Modern Communities

BUILDING MODERN CONSUMER RELATIONSHIPS5.12.2016

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THIS STORY IS A WIP

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IT IS ALSO A COLLABORATION

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@[email protected]

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WHEN IT’S DONE WE’LL SHARE

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IT STARTED BECAUSE THERE ARE THINGS THAT I DON’T

UNDERSTAND

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1. Learn something new2. Understand changing entertainment

landscape3. Interested in new ways of being

creative4. Find out if there are interesting

implications for clients

MONEY FOR LOVe

tHE MInEcRaFT ruLE

MODERN CREATORS

tHE MInEcRaFT ruLE

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>54 million units sold 23 million PC downloads

2 billion hours played on Xbox 360 alone

Game covers a surface area 8x the size of earth

It would take 3 trillion hours to play every facet

>100 million players

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In 2014, 10.6 Million Minecraft themed videos were uploaded to YouTube, generating 26.5 Billion views

between them

“It’s production instead of consumption. The idea that rather than consuming pre-made, pre-digested, fully created polished products that are really tight and therefore come to you and you sort of swallow them whole, Minecraft, because it’s messy and glitchy and not polished, requires you to figure it out and requires you to participate in making things as opposed to just playing things other people have made.”

-Professor Irene Chien, Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Communication, Muhlenberg College

“The traditional way of thinking of games as participatory, is that rather than just watching TV, you’re controlling something. Suddenly people realize that wait a minute, just because you’re moving Mario doesn’t mean you’re participating in creating content and narratives. You’re following the designer’s idea of what should happen in the game…Gamers are playing games in totally different ways, we just weren’t taking account of that.”

-Professor Irene Chien, Assistant Professor, Department of Media and Communication, Muhlenberg College

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Developer makes game

Consumer plays game

Content-centric

Traditionally in gaming, this is the model we see. The ecosystem revolves around the game. The developer

makes the game, the consumer plays the game.

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Mojang makes an open platform

Gamers discover it

…and build new games, stories, and communities around it.

More gamers discover Minecraft

Community-centric

The community and the stuff community makes have become the POINT of Minecraft

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The added edge of Minecraft is that in CoD people are waiting for DLC and new content. In Minecraft, people are constantly trading new and original content, mods, and mini games.

- Vikkstar

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People spend more time with the content around Minecraft than the game itself.

Gamers on YouTube: Evolving Video Consumption, Think With Google, July 2013

“…community-‐created videos effec4vely doubled the amount of views the top selling games would have received through brand-‐released content alone…”

tHE mInEcRaFT RuLE

the communITy eCOsYsteM & conTEnT thAt sUrrOUNds YOUr prOdUCt is aS ImPoRTanT aS the prOdUCt itself

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What if we create products, or stories that are “flawed” or need to be “fixed” and give them to the community to be brought to life?

What if instead of creating content we create platforms for communities to build on top of?

These ideas work well for brands/products that enable self expression. But what about for brands that don’t?

What does the world look like for agencies when consumers are creating the content that drives interest in the product?

MONEY FOR LOVE

:

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Broadcasting on Twitch is not the same thing as a Let’s Play video

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TOWELLIEE

PROFESSORBROMAN ELLOHIME

COHHCARNAGE585K Followers (45th)32MM Views (104th)900+ DaysTeam of 14Variety Streamer

432K Followers (81st)83MM Views (26th)900+ Concurrent Days Team of 10WOW Streamer

514K Followers (56th)9MM Views (371th)At any given moment can 37K viewersDestiny

367K Followers (103rd)13MM Views (259th)Streams 180+ Hrs/MonthStarts streaming at 4amVariety Streamer

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It is not live entertainment, it is living entertainment

- Ellohime

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THE MENTOR THE ENTERTAINER THE FRIEND THE HERO THE SPECTACLE

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THE BASICS TIMES TEN

1. CONSISTENCY2. RELATABILITY3. ACCESSIBILITY4. TRANSPARENCY5. VALUABLE

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Try to give as much value as possible to the subs [subscribers], I don’t want anyone left out of the

community.

- CohhCarnage

MOST IMPORTANTLY…

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I am what my viewers need me to be. Sometimes I am their friend. Sometimes I am a counselor. I wear

many hats.

- ProfessorBroman

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I don’t put up “pay to play” walls. People subscribe [pay] because they want to keep the community

alive

- Ellohime

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What if we made “live” ads? Or responsive ads? What would that look like?

Can brands/do brands really appreciate their fans in this way? Can they?

How do we create communities around brands that are so important to people that they would pay to keep them alive?

What are the lessons we can take about relationships with fans? What do we do with those lessons?

Can brands be open to allowing fans/consumers shape what the experience is like?

MODERN CREATORS

Body Level One Body Level Two Body Level Three

Body Level Four Body Level Five

“Both the 25 December Doctor Who episode and the 1 January Sherlock were, without actually being interactive, crucially responsive to fan reaction.”

“…This sense that the characters are able to see through the screen into our world…”

-The Guardian “Sherlock and Doctor Who: beware of fans influencing the TV they love”, January 3, 2014

1. Fans expect an open dialogue with content creators and treat them as if they are real life friends. Ryan reaches out to GoT creators over TwiBer to ask ques4ons about the show and some4mes shares things related to the show with them that he thinks they’ll like. It can feel ignorant or disrespec9ul if content creators are unreachable.

2. Fans create content to find and engage with other fans. Ryan started crea=ng content around the show because his friends didn’t watch it so he felt the need to interact with others who did. He was compelled to create content presen4ng something people maybe hadn’t thought of before and has gained respect within the community by doing so. He acknowledges that GoT has a large passionate community, so he had to find his smaller similarly-‐opinionated group.

3. To be a real fan you have to engage. Just watching the show isn’t enough. To be respected in the community you have to engage with other content to get to know the characters, recent news with the show, behind the scenes.

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What if marketing were more responsive in quicker cycles? What if campaigns really changed in response to consumer feedback? What examples of this are out there?

What if we thought about campaigns as pieces of software in constant beta?

How are we creating ways for fans to connect and give us feedback? Beyond tracking studies and social “listening tools?” Is anyone doing this?

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1. Write 3 questions that you’d like to ask to better understand what’s happening here or to further develop these ideas

Workshop #1

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1. Take a client who you are working with2. Come up with 3 ideas for things you

could do that uses one of more of these insights

Workshop #2

THANKS

Modern Communities

Marketing

Transcript of Modern Communities