DLC as Marketing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Milldrum
  • 29 comments
  • 2,357 views
Milldrum

Milldrum

Messages
3,826
Australia
Melbourne
Messages
Milldrum
Would it be viable for car companies to pay for DLC?

Let's say, Happy Motors is launching 6 new models in the next few months. Their marketing department has $1b as these models will be global. They are micro cars through to a sporty coupe. Target consumers are across the board.

Would / should / could they approach PD to create free DLC? The manufacturer would have to pay PD. PD would have to create code. They could then have a new race type, 'Happy Motors" with 6 events.

Could this work?
 
I could see it happening. If PD has paid for the licenses already and a manufacturer wanted publicity for their new model I could see them paying to have it in the game as DLC.
 
It could work, but i still think PD would charge us to download the Happy Motors car pack. To be honest, they'd be stupid not too. I will buy any & all DLC that arrives, i don't care if it's for Happy Motors, Aston Martin, FPV, HSV, Honda... Spa, Pikes Peak, Bathurst, Oran Park, Seattle, Midfield, Test Course, another random japanese highway....I just love having content to explore and play with. I'm sure i'm not alone either
 
I doubt it. 6 months of man hours just to model the car, plus all other costs is a huge investment for the kind of car companies this would be beneficial to. Those that are big enough to splash out that sort of cash on a single piece of marketing probably don't need to as they are renowned enough anyway and the lower volume companies, well it's probably just more cost effective to give Top Gear a demo car.
 
MrDinosaw94
It could work, but i still think PD would charge us to download the Happy Motors car pack. To be honest, they'd be stupid not too. I will buy any & all DLC that arrives, i don't care if it's for Happy Motors, Aston Martin, FPV, HSV, Honda... Spa, Pikes Peak, Bathurst, Oran Park, Seattle, Midfield, Test Course, another random japanese highway....I just love having content to explore and play with. I'm sure i'm not alone either
Click to expand...

Definitely agree here. Seriously hoping some of the missing cars and tracks show up at some point. I used to hate Infineon but came to love it and now I miss having it.
 
BigYoSpeck
I doubt it. 6 months of man hours just to model the car, plus all other costs is a huge investment for the kind of car companies this would be beneficial to. Those that are big enough to splash out that sort of cash on a single piece of marketing probably don't need to as they are renowned enough anyway and the lower volume companies, well it's probably just more cost effective to give Top Gear a demo car.
Click to expand...

I did say $1B budget. Surely Happy Motors would like the 5mil+ worldwide GT5 owners to not only see their cars but also take an interest in them by modifying and also racing them. Hans in Hamburg, Leonard in London and Chuck in Chicago would all see their cars and pay attention to some of the details.

The race series would be a new item. Beginner, Expert, Dealer etc.
 
Milldrum
I did say $1B budget. Surely Happy Motors would like the 5mil+ worldwide GT5 owners to not only see their cars but also take an interest in them by modifying and also racing them. Hans in Hamburg, Leonard in London and Chuck in Chicago would all see their cars and pay attention to some of the details.

The race series would be a new item. Beginner, Expert, Dealer etc.
Click to expand...

This Happy Motors with a $1bn marketing budget, they are hypothetical right? Because Ford only spend something like a quarter of that on advertising.
 
But Happy Motors are not struggling with debt. How much would it cost PD? Would $100mil do? The good people at Happy Motors would be happy to pay a portion of their global marketing budget to directly connect with a part of their target demographic.

A hypothetical company for a hypothetical question.
 
:) GT5's entire budget was only something like $50-60m I'm pretty sure a 6 car DLC could be done for ~$500k. In an entirely hypothetical world then sure it could be done.

But in reality any company that can afford that level of marketing is not going to need the few thousand potential sales brought from GT5 enough to warrant that outlay, and any company that would need that sort of exposure wouldn't be able to afford it.
 
So we are down to a few mil worldwide.

Advertising is about getting someone to listen. I don't pay much attention to adds anymore. Have mastered tuning them out or changing channel.

This would be a way to build brand recognition in the long term. A few mil for a few years of people connecting to your cars. Every person who owns GT5 would be a potential future sale.
 
