadn’t read it for a while and re-reading it again this weekend, it felt like a revelation.
One to read out loud:
–
KINDNESS, Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952
Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness. How you ride and ride thinking the bus will never stop, the passengers eating maize and chicken will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho lies dead by the side of the road. You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night with plans and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. You must wake up with sorrow. You must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread, only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say It is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend.
The Marvel announcement of Fantastic Four was just… well, fantastic.
Staying with Marvel, the X-Men 97 trailer is truly a sight to behold. Having watched the original series again recently, I noted how even back then if EPISODE ONE of Saturday morning kids TV show could pass the Bechdel Test then literally, what’s stopping everyone else?
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.
Next week is half-term here. The kids are off and it’s going to be… hectic? We’ve got my mum coming to stay, then a funeral, then a hospital trip, then I’ve got my mother-in-law coming to stay, then another hospital trip, an operation, then a trip to the midlands and overall I think probably a lot of driving.
When it’s all done I guess then maybe we’ll play some video games?
The short version is:
I don’t know if there’ll be a newsletter next week. But we’ll see.
In the meantime, thanks for reading, sharing, and subscribing.
If you’re looking to find me in more places outside of this newsletter, these days the lion’s share of my diminishing time on social is spent across Threads and Linkedin.
Things of note for the week ending Friday February 9th, 2024.
INTRO
It’s 545am on Friday February 9th when I’m writing this intro. I wonder what time it’ll be when I hit send?
It’s Chinese New Year tomorrow. I don’t know about you but the start of 2024 has not been fantastic. I won’t go into the detail but just put it this way: there was a point about two weeks ago when I think I just sat down and cried. And in among the tears I said: ‘Hi, hello? Yes, I’ve had enough now thanks. No more please? Please? Thanks’ – I think that helped.
Holding onto resilience – against the relentlessness of it all (squares vs triangles) – has not been easy. But I am doing it.
One day at a time.
The benefit of good therapy in my past combined with an incredible partner (and just honest-to-god the most amazing friends) has meant the days, as hard as they are sometimes, always end with a hug and the reality that love is the answer.
Love is always the answer.
So this weekend I’m starting again.
Chinese New Year celebrations tonight and then let’s see what the year of the dragon brings starting tomorrow (Saturday).
See you there yeah?
🐉 🐲 🐉 🐲 🐉
What else can I tell you?
Ah yes! Thank you to the handful of you that have signed up to be paid subscribers. The first few months of Buttondown’s fees have been covered and to think that you lot actually want to contribute to the running costs of this thing was genuinely moving.
More on the details of all that at the end of the newsletter.
Speaking of the newsletter, shall we actually get on with this thing now?
Let’s.
TO THE THINGS!
1. COME ON THEN, LET’S TALK ABOUT DISNEY x EPIC
A HUGE announcement – and I want to talk about a few things that seem to have been missed…
The news that launched a thousand Linkedin comments
First thing first: the key word in the release is DEEPENING.
Disney-owned properties have been licensed out to Fortnite (among many, many others) for years. And, per the release, Disney has also been using Unreal Engine to power the content and SFX behind many of its tentpole properties again FOR YEARS.
So this is a DEEPENING (a not exactly insignificant $1.5Bn deepening – we’ll come back to this) of an existing relationship.
The interesting thing – for me at least – is about the ‘new persistent universe’ that will be created as part of this announcement.
To quote Disney (emphasis mine):
“In addition to being a world-class games experience and interoperating with Fortnite, the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more. Players, gamers and fans will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love.”
So what does this tell us?
1. Disney SSO. Coming to an EPIC page near you.
I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say we’ll soon see a ‘Link your Disney account’ button on Epic’s sign in page.
Like this –
Remember when the Lego one appeared and everyone went mental? Same same.
Disney has been tidying up its single sign on (SSO) across its properties for a while – between Marvel, Disney, parks, store, and now Plus – having the Disney SSO linked to your Epic account just makes sense.
And of course, once linked, I’m fairly sure that’ll unlock something for the loyal subscribed user (like, I dunno – an exclusive Goofy skin with some Mickey Mouse back bling or whatever).
Because of course it will.
But where will you do this?
2. Let’s talk about that persistent universe.
Going by the image shared by Disney in the release (embedded above) you can see a LOT. At first glance I count Wreck-it Ralph, Lilo and Stitch, Stark Industries, Halloween Town, Pandora, Hoth, The Death Star, ESPN, Lucasfilm Pixar… hell, even Disney Cruise Lines gets its own harbour area. All across different areas/zones/islands and each one with its own purpose.
So if it’s Disney, it’ll be there.
What else can we guess?
In the same way that Lego has arrived on the Fortnite Platform, we can bet that the Disney Universe (The DU) will be similar if not the same.
(So it’ll be free to play, right?)
But bigger.
Fly ar?ound Hoth with your friends. Maybe launch into Star Wars Outlaws from within the platform (maybe?). Once you’ve done that, you can head over to Disney Studio Island (left on the image above) and watch the latest series of The Mandalorian in a watch party with your friends.
If you’ve ever spent any time at a Disney Parks (world/land/Euro), then you’ll spot that the layout in those places are a huge inspiration for these – and it shows.
3. Interoperability, aaaaaay?
When Disney talks about ‘interoperating with Fortnite‘, again we refer to our friends at Lego.
Ahsoka Tano!
Got a specific skin in your locker on Fortnite? You’ve got that skin in Lego.
You could place a fairly solid bet that when this thing launches (let’s have a guess at before or at least during D23 this coming August) on day one you’ll be able click once to the right from Lego Fortnite, hit the Disney logo, and then walk right into the The DU on Fortnite with that exact same skin.
I would also fully expect to be able to buy items within the Disney experience and then have those items to wear while playing Battle Royale. Did you buy a Tie Fighter to fly around in The DU? Expect to unlock that as a glider in Fortnite etc.
Link that to games played, movies watched, series’ binged, items purchased, parks visited… well, you can quickly see how all that works together.
IMAGINE you watch the second season of Ahsoka in its opening weekend and, as a result, you get exclusive skins for The DU.
Now imagine a much more complex version of this slide knocking around over in Burbank.
(To be clear: I made this slide. Today)
Disney x Epic. Including but not limited to:
PLAY Your own stories in The DU. With DU characters in Fortnite. Anywhere and everywhere all powered by UE5/UEFN.
WATCH Your friends play DU content. Disney Premier content. Disney content on and off platform – powered by Disney+.
SHOP Disney digital items. Disney licensed products in the Fortnite Item Shop. Disney-themed items linked to Disney Experiences (parks and more).
What about the ONE POINT FIVE BILLION DOLLARS then? Well, Reuters is reporting that Disney got its 9% stake at a STEAL of a price, given how much post-pandemic the value of Epic has dropped since (about $10bn by the looks of things).
This should come as no surprise (Epic is in its 4.0 phase now, do keep up 007). However, these deals do not happen overnight and given the value fluctuation, the number crunchers at Disney should be very happy.
4. What are people not talking about?
People are NOT talking about the Apple-sized elephant in the room.
Disney and Apple are VERY close bedfellows. Epic and Apple are… not. I wonder if board positions and friendly CEO gatherings will eventually/perhaps thaw that out.
I highly doubt it but still.
It’s a thought.
And one to keep an eye on.
5. And I guess we need to address this newsletter’s own elephant in the room.
Someone had to say it
It is perhaps telling that the Disney press release manages to get through the whole thing without saying the M word.
I am reminded of Tim Sweeney, back in March 2023, talking about his definition.
“We can set aside the crazy hype cycle around NFTs and VR goggles… …and the core of it is something that every gamer understands: it’s you, and your friends, getting together online and going around as a group – on voice chat, having a fun time in social entertainment experiences. Some of these experiences are serious games like battle royale, some of them are going to a concert and dancing or chatting with friends and just having a good time”
Scene.
PS. I meant to say earlier but forgot: ‘Players, gamers, and fans’ is an interesting segmentation reveal, no?
Are you playing Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League? My gaming community is split down the middle on it (some love, some… do not). Either way, Skill Up’s review is worth a look.
What am I playing? Well, I haven’t down Lego Fortnite since it dropped if I’m honest – and I’ve probably left Baldur’s Gate 3 alone for so long now that I might need to restart it Bah.
That said, we’ve been making some fun things for Helldivers 2 (including this lovely bit of silliness) and so I’ve got that lined up to play at some point this weekend.
What about you?
What have you been playing?
4.’SHE’S THE FASTEST HUNK OF JUNK IN THE GALAXY…’
Gorgeous.
“After 8 months of collecting and building… My daughters “colorful” Lego UCS Millennium Falcon is done!”
Kara Swisher on her front tow seat to a slow moving catastrophe is a great insight into someone who saw the sky falling, screamed the sky is falling, and is now sat watching peers and colleagues wondering where the sky has gone.
THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS BUT DUE TO TIMING AND SELF-IMPOSED WRITING RESTRICTIONS ARE LIMITED TO PITHY COMMENTARY ONLY.
