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SHOUTcraft America Winter post-mortem - Page 5

Blogs > TotalBiscuit
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TBone-
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States2309 Posts
December 19 2013 16:57 GMT
#81
SHOUTcraft has always been the top dog when it comes to online only events


My history is a bit grey, but I remember TSL3 and 4 being really big.
Eve online FC, lover of all competition
Whatson
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
United States5357 Posts
December 19 2013 17:11 GMT
#82
On December 20 2013 01:57 TBone- wrote:
Show nested quote +
SHOUTcraft has always been the top dog when it comes to online only events


My history is a bit grey, but I remember TSL3 and 4 being really big.

TSL3 was big, TSL4 not so much, I remember it being a letdown for most people.
¯\_(シ)_/¯
Zenbrez
Profile Joined June 2012
Canada5973 Posts
December 19 2013 17:18 GMT
#83
It's interesting Ting how mentions how (specifically) TB could have better promoted them, because I was thinking about this topic a few days ago. How long has CM Storm been sponsoring Polt? Several months? He gives them a shoutout every interview he does, but hes never given any sort of details as to what CM Storm does. I had to look it up myself - not with the intention of "supporting" anybody, I just wanted to know wtf it was. Turns out it's a company I've already known, but I wasn't aware the entire time of this sponsorship. People can really do a better job with their sponsor promotions. When NASL had LA Eat (forget the exact name) as a sponsor, they did a really good job describing exactly what the company did.
Refer to my post.
TotalBiscuit
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United Kingdom5437 Posts
December 19 2013 17:51 GMT
#84
On December 20 2013 02:11 Whatson wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 20 2013 01:57 TBone- wrote:
SHOUTcraft has always been the top dog when it comes to online only events


My history is a bit grey, but I remember TSL3 and 4 being really big.

TSL3 was big, TSL4 not so much, I remember it being a letdown for most people.


Indeed. TSL3 was definitely bigger than SCA, though I can't remember if it topped SCI4.

It's quite sad that TSL4 didn't do as well
CommentatorHost of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
TotalBiscuit
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United Kingdom5437 Posts
December 19 2013 18:27 GMT
#85
On December 19 2013 20:02 ADSRelease wrote:
Sorry to hear it didn't work out.
You stupidly get a lot of hate for being one of the most supportive people in StarCraft through all the rockiness right now. With people like you, we will not just survive, but thrive!
I really liked the event.

My one piece of constructive criticism is that more build-up hype (days/weeks ahead of time) would help a ton. I'd say I am a pretty avid StarCraft viewer, but I didn't know about the games until a while after the streams started. However, I know enough about the on-the-fly nature of SHOUTcraft America to know how it's hard to have that in order in time; so I know why that wasn't really there.

PS-Congrats on Axiom's wild success!


Honestly we hyped this a lot about a month before it began. Not knowing about it is pretty difficult imho, particularly when it was pushed in so many different places
CommentatorHost of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
HeeroFX
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States2704 Posts
December 19 2013 18:53 GMT
#86
Too be honest i forgot this tournament existed.....
aristarchus
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States652 Posts
December 19 2013 18:53 GMT
#87
I know this is a general problem with online marketing and not specific to starcraft tournaments, but I think the real problem here is the extreme focus on the number of people who immediately bought the product during the event. I didn't even watch the tournament, but as someone who reads TL and follows the scene, I learned that Ting existed, which I previously did not know. Will I buy from them in the future? Who knows. But without this event, the chance of that happening was zero. Now it's not zero.

When Ford puts an ad in a magazine or sponsors a baseball game, they don't think they those who see the ad are going to instantly put down their magazine and go buy a Ford. What they're hoping is that next time those people want to buy a car, they will guarantee that Ford is one of the companies whose cars get looked at closely, giving the quality of their product a chance to sell when it otherwise might be ignored.

A whole lot of people who are really perfectly in their target demographic now know about their service. That seems to me like it should count as a marketing success.
kochanfe
Profile Joined July 2011
Micronesia1338 Posts
December 19 2013 19:55 GMT
#88
Very informative and well-written. Thanks!
"The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long." - Lao Tzu
Kerence
Profile Joined May 2011
Sweden1817 Posts
December 19 2013 20:15 GMT
#89
This was an interesting read, thanks TB.
I am here in the shadows.
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada17897 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-19 20:57:32
December 19 2013 20:52 GMT
#90
i think the tournament format which brings the best ROI is with a ~$100 prize pool put on every week of the year.
I think ZOTAC, Go4SC2 have the most sustainable formats.

the problem with this format is finding the volunteers to run the show.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
opisska
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Poland8852 Posts
December 19 2013 21:23 GMT
#91
On December 19 2013 05:52 ActionJesse wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 19 2013 05:20 KrazyTrumpet wrote:
I'm actually very impressed that Ting provided the feedback they did and allowed you to post all their info publicly. I hope they take another shot, because it sounds like with a more experienced effort, an event like this could actually be worthwhile for them.


