unforum

[firefox]

maybe the cube will go rampant and we need to fuse it back tog... okay enough of that

the hook is fun, solving a long string of numbers, by finding out it was a simple substitution only after trying every single cypher known to man, thats fun

[MarcB]

I wonder if the partner will be a theme park or some kind of visitable attraction/ride...?

[Pixiestix]

OFF TOPIC!!! maybe

[InspJJ]

AAAAAgh!!! I'm just off home to bed, now you've raised the
(?improbable?) prospect of a LINUX universe and a bunch of rogue programmers? Cheers!

[Mikeyj]

mounting costs

[Olorin]

[da5id]

[Pixiestix]

[neon snake]

Have to say, I'm with mikeyj on this one...

Tragically, being a marketeer and an ex-mobile phone salesman (hello to anyone who has just 'made' me...brewster), I have a somewhat cynical view of the world..and I'd guess I'm not the only marketeer in here.

The time and effort going into this suggests a 'product' - be it physical, or something else which has value attached to it, such as a branding exercise. Now, in terms of costs, there have been a couple of ads (between £4k and maybe £8k), and some postcards, along with time spent on the project.
Next, we know they were recruiting, so that means wages, and for a wide range of people, so that means *a lot* of wages. The fact that one of the recruitment ads was in a marketing publication suggests they want people who can sell stuff!
So, lots of money needed...

The flip side:-

Companies are willing to pay ridiculous sums of money for brand imaging - think of the sponsership deals that footballers get (that's soccer, my US friends) as an example. Even when you scale it down to more tangible levels, £30k for relatively small exposure is not uncommon, and thats a years wage right there.

I think that the partner who is sponsoring this is a company looking for media exposure, which is why they were looking for marketeers. I also wonder if the firebox ad and postcard campaigns (which seem to be for the sole purpose of bringing in more players) were necessary because 'they' do not feel that they have enough people interested yet? May also explain the game being pushed back to '05.

[doughy]

The venues of advertising may also be simply doing a trade off. If the PM's could get across to the Firebox people how the ARG scene is growing, they could have convinced them to print their ad in the catalog(and on the website). They could have explained how the people interested would hit the site to see the clue, and thus up the possible customer base through word of mouth. I bet the Firebox site had a growth of hit-rate after putting that in there, as well as sales of the cube magnet on the reverse side of the catalog for people thinking that was in game. Here in Abilene, TX, our papers and radio stations advertise on each other for free because they are both getting something out of the deal. Same here.

As far as the postcards, anyone with cardstock, a good printer, and some graphic skills could put out a handfull of postcards. And to get them around the world, send them with friends that travel, drop them somewhere and watch as the hilarity ensues!

Now back to work.

[Dorkmaster]

Let's not forget, kids that there can also be a big difference between "marketing for a product" and "backing a project"! My personal opinion, since we're getting all meta in our idle-handness, is that this is not a promotion for something, although with the backing necessary to produce something of this (assumed, lest we forget) quality, I forsee product placement of some kind, which I actually see as the future of funding for major ARGs.

I mean, if this were for a specific item, it would make sense to reference said item or service during all phases of gameplay. Like ILB was Halo-related from day one, (well, from trailer-being-out day one at least). You don't need to make it the "Coca-Cola ARG" but you can still get Coke some "air time" that would still make it more than valuable to the right companies... you get my drift? I think this could be funded by multiple entities, and still be not about the products... and I'll be honest, I would not only think this is how PerplexCity will go, but I also think this is how anyone persuing funding for a new ARG should look, because it's the only way to assure a good, non-intrusive gaming experience. (Unless you're Microsoft/Bungie and understand that plot is so much more important than blatant advertising, when you're dealing with an ARG clientele for your world domination schemes)...

Wow, I've been really ranty lately... sorry y'all. I promise to post more banal crap that's really short in the future.

[neon snake]

I agree. I think the 'product' is more likely to be 'brand' than an actual physical product, it makes sense given the format.

[Mikeyj]

...next level ARG?

[InspJJ]

Having given Pattern Recognition the attention it clearly deserves (read it if you haven't, excellent yarn) and harping back to the large financial backing apparent already, I wonder if this game/concept/thing could involve air tickets, meetings, actual characterisation, tasking of the players etc - this would make great media copy....
Also, tenuous, but the girl in the Hotel President in Moscow was wearing green boots.....

[SilentAvenger]

Well, my 2cents are that this game might indeed have to do with branding, but its too early to say.

Anyways, the fact that Adrian already has financial banking just means that this isnt a personal project, but instead something bigger.

Judging the quality of "stuff" we have run into until now, I would say that this ARG is a professionaly made one, but I dont think its going to cost the players money, as they will lose their playerbase quickly that way.

Also, remember, you can always make megacash over swag