The 2024 meta trends (meta not Meta). When everyone spaffs out trend decks, how do you know what’s real? Well, you read them all and then write something like this. Cheers Matt Klein.
How startup culture runs on BS (I spent the formative years of this career in startup land and have seen some of this up close – it’s as yucky as it sounds).
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Five things on Friday. I hope you’re enjoying its new home on Buttondown.
All feedback on the new set up is VERY WELCOME.
—ADMIN STUFF—
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It’s 12:02 on the first day of the Chinese New Year. I’ve just sent a quick note out on Substack re: closing that down for good (sorry for the double up – I’m sure you don’t mind), and I think I’d quite like a sausage sandwich.
Things of note for the week ending Sunday February 4th, 2024.
INTRO
Sup fam. It’s been a while.
All being well, this shiny new first-of-2024 edition of Five things on Friday is winging its way to your inboxes by the lovely people at Buttondown.
After everything that happened with MONETISING THE NAZIS over on Substack, I figured it was about time to close down that account, import EVERY SINGLE PAST EDITION over to my original wordpress website (hi whatleydude.com) and then get a decent PAID FOR and NAZI-FREE email provider set up.
After a fair amount of research (it was a quiet Christmas in the Whatley household) Buttondown turned out to be the best paid solution for my needs. My subs are a little over 4k (4194 to be precise – and you’re all gorgeous) and Buttondown is $29 pcm for anything under 5k – so not abhorrent cost-wise – for an ENTIRELY FREE newsletter.
PLUS, and crucially for someone of my occasional newsletter needs, Buttondown has the option to switch off payments if you’re not using it. Given FToF goes 3-6mths sometimes without an edition going out, this is a VERY GOOD FEATURE.
I’m still figuring out a few things (look and feel, branding, etc) but so far the support has been ACE and the setup has been relatively breezy.
What else can you ask for?
If you’re an occasional newsletter writer like me, and you’re looking for a good, nazi-free service, then I can recommend Buttondown. Use THIS REFERRAL LINK to get $9 off your first month (and I get a kick back too) x
Right then, that’s the housekeeping out of the way. With New Year celebrations a distant memory, and dry (damp?) Jan equally so, I think it’s about damn time we got to the things.
Shall we?
TO THE THINGS!
1. LET’S KICK OFF WITH SOME RAT SELFIES
Say cheese!
‘Oh great James, an animal experiment – that’s what I need from you today!’
Well, yes – and no. Per CBC:
“When Augustin Lignier built a photo booth for rats, he was really trying to point the lens at humanity.
The French artist trained two pet store rodents to take selfies in exchange for sweet treats. But over time, he says, they started doing it purely for the pleasure.
He says it’s not unlike the way people engage with social media — at first for the likes, but eventually just to trigger a flood of feel-good chemicals in our brains.”
Purely for the pleasure. Purely for the dopamine hit. Purely for the… sorry, why are you scrolling again?
Related to the above… If you’re reading this and you don’t know what Mukbang is, I’d probably recommend you NOT googling it (although Gia’s hard-hitting piece on FAME a while back landed it hard for me). It’s not nice. Having been involved with a few plagiarism-shaped things over the past few years (one guy I just had to have it with him over a bizarre exchange via Linkedin message – ‘ARE YOU OK?’, ‘PLEASE STOP’, – etc), the idea of folk (especially Linkedin folk), mukbanging themselves out for content has been kicking around in my head for a while now.
And then this article appears from Vox.
Why why why why why
It. Is. Excellent.
You’ve got to actually spend your time doing this stuff on the off chance that the algorithm picks it up and people care about what you have to say.
You’ve got to spend your time doing this even though it’s corny and cringe and your friends from high school or college will probably laugh as you “try to become an influencer.”
You’ve got to do it even when you feel like you have absolutely nothing to say, because the algorithm demands you post anyway.
You’ve got to do it even if you’re from a culture where doing any self-promotion is looked upon as inherently negative, or if you’re a woman for whom bragging carries an even greater social stigma than it already does.
You’ve got to do it even though the coolest thing you can do is not have to.
You’ve got to offer your content to the hellish, overstuffed, harassment-laden, uber-competitive attention economy because otherwise no one will know who you are.
In a stunning turn of events, the longstanding ‘This week in…’ has moved away from gaming and is instead usurped, inspired, and happily cast aside for what is easily the best thing in this newsletter this week.
Jenny Chang is BACK y’all
Not the first time I’ve shared @Jayemsey’s work here and I doubt it’ll be the last.
The part about the Heroine Journey was revelatory for this hetero-cis-white-male.
Honestly, I can only dream of this level of generosity and brilliance of thought.
Read it.
4. A NIGHT IN THE SOCIAL CLUB IN 2009
Growing up on (never in) Canvey Island, I know the scene of a social club well. Labour Club, Cons Club, Corner Club, Social / Boat Club – if there was a club (read: ‘members’ club where the drinks are cheap and the bands are great).
Thinking back to them now I remember: Christmas lights all year round, gold jewellery, red faces – smiling, friendly people, singing and dancing… if you’re lucky there’d be a band or karaoke. There was always snooker table out back (but the lights were dim and it was filled with smoke – you never went in there).
The point is: the memories even now are seared into my mind. Be that as it may, even if I walked out of one of those clubs five minutes ago, I doubt I could do as good a job at describing what it’s like in a social club than Mark Hadfield does when he talks about a night at Owlton Manor Social Club in 2009.
Read this and be transported to another time. Another place. Another world.
A proper planner – doing the work.
5. THE SIMPLE SABOTAGE FIELD MANUAL
Declassified in 2008, the Simple Sabotage Field Book was published in 1944 and distributed by the Office of Strategic Services (now known as the CIA).
Circulated by Allies during World War II, the pamphlet was meant to act as a guide to sympathetic citizens, giving the more rebellious ones instructions on how to weaken their country by reducing productivity in the workplace.
Bear in mind, these specific tasks were asked of workers in enemy countries to purposefully reduce productivity in the workplace.
The handbook contains such humdingers as:
Talk as frequently as possible and at great length
Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible
Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions
Refer back to matters decided upon
Be worried about the propriety of any decision
I say again, this is from a SABOTAGE HANDBOOK.
Any of it sound familiar? Unnecessary Process. Endless meetings of talking. Miscommunication. Debating long-discussed and decided decisions. All signs of a perfect quiet saboteur.
THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS BUT DUE TO TIMING AND SELF-IMPOSED WRITING RESTRICTIONS ARE LIMITED TO PITHY COMMENTARY ONLY.
Becca Farsace is by far and away one of the best video/review creators on the internet today (she’s won an Emmy for crying out loud). This interview is a great insight into her personality, drive, and work ethic. A great watch.
Watch Enterprise (1979) – Allen, Brady & Marsh Advertising online – for free on BFI Player.
‘Hey James, you’ve not given me enough to watch in this edition, can I have some more video please?’ – Sure! How’s this FOUR HOUR DEEP DIVE on Plagiarism and You(Tube)? (it’s worth it, honest)
Things of note for the week ending Friday November 17th, 2023.
As I write to you now, it’s Thursday. 18:44.
It has been quite the fortnight.
First, a week or so ago we saw the completion of what I think might be the biggest project Diva has ever delivered (see above), featuring lenticular bus wraps, a 3D Piccadilly deep screen, and a monster full building projection mapped takeover of London County Hall – all in the name of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
The London County Hall projection was an incredible showcase centrepiece and with the blessing of London County Hall management, some consulting with military veterans, and an agency delivery record of four weeks from final-brief-to-execution, it went up on the evening of Friday November 3rd, with a showing every 15mins from 5pm. Absolutely nuts.
If you were walking by you definitely would’ve seen it (I could hear it the moment I stepped out of Westminster tube station; see this video I shot from the waterfront – that sound is live).
All credit to the team for delivering the work to such a high standard – with the client (Activision), the great partners (Rapport and Pixel Artworks) and of course, the staff at London County Hall who were brilliant all the way through.
Second, tomorrow (Friday) we deliver the second two parts of a mega three-part pitch for another huge project (due middle of next year). Part one felt good. Cross your fingers for parts two and three, please.
On top of that there’s another huge project moving through the agency (going live VERY SOON) with a lot of moving parts (at least 26) and, in a time when we should be beginning to wind down for Christmas, it feels like we’re revving up. It’s great to have the energy of the team all pulling towards the same goal and it’s really great to see the amazing work slowly come to fruition. But yeah, I’m looking forward to resting this weekend and I’m sure the team are too.
How are you?
Last edition I asked that and got some LOVELY replies. So, y’know, hit that reply button (or comment, or restack or whatever you do to read this) and say hi.
For this week’s edition, because of all the WERK I think we might be a light on content but let’s see how we go.
Shall we head to the things?
Let’s.
1. REFLECTIONS ON BLACK HISTORY MONTH
31 days. 31 reflections. 31 things to love.
And. I. Love. This.
