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Bonfire Agency and Instigator Bring Brands to Gen Con

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Brett Leave a comment

Independent experiential marketing firm Instigator has announced that it has been selected as the marketing and sales agent charged with securing non-endemic sponsorships for Gen Con 2018, the largest and longest running tabletop gaming
convention in North America. In pursuit of this effort, the Minneapolis based agency will work in tandem with Bonfire Agency, a pop culture focused advertising and marketing consultancy based in New York.

A Top 10 trend on Facebook and Twitter, last year’s Gen Con saw the debut of 500 new games with more than 600 members of the press in attendance.

Instigator will concentrate its efforts on bringing relevant consumer package goods and services companies into play. They may be reached at bpappas@instigatormk.com. Bonfire will focus its efforts more on activations from the entertainment and media universes and may be reached at steve.rotterdam@bonfireagency.com. Sponsorship and activation opportunities will be made available throughout the exhibit halls of the Indiana Convention Center, as well as on the field level of Lucas Oil Stadium and at an outdoor presence on Georgia and South Streets.

The Indiana Convention Center’s exhibit hall will feature more than 500 exhibiting companies and Gen Con expects to host more than 15,000 ticketed events in 2018. According to last year’s estimates by Visit Indy, Gen Con has an annual economic impact in excess of $70 million to the local Indianapolis economy.

Greater Than Games – Multiverse Month 2018

Posted on January 20, 2018 by Brett Leave a comment

Greater Than Games has announced the beginning of their month-long event, Multiverse Month, starting January 21 through February 21, 2018. This marks the 4th annual Multiverse Month, which celebrates Greater Than Games anniversary on January 27th.

Throughout the month prizes will be awarded to fans that participate in multiple raffles via social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr, and Pinterest). The prizes will be themed according to this year’s featured games: Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game Starter Kit, Fate of the Elder Gods, Lazer Ryderz, Spirit Island, Exoplanets, Bottom of the 9th, The Great Heartland Hauling Co., Isle of Trains, and Sentinels of the Multiverse.

Greater Than Games is partnering with ACD Distribution and Double Exposure’s national structured play program, Envoy. Heralds from the Envoy program, GTG Citizens, and participating FLGS will encourage gamers to gather in stores to celebrate Greater Than Games by playing a variety of titles from their catalog. Participating retailers will host events, such as demos, tournaments, and adventures featuring Greater Than Games mascot, Mr. Chomps. Retailers have the option to participate in two ways, or both.

Retailers are welcome to order one Demo Copy of each game at a discount to run their own demonstrations throughout the month. They will also receive mailed Multiverse Month kits that include promos, flyers, and an event poster. In addition, printable sign-up sheets, product information, graphic assets, a month-long event calendar, and downloadable how-to demo product videos are also available. Heralds will be available to retailers who do not already have a demo team in place to happily demonstrate their own copies of products in stores FREE on a schedule that makes sense for participating retailers. Contact envoy@dexposure.com to find out how to participate in Multiverse Month.

Participates can contact Greater Than Games through events@greaterthangames.com to share their videos and pictures to be featured on company Social Media for event promotion and game day coverage. Fans and retailers can use the hashtags #MultiverseMonth, #GreaterThanGames, and #PlayGreater on social media to show their posts, and tag Greater Than Games on Twitter (@gtgamesllc), Instagram (@greaterthangames), Facebook (@GreaterThanGames), and Snapchat (@gtgamesllc).

Join Greater Than Games in celebrating Multiverse Month by participating in local game store events, tabletop gaming meetups, home-based/bookstore gamer’s clubs, after-school clubs, and collegiate gaming clubs.

CMON Reveals Exclusive Brick and Mortar Retail Program CMON Play

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Board Game Today Staff Leave a comment

At the GAMA Trade Show 2017, CMON Limited unveiled CMON Play, a new retail program exclusive to brick and mortar stores in North America, including Canada. This new program is designed to help promote the growth of retail stores by offering exclusive access to Game Night Kits, Pre-Release Kits, Demo Copies, and Kickstarter Retail Pledges from CMON’s wide library of titles. CMON wants to ensure our retailers have the tools they need to keep their businesses and communities thriving.

Signing up for CMON Play is completely free and can be done through CMON.com by clicking on “CMON Play” at the top of the page. Once a store has applied and the CMON sales team has ensured it is a physical store, members have access to several great offerings, all exclusive to the CMON Play program.

Game Night Kits allow stores to run events for popular CMON games, such as Zombicide: Black Plague, Blood Rage, Potion Explosion, and Bloodborne: The Card Game. Kits will be available every two months, beginning with Black Plague in June, and will offer game content that has never been available before. Running these Game Night Kits as events also allows stores to earn points that can be spent through CMON directly.