We understand that every marketing campaign won't always be an instant success. The important thing to us is looking at what could have improved on, and learning from these mistakes moving forward. At Ting, we pride ourselves on being as honest and transparent as possible. This is pretty evident through our straightforward rates, lack of administrative/recovery fees, and the fact that we give you the inside scoop on device news almost the second we hear about it.

While it remains to be seen, I really do hope we'll get another chance to sponsor a ShoutCraft and work with TB . I also want to give a thanks to Alex (Axeltoss), who was the one who hooked me up with John in the first place.


If a company with this style of communication existed in my country, I would seriously consider switching to it just based on this thread. With the current trend of corporate culture, when noone is willing to give you anything than carefully crafted bullshit, I really started to pick targets for my money more based on the feeling I get from the company than just by pure price.
"Jeez, that's far from ideal." - Serral, the king of mild trashtalk
TL+ Member
Poffel
Profile Joined March 2011
471 Posts
December 19 2013 23:19 GMT
#92
On December 19 2013 05:01 TotalBiscuit wrote:
It begs the question, is a service like Ting.com an ideal sponsor for an event like this? Some might say anything is an ideal sponsor and to some degree I'd say that's true but if you want them to invest longterm they have to see Return on Investment.

Whenever I watch an SC2 tournament, the lion's share (if not all) of the sponsors are some kind of tech companies (in the widest sense). You know, the kind of company that produces gaming peripherals, hardware, other video games, phones and mobile devices or associated programs and services. In a way, that's an obvious marketing choice: People who watch SC2 tournaments are gamers and tech geeks, so let's show them products and services for gamers and tech geeks.

Now, even though I don't keep track of it, I think it's safe to say that I've watched dozens of tournaments with hundreds if not thousands of advertisements for tech products and services. And, of course, I've also purchased quite a few of the products that were advertised.

Do you know how many of these products I have bought because of the advertisements? Zero.

Mind you, as I previously mentioned, I'm one of the guys who are actually interested in all that stuff... in other words, these types of products fall well within my area of expertise, where I'm not only able but proud to make an informed decision as a consumer. For instance, when I need, say, a new GPU, I go by the readily available tests on the hardware sites that I visit frequently to find the product that best meets my expectations; I may well ponder over that decision for a week or so, simply because I like thinking about the merits and flaws of GPUs before I buy one. But if the one I end up buying is also the one that was shown in an advertisement, then that's purely coincidental.

I short: I'm killing esports.

Curiously, I don't seem to be the only one. Feel free to do a TL search in the Tech Support forum on this site: In the long history of the Computer Buid, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread (currently sitting at well over 110k views), nobody has even once recommended something "because the company sponsors esports". In fact, nobody has even mentioned the words "sponsor", "esports", "advertisement", asf. during a 3000+ post discussion on nothing but hardware.

Long story short: If you want me to buy from advertisements, show me ads for stuff that I need but don't care all that much about. Show me ads for junk food and soft drinks... I may be the guy who likes video games, but I also have to eat. Chances are, I won't head over to some food resources website to verify that coke achieves a better benchmark than sprite because I don't give a flying fuck about soft drinks. However, I will check the benchmarks for GPUs, so showing me ads for those is rather pointless.
[F_]aths
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
Germany3947 Posts
December 19 2013 23:29 GMT
#93
This is an extremely informative blog post.

While TB mostly wrote about the return of investment stuff, I think the story line with ladder hero hitman cheesing out Scarlett will be remembered for quite some time. Such stories are practically only possible in a format which uses ladder ranking as qualification.

I hope that one day Blizzard will acknowledge in public which great service the effort of TB is to the NA SC2 scene.
You don't choose to play zerg. The zerg choose you.
TotalBiscuit
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United Kingdom5437 Posts
December 20 2013 04:03 GMT
#94
On December 20 2013 05:52 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
i think the tournament format which brings the best ROI is with a ~$100 prize pool put on every week of the year.
I think ZOTAC, Go4SC2 have the most sustainable formats.

the problem with this format is finding the volunteers to run the show.