Aisha Singleton writes:
‘I’m not just a black woman during Black History Month, I inhabit this skin all year round, and happily so, but sometimes there can be a disregard around how intersectionalities can affect your professional life.’
So go ahead and do that and then go thank Aisha and let her know how they made you feel.
2. SOME GREAT WORDS ON LEADERSHIP
We’re going to dive right in with another thing I found on Linkedin recently (stay with me, I swear it’s of value).
My dear friend Marshall Manson was asked recently asked to try and capture a few of his key principles for leadership. He did that, of course, but then also shared those principles in the post linked below.
He didn’t number them but I have and there are 18 all told.
I’m not going to repeat them all here however Marshall does open with this belter:
Most important: Do the right thing for the right reasons. If that goes against someone’s rules, be ready to explain or face the consequences. Be as transparent as possible about your decisions and reasoning with anyone who shows interest.
I’ve worked with Marshall. I have seen this in action (if you know him, ask him about when he decided he wanted to hang a bell in the Ogilvy offices at Sea Containers – it’s one of my favourite stories). As principled men go, he’s one of the best.
My main reading recommendation this week is this week’s edition of the . With a well-researched look at Saudi Arabia’s gaming strategy, George Osborn puts together a compelling deep dive on where the oil money is pouring and why.
On the flip-side of this, kudos to the team at PRELOADED for dropping an actual teaching lesson plan to go with their UEFN work: Lives After Death: The Pyramids of Giza. Ubisoft have good caliber in this, it’s good to see other stepping up.
Final Fortnite thing. I’ve been enjoying FortniteOG but it’s great to think that the ENTIRE THING was predicted by (or implemented because of) Avengers: Endgame. Truth.
Earlier this week, PlayStation removed ‘Share to Twitter’ from its consoles. As the editor in chief at Gizmodo so eloquently put it: ‘Imagine getting your hands on a social media platform so influential it got all three console makers to literally add a dedicated button to their controller design for sharing to it, and f***ing it up like this in less than a single generation of hardware’. Great job. Xbox did this first btw. I’m sure Nintendo won’t be far behind.
This is interesting (and again, another bonafide proof point about rEtAiL SaLeS not being a great signifier of success – looking at you, EAFC nay-sayers): physical games represented just 4% of PlayStation’s total revenue last quarter. To put that in perspective, digital sales was 21% (my quick and dirty maths tells me that that equates to a 16% of all [first party] games sold for PlayStation were physical (and 84% digital). I wonder what the YoY on that is (I don’t have the time to work it out right now but it’s a good noodle to tug on).
What am I playing?
After finishing Spider-Man 2 I wanted to find a smaller indie game to explore/adore and I have found that in a gorgeous little game called Jusant (pictured, top). It’s only a few hours long and as such, I managed to finish it last night (it’s lovely). So now I’m back bouncing between Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Super Mario Wonder ,and a shiny new edition of Modern Warfare III (thanks for the code, Activision). I think I’ve got enough to get me through to the end of the year (!) but we’ll see how we go.
I definitely want to play Alan Wake: Remastered (and then the new AW2), I’m also hoping I can clear the slate enough by 2024 so I can make a start on Baldur’s Gate 3 in January but again let’s SEE HOW WE GO.
What are you playing?
—
And finally this week…
Another week in games, another week of devastating lay off news across the category. Once again all I can do is point anyone impacted by these redundancies to the relentless Amir Satvat and his excellent work over on Linkedin (that most recent post featuring links to a wide range of resources and support). Amir has also run the numbers on job vacancies vs people looking – it’s not great but it’s still important knowing.
I hope it’s helpful.
4. GROUNDS FOR DISCUSSION
With Rory Sutherland and James Hoffman.
Anyone who has ever worked at Ogilvy for any decent amount of time will almost certainly have a story about Rory. My own one is when I offered to drive him to the station after a client meeting once (‘Don’t kill the vice chairman’, my AD said to me as he got in the care). Rory spent the entire time asking questions about everything he could see – my phone choice (Android), my smartwatch (Pebble), car integration (non-existent) – and such was the distraction (combined with my relatively recent acquisition of a drivers licence and the many stop/start hills of St Alban’s) that I easily stalled the car a good six or seven times.
Unbelievable.
Anyway, in my mini book of Roryisms, I have a working/running theory. It’s not quite ‘Sutherland’s Law’. It might be a rule. Or simply a theorem. It goes like this: Rory’s public talks are a bit like that whole thing that happened with Eddie Izzard and Watchdog a few years back. Because he is such a consumer of data and information – and he’s processing it all the time – if you see him two weeks running then you might see or hear the same thing. If you see him at the end of one tour and the beginning of a new one, same deal.
Point is, since departing Ogilvy Towers, I try to time my Sutherland consumption to catch as much as new stuff as possible.
It was during one of these moments when I heard Rory talking about how hilarious and dangerous he thought YouTube could be. ‘One minute you’re looking at cat videos, the next you’ve ordered a three thousand pound Japanese coffee machine a man named James Hoffman told me about it’.
It’s a very Rory thing to say.
I like Rory. I like James Hoffman (you know who he is, he’s the YouTube coffee guy). And that comment stuck in my head. So when I saw that someone had managed to get them in both in the same room, to have coffee, and to chat about what drives consumer choices – well, I poured myself a hot black one (Aeropress) – and enjoyed every last word.
This week, in light of Meta’s recent introduction of a charge to avoid advertising regular reader, Tim, sent me this article: ‘Meta, subscriptions, and the EU’s Privacy Gordian Knot’ (linked at the bottom of this thing).
Before we get into it, I hadn’t heard of the Gordion Knot until this article was shared with me so, of course, I went away and looked it up.
The Gordion Knot can be traced back to Alexander the Great.
In 333 B.C, the Macedonian conqueror marched his army into the Phrygian capital of Gordium in modern day Turkey. Upon arriving in the city, he encountered an ancient wagon, its yoke tied with what one Roman historian later described as “several knots all so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened.”
Phrygian tradition held that the wagon had once belonged to Gordius, the father of the celebrated King Midas. An oracle had declared that any man who could unravel its elaborate knots was destined to become ruler of all of Asia.
According to the ancient chronicler Arrian, the impetuous Alexander was instantly “seized with an ardent desire” to untie the Gordian knot. After wrestling with it for a time and finding no success, he stepped back from the mass of gnarled ropes and proclaimed, “It makes no difference how they are loosed.” He then drew his sword and sliced the knot in half with a single stroke.
So of course, when applying this particular turn of phrase to the route through which Meta is solving the knotty problem it faces with EU legislation around data sharing it has indeed sliced right through it.
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Sorry to to be the one to have to tell you but OREO x Xbox campaign I led the strat for went and won some more awards. This time EIGHT SILVER EFFIES. This is getting embarrassing now, lad. Come on.
How to swear at co-workers (a good read, this – I tend not to swear at co-workers. I swear at things. The work, the brief. The lack of time. But never people – at least, I like to think I don’t).
In what is potentially the most exciting thing I’ve read this week: ‘Brit Marling hopes to revisit ‘The OA’ – not yet but IT’S A SIGN! – in the meantime, watch her new show – A Murder at the End of the World’ #SavetheOA
What’s that? You want MORE Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij? OK fine.
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It’s late now. I’m going to schedule this for 10am tomorrow morning and head to bed.
Before I do that, however, I want to leave you with two wildly different event recommendations.
First up is NJ Carter’s ‘Safe House Party’ looks great and is totally my vibe. It’ll be in Brentford on December 2nd and tickets are a fiver. All profits go to War Child.
Second is this event from BIMA x Good Shout: ‘Why Maternity is an EVERYONE issue’ on Dec 5th. Amy has asked me to specifically encourage MEN to attend. Tickets are £15ish and you are a man, please go. Thanks.
I am travelling when both of these are on so this is my way of saying ‘sorry I can’t be there’ to two people I think are excellent.
How will you be nice to people you think are excellent this weekend?
Until next time,
Whatley out x
PS. It’s my birthday next week so there might be an edition, there might not. Who knows? But if you see me in Soho, buy me a pint and say happy birthday would you? Thanks x
Things of note for the week ending Sunday November 5th, 2023.
INTRO
As I write this entry to you now, it’s 23:11 on Thursday November 2nd. I’ve had a decent evening. My friend (and co-founder of Today Do This), Robbie has been over (hi mate). A poorly Mrs meant we had to skip a party and instead head home to eat chips, chat politics, and watch Kevin Eldon lose £83k on the celebrity edition of The Chase.
…/time leap/…
It’s now Saturday. It’s 22:00. We go again.
Last night, Friday, I was in Brixton seeing friends (old Oreo pals – and more). My mum had the kids and we partied late, stayed over, and slept in.
It was a great night – made all the better by a brief stop at Westminster on the way to see easily the biggest thing Diva has done since I joined the agency: a full building takeover of London County Hall for the launch of Call of Duty: Modern War III.
I can’t believe how great it was. That sound was live! And so loud. Mazin.