Continuing the retail-first philosophy of CMON Play are the Pre-Release Kits. For specific, high-profile games, CMON is offering retailers the ability to sell the title two weeks before any non-CMON Play store and online retailers, beginning with the highly-anticipated The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire from designer Eric M. Lang.

Stores can also order Demo Copies of CMON’s core games at a discount, allowing for a store to better sell games by educating customers and staff. The final CMON Play offering is exclusive access to CMON’s Kickstarter Retail Pledges for popular titles like Rising Sun. Members can join the Kickstarter through CMON’s Sales Department, gaining access to the core pledge level at increments of 6, 9, and 12. Optional Buys are also available for purchase in the same amount pledges are ordered in.

To help promote the different CMON Play offerings, members will have access to advertising content that can be used on social media, store websites, and more. Members will also have their stores posted on the “Store & Events” section of the CMON website, so customers can find locations near them and see what type of events are being hosted. To remain a member of the program, stores need to only utilize three offerings in any combination, such as three demo copies; a demo copy, pre-release kit, and a game night kit; or any other combination that fits the store’s needs. Ordering these is easy as well.

Stores can order from any of the CMON Play partner distributors, including Alliance, ACDD, Southern Hobby, PHD, and GTS, or CMON directly. Members can choose to order from any distributor or CMON at any time, so they are not locked into just one.

Marketing

Demo-Graphics: The State of "Gamers" 2016

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Brett Leave a comment

It’s been a little over a year since I did a report about “gamers” and with Gen Con kicking off today, it felt appropriate to visit this data. So, welcome to the third annual State of Gamers.

This data is gained through mining Facebook and includes over 175 different terms from a variety of games, publishers, and more. The terms I used are varied, and many, from the name of games to the name of publishers and terms like collectible card game. For this I did my best to stay away from generic terms for genres (like Fantasy) and terms that specifically mentioned video games. I also avoided games like Monopoly or Scategories, I wanted to focus on the games you’d find at Gen Con.

We’ll compare this report to last year’s data set.

Facebook Population: Over 33,000,000 in the United States

That’s some steady growth from last year with 2 million more individuals in the United States falling into this demographic.

Spanish speakers account for now 7.3 million fans. That’s 22.12% a vast increase from last year’s 12.58% in the United States.

Gender and Age

In 2015 Men accounted for 51.61% compared to women at 48.39%. That percentage shifted a bit from last year with men now accounting for 54.55% and women accounting for 45.45%

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age. It’s similar but shifted. Women now become the majority around age 46 as opposed to around age 38 last year.

And the raw data below.

Relationship Status

The stats this year are very similar to last though those “Married” took a drop and those “Unspecified” increased.

Education

The education stats haven’t shifted much since last year.

Gender Interest

Women interested in women increased from last year while Men interested in Men and Men and Women interested in Men and Women all saw decreases.

Ethnicity

This is the second year for this data. African Americans saw big gains as well as Hispanics. Asian Americans saw a raw increase, but their percentage decrease.

Generation

Baby Boomers saw a sharp decrease over the last year dropping over 50%. Generation X also saw a bit of a dip, while Millennials saw an increase.

And that wraps up our look at who the gamers are in the United States! Happy gaming!

Marketing

You’re Invited to the Ghostbusters: The Board Game Launch Party

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Board Game Today Staff One comment

Cryptozoic is celebrating the launch of the Ghostbusters: The Board Game with a party and it’s inviting retailers to join the fun. Available to retailers who pre-order 6 copies (1 case) of Ghostbusters: The Board Game through the distributor of their choosing, this $15.00 kit has all the content a store needs to host their very own “Mass Hysteria” launch party for the game’s release, allowing them to better educate customers about the game, provide easy to learn demo instructions, and help drive sales in their store. Kickstarter retail backers do not need to order an additional 6 copies of the game in order to purchase the kit.

The kit includes:

1 Poster to advertise the event
2 Table tents to place on demo tables or at the counter
6 Exclusive scenario game cards, one for each copy of the game purchased
1 Demo scenario instruction sheet
25 Exclusive Ghostbusters™: The Board Game Patches to give to event attendees
25 Exclusive two-card trading card packs for event attendees (non-game content)
Contents not for resale

Demo-Graphics: The State of “Gamers” 2015

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Brett Leave a comment

It’s Monday and we’re looking at the latest Facebook Fandom breakdown. It’s been a year since I did a report about “gamers” in the lead up to Gen Con. So, welcome to the second annual State of Gamers.

We’ll compare this report to last year’s, but much has changed since then. Unlike the previous year, the technology platform to get the data has remained mostly unchanged, and the terms used also remain relatively the same (some have gone away, some are new).

Facebook Population: Over 31,000,000 in the United States

The amount of individuals who like these terms has increased from the previous year by 7 million.

Spanish speakers account for now 3.9 million fans, 12.58% in the United States. That’s an increase of 1.3 million since last year.

