Novato, CA-based Broderbund Software will spend $10 million in advertising to introduce its sequel, 'Riven', to its CD-ROM 'Myst'. There will be $5 million spent on traditional media, such as magazine advertising, television advertising and radio advertising. There will be $5 million spent on Internet media, such as search engines and gaming sites. Cross promotions will be introduced with Time Warner's HBO, Pacific Bell and Wells Fargo Bank.
Broderbund Software, the Novato, Calif.-based purveyor of blockbuster CD-ROM Myst, intends to pour $10 million and likely more this year into the launch of the mega-hyped sequel, Riven. The game will get around $5 million in traditional media and an elaborate Web-exclusive splash of more than $5 million Net media and dedicated game-sampling sites, buffeted by anticipated cross-promotions with Time Warner's HBO unit and, regionally, Wells Fargo Bank and Pacific Bell.
In a rarity for the CD-ROM category, a Riven ad campaign, breaking in late summer via Saatchi & Saatchi, San Francisco, will run the consumer media gamut, with network and cable TV,, radio and print placements in youngish adult magazines like Rolling Stone. The on-Web component will include alliances with search engines such as Yahoo!, Webcrawler and Excite plus gamer sites like Happy Puppy to seed the Net with "immersive sites" accessed through an assortment of Myst keywords enabling die-hard Myst fans to sample a portion of Riven. The elaborate hyperlink network of so-called "immersive sites" will be launched gradually to build anticipation. Separate informational sites will include Riven trivia and numbers to order Riven merchandise.
Broderbund is negotiating with HBO to offer a coupon for Riven in monthly mailings of its programming guide during the spring and summer. Two months ahead of the launch, Wells Fargo Bank and Pac Bell will include the same offer in bill-stuffers, spun as consumers' opportunity to get the hot-product before its street-date. Computer hardware, packaged goods brands and travel and entertainment partners are also being sought, said Eric Winkler, Broderbund's marketing promotions manager. With such extra pull, Broderbund hopes to secure prime display space in the 19,000 stores that will sell Riven. Broderbund expects I million unit sales by Thanksgiving.
"We're finding that with all the confusion in the channel, with all the titles out there, it will really be important for us to create our own space," Winkler said.
Alliances are becoming common in the $1.8 billion edutainment software market--which last year grew at a rate of 12%, down from 30%--especially to garner a share of traditional toymakers' retail real estate. Prime display space is going at a stiff price, said Ann Stephens, president of PC Data, Reston, Va.
Software developer Mindscape has teamed with construction toy titan Lego on the Adventures on Lego Island CD-ROM title, to be launched with $2 million in media, and is negotiating with retailers to get the title sold in toy aisles as well. Microsoft is also entering the fray with an interactive Barney plush doll, via a license with The Lyons Group, Richardson, Texas, to be supported by $14.5 million in media this fall. Microsoft plans to put a sample purple dinosaur in a sizable Plexiglas display and/or accompanied by a separate computer monitor.
Taking up more space, the intro of Nintendo 64 single-handedly resurrected the slumping $6 billion video game market in 1996. This week, N 64 breaks a $5 million ad push behind its Mario Kart 64 including a sweepstakes that asks consumers to answer questions about the game which can only be sampled at retail.
--with Lefton