What else can I tell you?
Thank you to all the lovely replies last week. I’ve got to most of you. I think i’ve got two more left (will do it after I hit send on this – promise). It’s November. It’s my birthday soon. Better make some plans…
In the meantime however, it’s getting late – and I don’t think this will go out until Sunday. I’ve done a bit of prep on the links, so I know what’s going where. I’m hoping not too dilly dally too much with the opinion and just get you the juicy links. But let’s see how we go?
Shall we go then? To the things?
LET’S.
1. DAVID S. PUMPKINS
“Any questions?”
It’s been halloween this week and while it is customary to write about these things in the lead up to the event, I’ve spent perhaps more time than I should’ve laughing about and reflecting on DAVID S PUMPKINS again.
(I say ‘again’ because I’m adamant I’ve written about him before but you can bugger right off if you think I’m checking).
OK, so. David S. Pumpkins who?
Some of you will know who he is. Some of you won’t. Some of you will get this. Some of you won’t. The thing is, I am massively here for those of you the latter party.
BECAUSE THATS WHY IT’S FUNNY.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about then of course you MUST watch the original SNL skit, right here (on Five things on Friday). Any questions?
“Data shows there’s no such thing as advertising ‘wear-out’, so save your new campaign budget and spend it on making your current ads effective for longer.”
Now I know, as someone who has spent most of his professional working life working on the creative side of the advertising business, admitting or sharing this information is a death knell on the retained agency’s need to launch a new and different brand campaign every year.
But the data is inarguable and if it means finding new and creative ways to share the same message, or more creative ways to drive effectiveness through additional channel rollouts, cut-downs, partnerships – etc (the point is, lads, your first idea shouldn’t just be a script, yeah?)
Ritson continues – in a pitch perfect description of how a good marketer works:
“Gaze back at the last decade and the effectiveness concepts line up beautifully. Any newly minted CMO who knows their advertising onions is going to follow the script.
They will appreciate the pre-existing size of their brand has a massive impact on current strategy and future impact.
They will use excess share of voice (ESOV) to assess the right overall level of advertising investment.
They will split it into long and short baskets based on the nature of their category, brand and market.
They will brief the correctly selected agencies on a handful of objectives, with clarity on target audiences and position.
The power of the creative idea will be paramount.
The work will need to be distinctive and studiously apply distinctive brand codes throughout. It will employ emotion, especially for the branding part.
The work will spread across multiple media channels in an integrated fashion. It will prioritise reach over extended frequency.
It will take into account the varied attention metrics of the different channels.
And the marketer will use a blend of econometrics, market testing and brand tracking to optimise the campaign’s effect, assess its ultimate impact and produce learnings ahead of its next iteration.
…
Whether all of this stuff then gets to be applied is an entirely different, more practical question.”
Aside from the broader point of the piece, which we’ll come to momentarily, that last part is bang on. I have worked with some incredible marketing directors- and you know when you get to the good ones because they’re the ones that have not only done the work but also are equipped with the toolset and ability to ask the right questions. All of which can only be at their disposal IF (big if) IF they’ve done the work outlined above. If.
So yeah, about Ritson’s point. Over 50,000 ads reviewed… and:
“There is no evident impact of how long the ad has been running on that ads’ performance…”
The full data (from multiple, well respected and well-researched agencies), seems to suggest if you’re rolling out a new brand campaign every year, then maybe that’s something you should reconsider.
Or, maybe better yet, perhaps delve back into the archives and see if there’s an old ad that demands a modern twist.
We’ve had a fairly big gamery opening so I’ll try and keep this week’s section brief.
In last week’s edition of Five things on Friday, I mentioned how daft it was to make assumptions about EA’s apparent failure with the launch of FC24. Using incomplete data is a sure-fire way to end up with nothing more than ill-informed opinion.
Go the extra click, I said. Double check the data, I said. Given that the brand marketers at EA aren’t idiots, I thought FC24 would be OK. But let’s wait and see what happens at the earnings call, I said.
‘Black Games Archive is a multimedia, public-facing database of games, digital resources, accessible scholarship, and designer interviews that are relevant to the intersections between Black culture, games, and play.’ – GO. SEE.
I am sad for the situation at Bungie. One of my favourite studios and creators of the game that’s had the biggest impact on my life, Destiny 2. I hope it improves.
Per the IGN article linked, it makes sense for this to be an early / accidental release to be timed with the slightly delayed arrival of the Arkham Trilogy on Nintendo Switch (originally slated for last month, now due in December). Either way, when (not if) it drops, I look forward to trying it out.
Regular readers will know Batman has a special place in my heart and he has followed me around in my career over the years.
I’ve worked on brand partnership campaigns for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (at 1000heads for Nokia), ARKHAM KNIGHT (at Ogilvy for Pizza Hut), and THE BATMAN (at Publicis EU for Oreo). But this is the first time two of those things have been smashed together in this way. It’s kinda nice.
Incidentally, if you’ve ever got a Batman brief in, I’m your man x
What is James playing?
Well, you’ll be wholly unsurprised to learn that I’ve completely finished Spider-Man 2.Platinum, the lot. This game has been incredible and I think a clear runner for my GotY. Insomniac Games’ dedication to emotional depth and growth, on top of a model that it knows works, is key to its success. So much depth.
I think my favourite missions were side quests (exploring the history of black music; flying with ‘sea birds’ – my heart). Arguably the first game that makes the PS5 a must-purchase machine.
FWIW, the whole thing clocked in at around 35hrs. YMMV. And I wouldn’t let young young children play this. There’s a couple of scenes in there – specifically with Kraven – that I would not want my 9 year old to see. FYI.
Once Spdey was out of the way, I also managed to knock over Cocoon. I’ve talked about this already but it’s on Game Pass and an amazing little puzzler (especially tricky towards the end) but I loved it.
So to answer the question, I’m playing
Assassin’s Creed Mirage. I want to finish this before moving to the recently purchase Alan Wake remaster (which I want to play before moving onto AW2)
The Finals Open Beta – what fun!
Aaaand I’m also one of the SIX MILLION people that have returned to Fortnite for the OG update. Insane.
And not one of them is Christmas-related. I promise. Not yet at least. We’re a good month away until I do any of that stuff.
We’ve not even had bonfire night yet for crying out loud.
So yeah, here are some ads that you have probably heard of or seen already but I felt like shining some light on because good work needs to be celebrated more.
I really like this triplicate of New EE ones that sit behind the New EE work from Saatchi & Saatchi and Digitas UK.
Huge credit to the client for signing off three large production TVCs to communicate three different messages in one distinctive creative expression. Outstanding music choices (across all three), and the editing and directing is superb. Honestly, I can’t love them enough – for all the reasons given and more.
Telecoms (in the UK at least) generally is hard. A saturated market with 98% coverage from all networks and hardware exclusives few and far between (what number iPhone are we up to now)?) – the general consensus of any commoditised marketplace, from a planning perspective at least, is that you either compete on price (big no no) OR you differentiate on brand.
This is why people pay £7 for Nurofen vs 99p for own brand of the same product.
And so it follows in Telecoms, right?
Wrong. EE has basically said ‘Yeah, no – we’re not doing that. We’re going to embrace all four of our four Ps of marketing and innovate on product, on customer experience, and on brand.
PS. I used to work with some of this lot, I briefly touched some EE stuff YONKS ago. But none of this is my work, I just know the bunch behind them are mega talented x
—
I really like this new Uber One ad… ‘Best friends’
CAN YOU IMAGINE being in the room when you’re pitching Asa Butterfield and Robert De Niro in a 3min ad with the line being ‘for people who eat food and go places’ – ?!
The audacity. I love it.
Congrats to all involved.
—
And finally, I really like this new Doritos Gaming AI tech one.
Arguably this could be in the gaming section above but I’m putting it here because it’s actually mega refreshing to find a brand/game activation that not only works in a way to address a real player problem (I used to get so much grief from my mates for joining a Raid night with a packet of Thai Sweet Chili Sensations on the go) BUT ALSO uses technology in a meaningful and helpful way (vs say a ‘hand wavey BS’ way – you know who you are).
I’d be interested to know/see what the take up is and, of course, whether it works for all crisps or if it’s specifically Doritos.
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I’ve not really followed much of the FTX story. ‘Another white man over-invested in by idiots loses other people’s money’ – sure. BUT, this article is great.
Judi Dench on Graham. Saw this happen live, was so impromptu and just flat out incredible; I could watch her for days.
The best London meme accounts had me crying with laughter this week. The Soho House ones especially (more so because I’ve helped with the copy on an apology letter before – the things you do for your line managers, eh?) – oh the lols.
Poking fun at McKinsey feels like shooting fish in a barrel these days (and I wonder if all this negative PR is almost certainly good for business. If you’re not a great company but you’re buckets of money in bad ways – and you need help – you’re probably the kind of company that would want these charlatans) but still, John Oliver was eviscerating on them recently. Neil Perkins has the links.
