Learn more about the The $1,000,000 Pyramid Video Game.

And one of my favorite moments – Bink Dawsondale tells you how to collect your winnings.

The video sequence is the result of a risk-taking client, months of licensing work, several hundred casting submissions, a 12-hour shoot, over an hour of produced video, and 297 annotation links. Our fictional yet legendary host “Bink Dawsondale” brought the series to life. Learn more about the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Video Game here.

Watch a few of my favorite moments from the sequence in the full post.

Bink Dawsondale loses it:

Rather than helping, Bink tries to sell you the video game:

Bink shares a personal moment regarding food

Mad Max reference

Ask an Expert.. and a workout at 45 seconds in

The Price is Right Losing Horns:
http://losinghorns.com/

Family Feud Survey/Ding Buzzer:
http://surveysaysbuzzer.com/

Creating the key art:

You can play the archived version of the game here:
Land of the Lost

However, as I see it, Valve’s greatest impact in video games isn’t the quality of their games, it has been in their marketing. Aside from being a juggernaut in video game buzz generation, the company has changed both the delivery of PC video games through the Steam platform, as well as redefined consumer expectations through the delivery new content months, and even years, after launch.

With my limited experience in video game marketing, the traditional marketing model focuses on a large marketing push at launch with a goal of garnering a majority of sales at launch and/or holiday periods. While I have no doubt that Valve incorporates that model, they don’t stop marketing efforts and move on to the next title, even a year after a game is launched. Take Team Fortress 2, for example, which just released new weapons/abilities for the Scout class over a year after Team Fortress 2 was out. While downloadable content is not a new concept, I have never seen a developer this dedicated to creating new content for a title. Let’s get something straight here – Valve develops new content because it’s a viable marketing strategy, not because of the fanboys like me. When gamers quit playing TF2 months after release, Valve announced new class updates, generated buzz, and got the game back in front of the consumers that may not have purchased yet. Based on a recent Keynote from Gabe Newell of Valve, the TF2 updates led to 106% increase in sales on Steam with retail sales increasing by 28%. The TF2 updates were also credited with a 75% increase in Steam membership. Left 4 Dead has announced new content (albeit ones that should have been included in the initial release), which has it allowed them to get the game back in front of consumers once again.

The Steam platform has also given Valve the unprecedented ability to experiment with price points on games. Unlike retail, Steam can adjust prices, bundle add-ons, or adjust promotions at will to accommodate marketing objectives. This month’s Left 4 Dead Valentine’s Day sale is a great example. A 50% drop in price led to a 3000% increase in sales. In complete opposition of video game marketing expectations, this increase was greater than the weekend the game was launched. It also spiked new Steam membership by 1600%.

I’ve watched triple A titles with multi-million dollar budgets drop off the gaming radar a month after launch. Valve has managed to counteract that trend with a combination of new content and a price-point experiment on Steam. I have to question whether these tactics were more effective than the extensive billboard and TV media buy they did pre-launch. As for me, I’m eagerly scouring blogs for the announcement of any new Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead content.

Data taken from Gabe Newell’s keynote at the 2009 Dice Summit.

Client quote: “Big props to Emarketing and our media team for combining to run the most efficient online campaign in Ubisoft history.”

In addition to this recognition, the campaign will be awarded four Phoenix Addys (a local award show for marketing excellence) in March 2009.

Campaign highlights and TV Spots after the jump:

TV Spot 1: “Plinko”

TV Spot 2: “Big Wheel”

TV Spot 3: “Cliffhangers”

Cliffhangers Family Video (internet video):

The Official Site

View Additional Creative Examples

There are few web-based activities more narcissistic that Googling yourself – and even fewer more depressing than pulling up zero results for your name. Old-Spice has tapped into this insight with Swaggerize Me, and gives you basic tools to automatically generate online articles about your, well, awesomeness.

In addition to a phenomenal brand experience, Old-Spice snags your name and e-mail through a mandatory opt-in, generates six pages of unique content for you on different sites, and out of that creates space for integrated online advertising. Very smart.

“You’re one click away from inventing healing vaccines and flying stealth helicopters.”

My awesomeness on the web:
http://vision-stain.com/greg-orlowski/
http://sounddosage.com/greg-orlowski/
http://bookwormfarm.com/greg-orlowski/
http://isdnews.com/greg-orlowski/
http://the-super-fan.com/greg-orlowski/
http://globaleyeballs.com/greg-orlowski/

The Comscore data is focused on destination casual gaming sites (Yahoo Games, EA Online, Disney Games, etc) and not on stand-alone microsites with games. Regardless, category growth is compelling. It has caused me to rethink the model of creating microsites with advergames as the draw and instead focus on publishing original content destination gaming sites. This will be a challenge to convince our clients to move towards, but simply put, you have to place your advertising where users are going.

Depending on our luck with picking up another game show title, campaigns like thepriceisrightvideogame.com will have a whole new strategy this time around.

View the Gravitational Pull Design Strategy

Anonymous comments:
“I have a funny story, which I probably should not share at all with Reddit, or really anyone. I work freelance ‘in the industry’, and one of my clients did some of the Pepsi spots which are on air. During the initial treatment, the advertising agency which won the Pepsi contract for the re-design sent over the design guidelines and a presentation on the design process of the new logo.

I happened to be able to overhear a conversation regarding the new logo, and actually had to interrupt because ive never heard a discussion over anything so ludicrous in my life. I happened to nab a copy of the PDF, and have to share it. It really hammers in the stereotype of Advertising in general, and the complete idiocy that goes in to marketing. I really suggest reading till the end. It just gets better and better.”

Related Launch Video and Launch Information:

On a subsequent call, the client said, “I realize this call-out is one-third of the page, but is there any way we can make it larger and more prominent?”