Gender and Age

In 2014 Men dominated as the majority with 55% compared to women at 44.17%. A year later and things have changed. Men now account for just 51.61% and women are 48.39%.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age.

Compared to last year, the graph above is very similar though the gap between men and women is less. What I do find interesting is that women really start to gain in population in the 26-29 segment, and the majority at 38-41. It would seem that women may come into board games later in life.

Relationship Status

The real shift from last year is that a greater percentage are married or unspecified compared to last year.

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

The education stats haven’t shifted much since last year, even with the surge of new folks.

Gender Interest

Those interested in the same gender has decreased percentage wise since last year, but the population has increased.

Ethnicity

This is a new data that wasn’t available last year. Below the data is presented without comparison due to that. I can say that the data is interesting compared to the general United States population. Both the African American and Asian American population are a smaller percentage compared to the general US population, but the Hispanic population is much greater.

Generation

Below are the stats of groups based off of their generation, another new statistic.

And that wraps up our look at who the gamers are in the United States!

We’ll be returning with a new demographic break down of comic book fans this Saturday August 1!

Marketing

Demo-Graphics: The State of "Gamers" 2014

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Brett Leave a comment

It’s Monday and we’re looking at the latest Facebook Fandom breakdown. It’s been a year since I did a report about “gamers” in the lead up to Gen Con. So, welcome to the “first” annual State of Gamers.

This data is gained through mining Facebook and includes over 160 different terms from a variety of games, publishers, and more. The terms I used are varied, and many, from the name of games to the name of publishers and terms like collectible card game. For this I did my best to stay away from generic terms for genres (like Fantasy) and terms that specifically mentioned video games. I also avoided games like Monopoly or Scategories, I wanted to focus on the games you’d find at Gen Con.

We’ll compare this report to last year’s, but much has changed since then. The terms used have changed as well as improvements to Facebook’s algorithm and system. So, changes may be due to that, and not due to general gains in the industry.

Facebook Population: Over 24,000,000 in the United States

The fandom for board games it would seem is about the same as the general comic fan population, whose size we got the same way. Since last year the population has increased by about 14 million, though that’s mostly the changes in Facebook algorithm.

Spanish speakers account for now 2.6 million fans, 10.83% in the United States.

Gender and Age

In 2013 Men dominated as the majority with 61.54%. Things have changed since then as men now account for 55% of the population and women make up 44.17%.

We’ll next look at how the percentage of women and men break down through age.

Compared to last year, the percentages of the population has shifted much older, especially women. Here’s the above data in its raw form.

Relationship Status

This statistic has changed a lot since last year with many more options available to choose from. The percentages have shifted to the new categories, but it’s not easy to compare the two. What has stood out to me in the new stats is the amount of women divorced or separated, but there’s an even greater number married compared to the men.

And for those that like pie charts.

Education

Like relationships, the education choices have expanded, so it’s difficult to compare it to last year.

Gender Interest

This category too has expanded with more choices than ever before. But, compared to last year, it looks like there’s been a slight decrease in those interested in the same sex.

Marketing

Facebook Fandom Spotlight: Dungeons & Dragons 8/26/2013

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Brett Leave a comment

A few weeks back I took a look at who the Gamers were in the lead up to Gen Con. I decided to look at a subset of that for this Facebook Fandom Spotlight, fans of Dungeons & Dragons.

The list was long but included game terms, settings, modules, famous characters, monsters, classes and more. Overall the list was long and exhausted everything I could find on Facebook. For this report, we’ll compare it matched up to the previous larger set of gamers.

Facebook Population: Over 2,400,000 in the United States

The fandom for Dungeons & Dragons is about a third of the gamer population, not too shocking and about what I’d expect. Spanish speakers account for now 112,000 fans, 4.67% in the United States that’s a bit lower than the gamer fandom.

Gender and Age

Gamers skewed a bit more towards men compared to comic fans (61.54%), but fans of Dungeons & Dragons put both of them to shame. Male fans of D&D accounted for 78.33% of the population.

D&D Fans

For many of the breakdowns we’ve seen women become the majority of fans as age increases, a quirk of Facebook’s demographics. This isn’t the case of D&D fans, showing the gender gap even more in comparison.

D&D Fans

Below is the raw data of above.

D&D Fans

Relationship Status

Compared to gamers, fans of D&D are very similar. There’s a bit more that are single and a bit more that are “in relationships” both taken from the “married” designation.

D&D Fans

And for those that like pie charts.

D&D Fans

Education

D&D fans percentage wise are more “college grads” than the average gamer, with slightly less “in college” and “in high school.” With the age breakdown shifting a little older, this isn’t surprising.

D&D Fans

Gender Interest

And in a twist from the greater gamer population, there’s more men interested in men and vastly more men interested in women. Both are likely due to the imbalanced breakdown in gender.

D&D Fans

Marketing