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Right. We made it. It’s 11:45am on Sunday November 5th.
I wanted to write quickly about some of the responses I’ve had to this section last week talking mental health.
Jay, for you – for your brother – I watched the Norwich City FC film ‘You are not alone’ – what an incredible piece of work. Thank you. I’m sharing it here, as promised.
If you sometimes feel like your mental health suffers BUT you’re having an OK time of it at the moment, then this is the perfect time to find someone to talk to. Please don’t wait for it to hit crisis.
You men especially. There’s a danger zone and once you’re in it, the speed at which you’ll become a scarf on the back of a stadium seat is frightening.
You are not alone. And it’s OK to not be OK.
There are other ways out – and they don’t have to be final.
Things of note for the week ending Friday October 27th, 2023
INTRO
It’s been a rough old week. After the Games Aid Gala a week or so ago I came down with a nasty flu (not the ‘rona) and I’m pretty sure that brought about a mild case of sinusitis with it. Not. Fun. Blergh. So I write this to you – well, at least – I start writing this to you at 19:08 on the evening of Friday October 27th.
I’ve no idea if this will go out on time (if at all) so let’s see how we go, shall we?
First thing first, how have you been? If you get this as an email, hit the reply button and tell me. I do like hearing from you and seeing/hearing what you’re up to. Don’t be a stranger etc 🙂
Second thing, our amazing launch work for Diablo IV got shortlisted for two Drum Awards earlier today (one for innovation (we built it in UE5 y’know) and another for just being spectacular, apparently). Which was a lovely to end the week.
So swings and roundabouts and all that.
Given the intermittent headache, I might just see if we can crack through this quickly this week – shall we try?
Let’s.
TO THE THINGS!
1. ‘FOR ME, IT REPRESENTS THE DEATH OF THE FUTURE’
Johny Pitts on Lost in Translation at 20.
This did the rounds earlier this week and I’ve returned to it a couple of times since. I’m not sure why. A poignant reflection of a before time. Out of time. A movie that hasn’t dated well but along side that, and many other relevant points are explored thoroughly by this perfect piece from Johny Pitts.
2. HERE IS A SECTION THAT CONTAINS SOME PLATFORM UPDATES. SORRY.
That may or may not include updates on Threads, the platform formally known as Twitter, and others. I know you probably get this news elsewhere but I would like to think my curation might be worth something…
1. Threads nears 100m MAUs.
I mean, that’s some serious scale. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was wanging on about how Meta had sodded this up and how it was literally haemorrhaging users every single day. I guess they were all wrong and will be publishing retractions immediately? Cool, cool.
Another $3.7bn for the most recent quarter to be precise (I love earnings call season), Zuck said/warned it would continue to do so – ages ago. But still. It’s gotta sting a bit, moreso when Threads just flies. The very definition of a long bet.
…
3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING
Forces for change.
British Vogue with this fantastic look at some of the brilliant women (along with some on point stats) carving out the future of what is basically the biggest form of entertainment in the world.
The fact is, there are an estimated 3.2 billion gamers in the world – this writer included – and by the end of last year the industry was worth a staggering £160 billion. You might not consider yourself a gamer, but there’s no getting away from gaming’s influence on our lives and culture. From prestige TV (see multi-Emmy nominated series The Last Of Us, based on the apocalyptic action-adventure game of the same name) to cinema (after Barbie, The Super Mario Bros Movie was this year’s second highest-grossing film) to the apps on your phone (Candy Crush Saga has, to date, been downloaded more than three billion times), it is, as video game executive Siobhan Reddy says, “the medium of our time”.
Long-time readers will know that I’ve been following the EAFC/Nu-FIFA launch closely – ever since it was announced in May of last year, in fact.
This week there was some commentary and reflection on the FC/FIFA switch sales being the cause of a ‘YoY sales decrease of 30%’ and, given that this year is the year that EA walked away from the cost-prohibitive FIFA licence and instead launched FC, some Linkedin punters were quick to highlight how ‘30%’ was in fact ‘the cost of brand’.
This is demonstrably untrue.
The problem with a certain section of marketers these days is the ease at which they want the answer to be simple. A one sentence definition to a problem that so swiftly and deftly explains everything away that it a) makes them look smart for spotting it and b) paints a picture of an easy fix.
When it comes to the EAFC ‘-30%’ number, first and foremost this is based solely on retail sales. Digital sales numbers are not often shared by the platform holders and so that data is hard, night impossible to know or pin down.
Making sweeping generalisations on incomplete data is a fool’s errand. Don’t worry, we’ll get to all the potential data points that might impact the -30% number in a moment however – if there’s one piece of advice that I always give to people it’s this: go the extra click.
Find out the data behind the headline and dig into the numbers, the trends, the macro, the micro, and then MAYBE make a strategic leap.
To come back to FC24’s sales, as much as I would LOVE to scream that this is ALL brand brand brand – of course I would! I’m a planner! – you can’t. Because being a good planner means poking holes in data. It means seeing and asking what else is missing; asking better questions and getting to better answers.
For example, what else could impact EAFC’s lower-than-last-year’s RETAIL sales (so discs, boxed, from a shop).
Well,
Physical (vs Digital) sales continues to decline YoY (last count, 9/10 game sales were digital – vs 7/10 in 2022).
2023 is one of the most crowded AAA release windows in history.
Not only that, but AAA ‘next gen’ games being £70 in an economic downturn (meaning if people are going to buy a game this year, will they buy last year’s rebadged FIFA or will they buy COD or Spidey or Mario or Baldur’s Gate or or or).
Even at 30% down EAFC is still the second biggest boxed sale of the year (second only to Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom).
FIFA 23 is widely regarded as a series high point – and core players have grumbled there’s not enough difference between FIFA23 and FC24 (apart from on Nintendo where the game has been the same since 2019 – and FC24 has actually seen an uptick on last year’s – because the game is actually different – at last).
The point is: FC24 would be ice-skating uphill no matter what name was on the box.
And on top off all the above, it has invested well and wisely on the first step of the LONG while others scream and shout about the SHORT.
EA brand marketer’s aren’t idiots and when you scratch the surface all this, I’m pretty EAFC is going to be OK.
Let’s have a look at EA’s next earnings (due next week) and see what happens – and then let’s regroup again at FC25 to see how well the brand has really settled in.
All this and it’s still saving $150m a year for that FIFA licence in the process…
QUICK NEWS BITES
The Four Lives of Epic Games – this is part two of a seven (well, five) part collection of articles looking at Epic. The whole thing is good but this bit was my favourite.
UKIE published its Video Games Manifesto, calling on the government (this one and the next) to basically pay more attention to education, investment, and regulation to ensure the UK video games industry continues to grow and flourish. I like these things. They’re good at showing work. I hope it lands.
Honestly, if I’m not playing Spider-Man 2 then I’m probably a) talking about Spider-Man 2, b) posting Spider-Man 2 content on Threads OR c) sneaking a quick level on Mario Wonder (see, Mario is getting a look in – honest).
But just LOOK at this RIDICULOUS game.
For the uber-nerds among you, I’m playing on Fidelity mode but on a 120hz TV and thanks to the geniuses at Insomniac, that means its churning out 40fps (feel free to go deep on that via Digital Foundry).
Additionally, Super Mario Wonder is a JOY. If you’ve picked it up, then you may or may not already know about THE COG, aka the CHECKMARK. Don’t know what I mean? Well, this video should educate you (and ruin your life a bit – sorry).
Alan Wake II also came out today. Pals are [already] playing through that and are reporting good things. I will get to it… at some point.
I’ve also been playing [REDACTED] ahead of it being announed next year. And I’m quite enjoying it!
What are you playing?
4. THAI FOOD NEAR ME
You think this might be a joke. But it isn’t.
Thai Food Near Me is a small but powerful symbol of Google’s far-reaching impact on businesses over the past two decades and the lengths their owners will go to try to optimize their operations for the company’s platforms. The name is both notable and obvious — if you’ve spent any amount of time searching for things online, you will understand the reference immediately. The turn is that 25 years after Google Search first arrived, the name says the quiet part out loud.
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I went down an internet rabbit hole a couple of days ago and ended up at the Devil’s Picturebook by Derren Brown. Have you ever seen this? I’m this close to buying it. Have you heard of it before?!
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A couple of weeks ago I was chatting to a friend about seeking some help through therapy.
As an aside, I don’t know if you’ve ever done this before but I have and (if you have the healthcare in place) the process is: get a referral (or pretend you have one – they never check), then see a consultant psychologist for an assessment, then you go and get your therapy – usually from a therapist your psychologist recommends. At least, that’s how it has worked for me the two times I have been in therapy.
We looked up the guy who was my original consultant – as I wanted to recommend him – and it turned out he had taken his own life.
To say that it was a shock would be an understatement. I don’t really know why I’m sharing this. It was incredibly saddening.
I don’t know how else to say this but I’ll say it again – and I’ll keep saying it – if you are feeling like there’s no way out, like you’re in urgent despair, then please please please please please speak to someone. Speak to these people. Speak to me.