I hope that Happy Motors realise that everyone hates TV ads. Lamest things ever. i believe i could do better, it doesn't seem all that complicated.
-) Hire 20 something year old
-) Play terrible music
-) show out of focus car from weird angles
-) cue weird special effects
-) 20 something gets out of car and goes off with friends
-)Weird music ends, car logo and really lame slogan shows up
-) everyone pays attention as top gear come back on 👍

(no offence if any Ad execs are reading this)
 
Maybe some of the Chinese car companies that are starting a global push could use this approach. Invest in DLC and then setup supply lines around the world. The major car companies have both local models and global models. Cars released in 2011 second half would be the target.

You don't offend an ad exec, as long as you talk about them.
 
Maybe Tourism Departments could pay for tracks in there area to also go in.

Formula1 events spend a fortune on marketing.
 
I could see this as a viable alternative to lame print/tv ads, some people i know hardly watch tv when there are torrents easily available. TV is a dying media
 
As most cars are designed on a computer these days, surely the car won't need PD to scan it? Wouldn't sending PD the CAD files speed up and reduce the cost radically?

Mind you, not the SLIGHTEST bit interested in DLC for a game so utterly banjaxed...

Fix the GAME first before ANY DLC, PD
 
I know this is an old thread, but with the recent Ford news item, could this happen with GT5 or possibly GT6? Could car companies decide to 'show off' their Motorsport and motoring history by approaching PD with some models to include? Could Ford, who want to sell more of a particular model, pay for it's inclusion?
 
One of the things you have to consider is what will give you the best return for your advertising dollars. A lot of you guys say you, or people you know, hate television ads, but it's still the medium that reaches the most people in the demographics you want. Compare the 6-7 million that play Gran Turismo, to the 12.5 million that watch the NFL per game, every Sunday. Sunday Night Football averages an audience of 21 million. This Sunday's Super Bowl is estimated to be viewed by 170 million viewers. This ad for the Chrysler 200 aired during last year's Super Bowl, and this year Chrysler was leading the auto industry in growth for 2011.



The sitcom The Big Bang Theory averages an audience of 15 million viewers per week in the 18-49 year old demographic. Even the sitcom 2 Broke Girls on CBS averages around 7.1 million viewers. So even though "gamers" may not be watching television, plenty of people still are.

I don't dispute that video games can be good exposure, but when the consumers are too young to buy your products, it also kind of defeats the purpose. Though some may see TV as a "dying medium", it's still the best way to get your products out there to consumers.
 
I'm still sure we'll see television and print ads for the GT-86 (or Scion FS-R as it will be called in the US). There's still a lot of people out there who don't play video games.
 
Compared to other forms of marketing, and the value-per-$, seems like these games are a bargain to me. I'm no economist, but to sell a license for free advertising? Seems like a no-brainer, and I'm surprised companies aren't fighting eachother to get cars included.

Of coarse, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors. For all I know, Porsche's rep is wimpy, and that's why we don't have the cars (duh, I know about EA's licensing, listen to the point, not the example).
 
I'm sure Mini (and possibly Toyota) has done something like this. Why add 2 new different models as DLC? No one was asking for them (unlike most of the other DLC cars from pack 2 and 3).
 
McClarenDesign
Compared to other forms of marketing, and the value-per-$, seems like these games are a bargain to me. I'm no economist, but to sell a license for free advertising? Seems like a no-brainer, and I'm surprised companies aren't fighting eachother to get cars included.

Of coarse, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors. For all I know, Porsche's rep is wimpy, and that's why we don't have the cars (duh, I know about EA's licensing, listen to the point, not the example).
Click to expand...

Well again, how big a return are you going to get on this type of advertising? It's easy to say "oh yeah, it's great exposure", but you have to consider who's playing the game, what's their income, where do they live, are they in the market to potentially buy a new car, etc. And as I've said before, consider that a lot of people still don't play video games, but they watch television and read magazines. Are you better off putting a car in Gran Turismo? Or spending the money to advertise on something like The Amazing Race (which by the way featured the new Ford Focus and the new 2012 Ford Mustang in major product placement spots, and an online sweepstakes this past two seasons) which is viewed by nearly 11 million people every Sunday night?
 
I agree that marketing on television is still working. But I am wondering if this is a way to reach a target audience cheaper and longer term than a TV ad. A way to put your brand in their minds long term as a positive feeling.