Nobody watches those events. Weekly tournaments are a really bad format for maintaining interest. There's too much Starcraft, the presentation and production aren't there, there's no hype, the player lineup is shaky, it's online, you just can't make that work and actually provide real ROI. You'd have to have a caster with an audience do that and good luck finding one of those that has the time. Maybe BasetradeTV is getting to that point, they started off grassroots and are doing a great job building their brand, but honestly those weekly events with tiny prizepools aren't going to get anyone to watch. Yes they provide ROI but you're also only investing $100. You would get better ROI if you threw $100 at Destiny and told him to talk about your product for 20 seconds on his stream.
CommentatorHost of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada17897 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-20 14:07:01
December 20 2013 13:49 GMT
#95
thanks for your reply

On December 20 2013 13:03 TotalBiscuit wrote:
Nobody watches those events.


do you have the statistics to back that up? zero. really?
that must be an exaggeration to get your point across.

On December 20 2013 13:03 TotalBiscuit wrote:You'd have to have a caster with an audience do that and good luck finding one of those that has the time. Maybe BasetradeTV is getting to that point, they started off grassroots and are doing a great job building their brand, but honestly those weekly events with tiny prizepools aren't going to get anyone to watch.

this is the 2nd time you've said no one watches. you have to back that up with some #s.
you've done yoemens work providing #s for your own event. Therefore, I'll take the time to get the #s for the weekly events and report back to this thread.

On December 20 2013 13:03 TotalBiscuit wrote:
You'd have to have a caster with an audience do that and good luck finding one of those that has the time. Maybe BasetradeTV is getting to that point, they started off grassroots and are doing a great job building their brand,


yes, and also volunteers to run the actual event each week. And, a software system ( like CraftCup.com ) to efficiently run a giant weekly event.
Imba.tv had a really solid viewer base for these weekly events as well. it was lack of free time that stopped Imba.tv.
As you've noted, its tough to find a team of VOLUNTEERs.

I think BaseTradeTV and Imba.TV have/had the viewer base to provide reasonable ROI for this kind of weekly event. I'll do some digging and get some #s to back up this comment though.


On December 20 2013 13:03 TotalBiscuit wrote:
You would get better ROI if you threw $100 at Destiny and told him to talk about your product for 20 seconds on his stream.


i think this week's ZOTAC Cup is a better investment for ZOTAC. It's hard to tell when Destiny is joking around and not joking around. Try to talk the ZOTAC marketing guys into spending money on Destiny.

On December 20 2013 13:03 TotalBiscuit wrote:
Yes they provide ROI but you're also only investing $100. You would get better ROI if you threw $100 at Destiny and told him to talk about your product for 20 seconds on his stream.

ok, you've gone from "nobody watches" to "yes they provide ROI".
i guess your post is more of a "flow of thoughts" than anything else. which is fine.

you invest $100 per week over a 52 week period.
for a total of $5,200. and maybe have a "championship structure" like Go4SC2 or ZOTAC and give away a couple thousand more in a "tournament of champions" like ZOTAC or Go4SC2 does.

I think ZOTAC and Go4SC2 have been going on for so long because they provide solid ROI.
Especially with teh web site that backs up the ZOTAC weekly events.

on the other hand TSL stopped at #4 because big-prize-pool/1-time/non-open/online events don't provide enough ROI.

the Achilles Heel for ZOTAC or Go4SC2 is exposed when BaseTradeTV and/or Imba.TV decides "hey we just dont have enough free time to cast this every week". Imba.TV, basically, just disappeared.

If there were 5 or 6 versions of BaseTradeTV around stuff like ZOTAC and Go4SC2 would be far more reliable in terms of guaranteed ROI.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
TotalBiscuit
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United Kingdom5437 Posts
December 20 2013 16:55 GMT
#96
Jimmy I don't really have to back up anything and I certainly don't have time to. The only evidence you need is to see the numbers every single week on these events. The numbers suck, simple as that.

Go and look up the events on fuzic.nl and you will see how low the numbers are
CommentatorHost of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada17897 Posts
December 20 2013 17:17 GMT
#97
On December 21 2013 01:55 TotalBiscuit wrote:
Jimmy I don't really have to back up anything


as i said in my post i'd find the #s myself.
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
oneill12
Profile Joined February 2012
Romania1222 Posts
December 21 2013 11:51 GMT
#98
TB is smart
kagamin
Profile Joined September 2010
United States191 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-21 12:18:41
December 21 2013 12:11 GMT
#99
Thanks for the writeup. The comments from the sponsor were particularly interesting to read.

FYI, I actually went to their website for the first time after reading this. Too bad they don't support my S4.
SoniC_eu
Profile Joined April 2011
Denmark1008 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-22 14:44:47
December 22 2013 14:44 GMT
#100
Thanks for the writeup and big thanks to ting.com with 100% transparency. Quite unprecedented. GL for 2014!!!!
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. http://da.twitch.tv/sonic_eu
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