Things of note for the week ending Saturday October 21st, 2023
INTRO
Well it’s been maybe five days since the last one, let’s go again shall we?
I promise they’re not usually these common. Honest. One might begin to think this was a regular newsletter!
Happy Fridayweekend, fam.
I am starting this week’s edition in the early hours of Thursday morning (My youngest has been up coughing all night and after carrying them back to their own bed twice, I gave up around 530ish and came to the desk to start writing) in the hope that I’ll get it done and out and scheduled for Friday but let’s see how we go.
[EDIT: lol, that did not work at all did it?]
How’s your week?
It’s been hectic here. The agency is in peak pre-Christmas craziness. Back to backs, client checks for this [redacted] thing, drumming up excitement for that other [redacted] thing, lining up stuff for other [more redacted] things – updates to come soon, promise – and a linkedin message box going nuts (thanks?!) and yet looking out the window here… the rain hasn’t stopped.
It is definitely October.
The snails are out in force and the plants are getting their annual soak.
But hey, the grass is always greener when you water it, right?
Tonight (Thursday night) I’m getting suited and booted and all dolled up for the annual GamesAid Gala. Now in its sophomore year, last year’s inaugural event raised nearly £30,000(!) for GamesAid charities and I cant’ wait to see what the UK games industry can do this time around… (EDIT: hello!)
Speaking of FUNDRAISING. I forgot to update you last week! Two Five things on Fridays ago (FToF #353) I was out with cap in hand to support Team Diva and help us raise money for War Child UK as we prepared to run TOUGH MUDDER.
Well, last week I forgot to mention that – we did it!
And thanks to you generous lot, we raised over £5000 for War Child (£5127 to be exact). Thank you, thank you thank you – to all of you that donated and supported and shared. It was hugely appreciated.
Thank you.
And in a show of my appreciation I will gift thee FIVE THINGS ON FRIDAY.
Shall we get to them?
LET’S.
1. SERPENT D’OCÉAN
Let’s kick off this week with the bones of a giant snake because why not.
Just off the shore of the Loire estuary outside of Nantes, France, a slithering serpent rises from the water. Completed in 2012, Serpent d’océan is an impressive 425-foot (130 meters) sculpture by French Chinese contemporary artist Huang Yong Ping and is part of the Estuaire permanent public art collection along the estuary’s 37 miles.
A classic dip into My Modern Met this week yielded this absolute belter. I’ve not been to see this but imagine a) you didn’t know it was there and b) just happening upon it one night on a walk along the beach. Terrifying. But also: kind of gorgeous?
In a back and forth between some Neil Gaiman comic books fans on Threads earlier this week, I found out that a) Lichtenstein a pilferer of art from multiple comic books and the artists that did the original work and b) Neil Gaiman actually had the Museum of Modern Art update its description of ‘Drowning Girl’ to include the original artist.
I’m never going to look at a Lichtenstein the same way ever again.
3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING
Friday October 20th is basically Barbenheimer for gamers.
If you’ve been under a rock for the past few weeks then you’d be forgiven for not knowing that the BOTH INCREDIBLY WELL REVIEWED MEGA HIT GAMES ‘Super Mario Wonder’ and ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’ were coming out today.
If you’ve got a Nintendo Switch, you should get Mario. If you’ve got a PlayStation 5, you should get get Spidey 2. (And if you’ve got an Xbox, you’ve already got Forza Motorsport and Starfield).
Basically, y’all spoilt. Which one are you going for? I’m already playing Mario and there’s no way my kids will let get through the weekend without picking up Spider-Man… dammit (as a useful aside, ShopTo or Instant Gaming are where I buy my console store credit from, you can regularly get 15% off the usual price from these websites).
What else can I tell you?
QUICK NEWS BITES
The second edition of the Women in Games ‘Building a Fair Playing Field’ report is available now. This is a chunky report – with clear guidance, examples, and recommendations on how to not only improve the games industry for women but also attract more women into games. Leadership Leadership Leadership. Even if you’re not interested in gaming or games, I would recommend this to you anyway as a great example of what good looks like.
Related – and to address some of the areas highlighted in the report above – Mastercard has launch the Mastercard Gamer Academy – with a specific focus on inclusion and inclusive gaming. I really like this. I’ve been noodling* for a while now on what OTHER WAYS brands can get involved more meaningfully in gaming and this effort from Mastercard is a great example of doing something DIFFERENT and with MEANING (not everything has to be a Fortnite island, you guys). Well done to all involved. *More on the noodling another time…
The Analogue 3D was announced. Basically a new console from Analogue that promises to play EVERY N64 GAME IN FULL 4K. No images yet, just a tease on the website but I can see this coming in at around $149-$199 and is definitely one for the ol’ nostalgia nerds. Speaking as someone who still has his fully working N64 in the cupboard, I don’t know if the 4K attraction is enough but I’ll keep an eye on it and update you as and when.
Finally, The industry layoffs show no sign of slowing. I properly hope this is an inflection point for the industry. New studios, smaller more agile teams, better financial management… something has got to give so this doesn’t happen again. It’s brutal.
WHAT AM I PLAYING?
Don’t get me wrong, while Spider-Man 2 will be downloading at some point this weekend and Super Mario Wonder literally dropped through the letterbox yesterday (I played it on the train into London last night and if you don’t laugh like a child at the singing piranha plants in level two then you are dead inside), I must confess between this edition and last, I completely crumbled and picked up ASSASSIN’S CREED MIRAGE and sheeeeeeeeee’s a beauty.
It’s going to be hard to put this down for Spider-Mario Weekend but hey this year is NUTS for killer games. How do you choooooose?!
4. FIND YOUR DAYLIST PLAYLIST
Got Spotify?
Open the app, go to search and type ‘Daylist’ – et voila, one instant personalised playlist based upon what you normally listen to on that day.
I love this.
Thanks to Paul W for the tip x
5. THE META GLASSHOLES ARE COMING
This is a long edition already so I won’t go mega long on this however what with Meta Quest 3’s pass-through being seriously fantastic, some people (in guess where: America!) have started wearing them… out.
Completely normal behaviour.
I’m still umming and ahhing about an MQ3 but IF I do end up pulling the trigger on one, I will NEVER wear it outside, let alone to the ACTUAL COFFEE SHOP YOU MENTALISTS.
THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. THAT PART LIKE MOST OTHER NEWSLETTERS WHERE PEOPLE JUST LINK TO THINGS THEY’VE LIKED THIS WEEK BUT INSTEAD OF IT BEING RUBBISH, MY VERSION OF IT IS ACTUALLY QUITE GREAT.
WPP merged VMLY&R with Wunderman Thompson this week. Goodbye Wunderman, goodbye Y&R, goodbye JWT… so many dead advertising brands consigned to the bin of history – and they went and called it ‘VML’. It’s as dull as it is depressing.
Finally, if, like me, coffee is your thing, may I suggest the PACT COFFEE advent calendar? I’ve ordered mine and it’s an annual highlight (and this is not an ad – I just really like Pact).
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. HOLD TIGHT.
And the OREO Twists UK campaign (one of the very last things I touched on the UK team) has been shortlisted in the 2023 DMAs. Best of luck gang!
And that’s this week’s edition away. As I write this to you now it’s 4am on Saturday morning (and I’m scheduling this for 9am – I’m not a monster).
I’ve been up since about 2am with a rotten headache and snotty nose (I think getting caught outside in the rain after the GamesAid Gala has given me a horrible cold) and I thought before I give up and just play some video games, I’ll see if I can get FToF finished and scheduled – and here we are.
I hope you’ve got a decent weekend lined up and if you haven’t, then maybe do what I’m going to do and put your duvet on the sofa and play a shed ton of Assassin’s Creed Mirage / Super Mario Wonder / Spider-Man (delete where appropriate).
Until next time,
Whatley out x
PS. Do me a favour this week would you? Share this newsletter with someone you think might enjoy it. Or if you’ve enjoyed something specifically from this week’s edition, please share either on social, or in an email to your team. All shares and recommendations are really appreciated – and it helps this Substack grow. Thank you x
Things of note for the week ending Sunday October 15th, 2023
INTRO
Hey friends, how have you beeeeeen?
It’s been a couple of months, I know but I often taken the summer off this newsletter and this year, seemingly, was no different. The sunshine making a last hurrah in the early days of October (along with a last minute weekend jaunt to Milan – more on that later) meant the restart date of was pushed back a touch however as a dear old boss of mine was wont to say: we are where we are.
And herewe are: Five things on Friday (on Sunday) #354. Arriving late, as noted and as per [the small print] but here all the same.
Welcome, one and all – oldies and newbies together. Welcome.
I hope you like this week’s edition. I’ll be honest, I’ve not opened the ‘#5things’ tag in my inbox yet so I have no idea what we’ll find – a lot has happened since we last spoke and as ever the challenge is always to find the right balance of things you might not know about, things that I really want to write about, and bringing a fresh perspective on both. I try.