It would all depend on what you want for your dollar. An ad on TV puts your today message in people's mind. You are trading on the reputation built in that ad. That will always exist in my opinion.

But paying PD or who ever else to include certain models in their game to boost your penetration of the younger market might also be a viable tool. A car company is not going to drop its budget on just GT5 for marketing. But it might add a column in it's plan for GT5.

I had never heard of a WRX, Skyline, FTO, Demio, Miata, Fairlady etc before the GT series. But I got to try them and like/admire them a bit before I had ever seen one. Would this exposure be what a car company would want?
 
Milldrum
I agree that marketing on television is still working. But I am wondering if this is a way to reach a target audience cheaper and longer term than a TV ad. A way to put your brand in their minds long term as a positive feeling.

It would all depend on what you want for your dollar. An ad on TV puts your today message in people's mind. You are trading on the reputation built in that ad. That will always exist in my opinion.

But paying PD or who ever else to include certain models in their game to boost your penetration of the younger market might also be a viable tool. A car company is not going to drop its budget on just GT5 for marketing. But it might add a column in it's plan for GT5.

I had never heard of a WRX, Skyline, FTO, Demio, Miata, Fairlady etc before the GT series. But I got to try them and like/admire them a bit before I had ever seen one. Would this exposure be what a car company would want?
Click to expand...

There's one inherent problem you need to overcome; "younger people" don't always have the money to buy cars. How are you going to sell that WRX to a 16 year old? By the time he's old enough to buy that WRX, they may have already moved on to something different, or it may be out of his price range. You're banking on someone EVENTUALLY buying a car, possibly in five to ten years. Well that doesn't help you now, and you'll go bankrupt waiting. Yes, it's a good way to expose someone to the brand, but you shouldn't count on it as the main thrust of your marketing strategy.
 
CaptainHarlock
Are you better off putting a car in Gran Turismo? Or spending the money to advertise on something like The Amazing Race (which by the way featured the new Ford Focus and the new 2012 Ford Mustang in major product placement spots, and an online sweepstakes this past two seasons) which is viewed by nearly 11 million people every Sunday night?
Click to expand...

Doesn't PD purchase the licensing rights from the manufacturers?

If so, why couldn't Happy Motors do both? Perhaps there's something I'm missing, but here's what I've believed so far.

HM creates a car, and decides to market it. HM shows the car to PD, and even cut's PD a discount cuz they're a new maker, so PD only has to pay half. It's cool, because it's they're first, and it's still money coming in. The only thing HM is losing isuse a car for a few months while PD models it or whatever. They could then take said money from PD, add that to whatever marketing they already planned (or spend it on hookers and blow, cuz it's called Happy Motors for a reason).

Again, perhaps there's something I'm missing, but I don't see why anyone would stop their cars from being in a game, aside from licensing with competitors, or concerns about image.
 
CaptainHarlock
There's one inherent problem you need to overcome; "younger people" don't always have the money to buy cars. How are you going to sell that WRX to a 16 year old? By the time he's old enough to buy that WRX, they may have already moved on to something different, or it may be out of his price range. You're banking on someone EVENTUALLY buying a car, possibly in five to ten years. Well that doesn't help you now, and you'll go bankrupt waiting. Yes, it's a good way to expose someone to the brand, but you shouldn't count on it as the main thrust of your marketing strategy.
Click to expand...


That's probably the closest answer. You could spend money on creating dlc for your company but the other problem is that it will probably not hit the right sector. How many people buy or play GT5 in order to drive an Accord? Even though I appreciate the fact that there is a Lexus SC300, at the same time I am thinking why wouldn't they have put the SC400 with the V8 in here; same with the GS 300...why not the GS400 with the V8? If a 2012 Camry came out in DLC would I buy it?....lol...the short answer is no.

Not many, so unless your car company is more on the sportier side or you are trying to show off a new idea but it's not a sports car, you would be wasting your money.

The brand awareness for the manufactures that solely produce race cars and sports cars understand that the desire for certain cars does come from a younger age and they are willing to risk a certain amount of money in order for you to see their cars when you are young, in hopes that when you become of age to be able to afford those cars, some of them may have left an impression. I'm pretty sure what they spend is nowhere even close to a 1/4 of advertising on TV or through ads elsewhere on the internet.
 

Latest Posts

Back