Shall we find out what’s in there then?
Let’s (and make sure you stick around for the bonuses).
TO THE THINGS!
1. MARKETING IS IN DESPERATE NEED OF A REALITY CHECK
“Marketers operate in an alternate reality, Marketingland, where they are far removed from the lives of the people they’re meant to understand and reach. The industry can do better, says Richard Huntington, CSO, Saatchi & Saatchi. He calls for The Marketing Reality Movement, a movement that turns the tide on aspirational marketing, one that better represents and serves the real needs of real people.”
Look, I know I’ve done this before but it’s been a while since a) we last spoke and b) I posted on the toxic far-right disinformation platform formally known as Twitter (basically, if you’re still there, you’re part of the problem).
Since then I’ve had a couple of months to figure out the vibe and while I’ve flirted with a bunch of platforms, it’s currently bottoming out like this:
Work/marketing stuff on Linkedin. Like, daily – who even am I?
And then just messing about with an occasional bursts on Bluesky – because why not?
That’s it, that’s the thing.
I felt like I should say it all again because I would argue all of the platforms named above have gone through bursts of user/engagement growth of late and that growth may have included you.
Irrespective of your reasoning for giving the platform up (for those of you that actually have at least (vs say, those of you that have said you have but then posted twenty-eight times since and still embed X posts in your newsletter – lol what)) you might be on the search for the rest of the diaspora – so I thought I’d remind you: this is where I am.
Where are you?
You can add me on any or all of the above. See you there
…NPR?
‘Six Months Ago NPR Left Twitter. The Effects Have Been Negligible’. You may have seen this headline floating around your feeds over the past week and even if you have the slightest interest or influence over social content, it is genuinely worth your time to read it.
A memo circulated to NPR staff says traffic has dropped by only a single percentage point as a result of leaving Twitter, now officially renamed X, though traffic from the platform was small already and accounted for just under two percent of traffic before the posting stopped. (NPR declined an interview request but shared the memo and other information). While NPR’s main account had 8.7 million followers and the politics account had just under three million, “the platform’s algorithm updates made it increasingly challenging to reach active users; you often saw a near-immediate drop-off in engagement after tweeting and users rarely left the platform,” the memo says.
Speaking as someone who felt for a long time that being good at my job was linked to my presence and preoccupation with the platform, it’s really actually quite amazing to have it removed from my life and still be good at my job. Crazy, huh?
I laid out the platforms I’m present on at the start of this section but truth be told I’d wager that my output on all three of those combined probably still wouldn’t match up to how I spent my time on Twitter and having that time back? It’s kinda great!
So yeah, if I can do it (and walk away from 20k+ followers – happily), if NPR can do it (with negligible impact), then you can too.
‘The numbers confirm what many of us have long suspected — that Twitter wasn’t worth the effort, at least in terms of traffic’
Indeed.
…GAMING COMMUNITIES?
And finally for this section, I’ve never really been a big fan of the vanity metric (aka: metrics or statistics that look spectacular on the surface but don’t necessarily translate to any meaningful business results) so it was strikingly odd to me when I first moved into the games industry to suddenly start seeing briefs that said things like ‘20k Twitter followers in the first three months’ – like it was 2012 all over again.
And don’t get me wrong, I don’t deny the power of ‘the golden cohort’; for the first part of any new game’s early community development and buy-in. However, it’s hard to rationalise building your first and most important community on someone else’s platform while also giving away any hope of building a first party database.
Everyone else has written about the Microsoft x Activision decision finally going through (at last!) so all I’ll do to add to that is perhaps direct you to the UK Government decision page to read more about it.
It’s interesting to note that Ubisoft put out an article on the same day, outlining its vision for the next 15 years of Activision’s streaming output. With Ubisoft+ being a new destination for Cloud Gaming (as well as potentially being licensed out to others). We live in interesting times.
There’s lot of opinion out there but it’s always good to read the source.
Go the extra click.
As an aside, I do wonder about the costs of AAA title development and the future of ‘the Netflix for games’ – I wonder about that a lot…
What else can I tell you?
Oh yes, the other big news happening in games right now is the sheer amount of lay-offs happening across the industry. Some are calling it a belated post-covid realignment. Others are calling it a wake up call for bad business management.
Either way it’s pretty bleak out there for many people in games. If you’re looking or if you know someone looking, direct them to Amir Satvat on Linkedin, he’s doing God’s work.
BRANDS IN FORTNITE & ROBLOX
Not really a regular section but enough changes to happen this month to warrant its own little breakout. This week: strange trains and automobiles.
First we’ve got SHELL’s abominable attempt at fossil fuel propaganda with its ‘Ultimate Road Trips’ Fortnite Island.
Nothing much else to be said aside from congratulations on demonstrating a true absence of any moral backbone to literally everyone that touched this. The agency that built it, the media that sold it, the platforms that advertised it and the influencers that pushed it.
There’s a launch film here that gives you the overall gist of the thing but honestly, given the amount of effort that must’ve gone into this – what a lost opportunity.
I guess you can’t be done for greenwashing (again) if you’re not hiding your commitment to fossil fuels, right?
Meanwhile, on the right side of automotive category’s history, here’s BMW with its own foray into Fortnite: Hypnopolis – all about the launch of its brand new and fully electrified BMW iX2.
This BMW effort is interesting in that it makes an attempt to be actually something people might want to play. It isn’t AMAZING but it definitely isn’t terrible – it’s just a shame some comms person decided to spaff the words ‘Web 3’ all over the press release. If you need reminding: Fortnite is absolutely not Web 3.
Part standard media buy, part in-world activation this Roblox piece is both a point of difference on brands that have activated on the platform before anda puzzle.
The point of difference is that National Rail opted out of building its own Roblox world (where literally no one would visit) and instead built a brand extension in a handful of pre-existing uber-popular Roblox worlds such as Apartment Tycoon. This is smart. Better to join someone else’s more popular party than start your own and try and get people to come (this is basic social strategy from the late noughties btw – truly groundbreaking).
The puzzle is just how effective it’ll be. Like, this is the global distribution of Roblox audiences worldwide as of December 2022, by age group (source):
I’m slightly of the opinion that everyone over 25 is a 9yr old lying about their age but still. Of that audience, how many of those are a) in the UK and b) playing Apartment Tycoon? Is the ad-buy region locked somehow? How do you know if the ad-buy was successful? I get that it’s a new way to speak to this audience and I applaud the different approach. I’d just love to know more about it as a while (did you work on it? Hit reply on this email – I’m fascinated).
All of this er… analysis (?) aside, what has been genuinely pleasing/fascinating – from a work perspective at least – is the uptick we’ve had at Diva in non-games-focused brands and agencies getting in touch for an expert opinion on how to make these things compelling.
‘Hi, we’re building something but don’t actually know how to make it attractive to players – can you help?’ – it’s as flattering as it is welcome.
So if that’s you as well, by all means get in touch. You can’t just build these things and hope they’ll work – they won’t.
Idris Elba says actors in games is a sign of the times. Expect more, basically.
The FT on EA’s rebrand of FIFA to FC (regular readers will know I’ve been talking about successful this will be since it was announced – so it’s good to see the mainstream catching up).
Right now, a lot. I played the hell out of Starfield when it first dropped, completed all/most of the side missions (easily some of the most compelling content in the game) but haven’t actually yet finished the main game.
I will go back to it at some point I’m sure but for now I am playing…
FORZA MOTORSPORT This is sublime. You have to spare a thought for the talented team at Turn 10. Between Starfield coming out and the Activision purchase finally going through (plus, y’know – every other massive game coming out this month), Motorsport hasn’t had the oxygen it deserves. And that’s a shame because it’s a cast-iron banger.
COCOON From the devs behind Limbo and Inside – Cocoon tells you nothing and lets you figure it all out with a single action button. It’s gorgeous too.
ASSASSIN’S CREED ROGUE: REMASTERED No, that’s not a typo. I went to play the latest AC, MIRAGE, the other day but then got into a deep conversation with some pals about all the Assassin’s Creeds and realised I hadn’t ever played ROGUE – which is remiss of me given how much I proclaim to be such a fan of the series. So far it’s great – and I’ve missed the excellent ship sections. Nice to be back in that world. I will play MIRAGE at some point just not yet (everything I’ve heard and read says it’s classic AC and that’s what I want thanks).
FORTNITE Don’t get me wrong, while I’ve been jumping in and out a lot looking at work-based stuff (see above), I recently took the brakes off my son playing this and we’ve been playing together – and I’m kind of loving it. The years of Destiny 2 PvP paying off with many a Victory Royale – gold in solo build ranked mode? I thank you).
WALKABOUT GOLF Played this for the first time last night with my mate Dave. Him on Meta Quest 3 and me on my PS VR2. Full cross-play and it was brilliant. We’ll definitely be playing more. Can’t wait.
For what it’s worth, with the exception of Walkabout Golf, all of the above is available on Game Pass. I should also get back to Destiny 2 at some point. I still raid from time to time but I’ve fallen off the PvE main storyline completely.
TOO MANY OTHER GAMES DAMMIT.
And that’s even before we get to Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2… etc etc etc. Eesh.
5. OK FINE, I KNOW SOME OF YOU LIVE FOR THIS PART OF THE NEWSLETTER: LET’S DO SOME ‘METAVERSE’ BITS
We’re quite deep on this issue on FTOF so I’ll TRY and keep this brief?
First thing first: Meta Quest 3 got officially properly announced and launched. I haven’t got one (yet) but it’s the first headset from Meta that has made me actually take notice properly. A few gamer pals have gone all in and are loving it (see Walkabout Golf VR link above).
Is it the metaverse? No! But then if you watched the keynote, everything from meta quest 3 through to snoop dog being an AI-driven dungeon master in your Messenger app is part of the metaverse, according to Zucko. So… y’know, if it used to be called ‘digital’ it’s now called ‘the metaverse’ – sorry, Zuck makes the rules (this was predicted at least 18mths ago btw — utterly mental).
Second thing: On a related note, the Lex Fridman/Zuckerberg interview is definitely something you’ve already seen.
Buuuut this shorter segment (and this link will jump to the bit you need) basically specifically says ‘this is not the metaverse’ – because this is a (don’t get me wrong a REALLY FANTASTIC) demonstration of new technology called ‘Kodak Avatars’ which involves full facial scanning and encoding before you put the Meta Quest Pro anywhere near your head.
Again, this was yelled as ‘The first interview in the metaverse’ – but it’s not in the metaverse, it is instead a striking example of what can be achieved when technology combines together to create a photo-realistic (kodak avatars – geddit) video call.
But like I said, according to Mark Zuckerberg – everything is the metaverse. AI chatbots. Kodak avatars (exclusive to Meta Quest Pro?). Walkabout VR. All of it.
My main takeout from this article? If the so-called ‘Godmother of the Metaverse’ no longer has the word literally anywhere near their Linkedin, I’m guessing the hype is over.
BTW, it was free to read when I found it but that’s no longer the case – I think there’s a non-paywalled version available here.
—
And here’s an NFT section:
Longtime readers will know of my absolute lol-a-tron disdain for all things NFT. I think in May 2021 someone asked me what NFT stood for and I said:
No way am I ever letting any of my Effing clients Take part in this criminal waste of time/energy’
‘Brands are now approaching platforms like Roblox, Fortnite or Decentraland as new, 3D communications verticals – a natural evolution of social media, which is itself a natural evolution of print, TV and radio.’
Did you spot it?
I’ll show you: Roblox has a DAU of 66.1m users. Fortnite around 30m. Decentraland (if you believe their numbers at least) has around 8,000 DAUs. That’s not a typo. And yes, that really is an idiot putting Decentraland in the same bracket as Roblox and Fortnite. Anyone that does this should not be allowed near a laptop let alone your marketing budget.
THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS BUT DUE TO TIMING AND SELF-IMPOSED WRITING RESTRICTIONS ARE LIMITED TO PITHY COMMENTARY ONLY.
ENJOY.
Two men thought they had unearthed a stash of Roman gold coins (turns out they hadn’t).
I personally enjoyed Ahsoka (YMMV) and thought it felt like PROPER STAR WARS in ways that ANDOR didn’t. ‘They can’t all be Andor‘ is a great thought piece on how both can and should co exist in the universe .
‘I’m just Ken‘ – because I Ken never get Kenough of this bange.
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.
It’s nice to get this thing out and back inboxes once more. I hope it’s not too much of an intrusion -unlike WGSN who put this monstrosity in mine earlier this week – and I hope wherever you are reading this you are restful, breathing – and your jaw is unclenched… (go on, stretch it out).
Me and the Mrs managed to get away to see some friends in Milan last weekend (by all means yell if you want any reccos). It was exactly the break we needed AND I got to try out my 140-day streak Italiano I’ve been learning on Duolingo.
The weekend before that I spent three days in Birmingham catching up with my gamer pals some of whom I only ever see once a year (but chat to on mic at least once a week, if not on messenger daily).
Led by Marshall Manson and using data from over 100 agency managed brand pages, totalling more than 48 million fans, the Social@Ogilvy team were able to ascertain that organic reach for Facebook was facing a precipitous decline.
From October 2013 – February 2014, we could demonstrably prove that organic reach had dropped from 12% to 6%. That means for fan pages with 100 fans, any post with no paid media behind it would only reach six people.
In short: the free ride for brand fan pages was over. And the age of paid social had begun. Other social platforms soon followed. And in the years that followed, algorithmic content serving became king.
Since then, it became my standard to advise clients as often as possible to steer clear of an organic onlyapproach to social media. To instead diversify your platform investment. To find new ways of not only building community, but doing so on a platform where you have ownership of – or at least reasonable access to the data. Valuable data that you can use for analysis, segmentation, retargeting and beyond.
Above all else, we eschewed the outdated KPIs of follower counts and fan chasing and instead focused on sharp paid media targeting and kick-ass creative.
In short: vanity metrics ain’t it.
If the lesson to stop building a fan following on one social platform wasn’t clear enough by now, you only need to look at the trash-fire that is the far-right, transphobic, sex-trafficker-supporting social platform formerly known as Twitter, X.
Earlier this year you could still see games publishers putting paid media spend behind asking X/Twitter users to ‘Follow this account for the latest updates’ about a new game.
This is nuts.
According to the most recent research, the average half-life of a tweet is 24 minutes. Combine that with X/Twitter now purposefully obfuscating the organic reach metric (instead going with the non-unique nebulous number of ‘impressions’ – all views count, not just uniques), chasing vanity metrics is, at best, a dated KPI from the late noughties and at worst – a complete waste of time. Putting paid media behind that chase, even more so.
This alone should be cause for concern. When put against the recent shift of X/Twitter’s ownership, politics, and frankly, complete rejection of any and all brand safety – putting any spend into X/Twitter at all is… ill-advised.
OK so what’s the solution?
You might be reading this and thinking ‘Well, that’s not my experience’ – and you might be right. You might be experiencing a fantastic community on the platform and everything is amazing.
I doubt it, but you might.
You might also be reading this and screaming ‘James, Discord solves this!’- well, that is and isn’t the answer – the answer is and should always be ‘it depends’.
It depends what it is you’re trying to do. It depends on where you are in your game lifecycle. It depends on how much time/money you’re able to invest.
Learning how to diversify, test, learn and then commit. That’s the real trick.
But let’s get into it.
From AAA publisher to bedroom indie, the first question should always be: What is your objective? What is the one thing you’re actually trying to do?
‘I want brand awareness, community engagement, and sales’ – is not a single-minded objective. It’s three. The serious marketer chooses one.
‘I want to get 5000 followers on Instagram’ is not an objective. It’s a measurement. A measurement of what objective is the question.
‘I want an engaged community that I can reach with news and updates about my game’ – then the answer might be building Discord (for the core) or in fact, email (for mass).
Discord does of course have its pros. And many if not all of you reading this will be familiar with the platform. It is undeniable how useful it can be for developing that early/golden cohort of interest. However, you need to use it properly to drive engagement and interest. Talk to your fans, post regular / exclusive content. Engage in conversation. In Discord you have a captive audience, an audience that you can guarantee reach – so use it wisely. Don’t just auto-post your X/Twitter content. It’s lazy, disrespectful to the community and ultimately won’t deliver against your objective. You know who you are.
What about email?
We are without doubt in the age of the newsletter, whether you use Substack, Mailchimp or Ghost, newsletters are a great way to speak directly to people that actually want to hear from you. You get to own the first party database (hello, email!) and you get to sidestep the algorithmic content serving lords and masters of the social platforms. If email isn’t in your marketing channel plan, why not?
What else can we look at?
Well once again it comes down to your objective. If you’re building awareness, then for a small amount of investment you can do a surprising amount. From reaching new fans, building memory structures for existing, or even just giving announce trailers a paid media bump can be relatively simple and surprisingly cost effective.
If you need to drive interest on pre-orders, then ‘buy now’ carousels or stories/reels might do the job – and with the right creative execution then this too can deliver the results you’re after. All it takes is a clear brief and a commitment to a single objective.
There’s a lot here that should not come as a surprise. It’s not rocket science.
The point is: when it comes to games marketing, the platform landscape is in flux. Single platform organic engagement can no longer be relied upon for reach and follower/fan vanity metrics are as out of date as the opinions you can find on the platforms you’re squandering effort in.
Endlessly chasing the same core set of gamers to like or follow the same accounts for single digit amounts of organic reach or worse – impressions – is a colossal waste of time and money. Blending a cross-platform organic approach with paid media, underpinned with an owned data driven platform (hello email), all in service to a clear single-minded objective is the route to genuine growth.
How do you solve a problem like building communities on X/Twitter? It was solved years ago, I’m just wondering when everyone else will catch on.
whatleydude (WP) 