The Ad Man Answers #47

Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers

Advertising Make-Over #4

Yes we can.

Sorry, got caught up in yesterday’s election hoopla (don’t tell my wife, who lost interest the day Ron Paul lost in the primaries). 

Anyway, continuing our series, this week’s “winner” comes to us from across the pond… Jonny Nexus. 

Here’s the back cover copy from Jonny’s roleplaying-themed humor fantasy novel GAME NIGHT (Magnum Opus Press, Nov 2007):

A ten-thousand-year quest is about to be completed. Prophecies will be fulfilled, ancient riddles answered, legendary evils bested, and the nature of the universe revealed. All that’s needed is a band of mighty heroes to do the completing.

Unfortunately for the locals, some of the gods have taken a personal interest in the chronicle of these heroes’ adventures. Now they are each guiding one of the characters towards the conclusion of their epic journey. That is, when they’re not squabbling, backstabbing each other, blowing things up by accident, refusing to play by the rules, and turning the AllFather’s creation into a mess of petty arguments, fantasy cliché, gratuitous combat and unnecessary dice-rolls.

If you thought your games group couldn’t be any worse, Game Night shows just how bad things can get when a bunch of unruly deities decide they want to play. And may the heavens help us all.

Jonny is an unabashed Douglas Adams fan, which gave him an extra name in my drawing, thanks to an obscure bylaw giving bonus credit to cool froods who wear “Don’t Panic” T-shirts.

In fact, after reading the first chapter of GAME NIGHT, I would think Adams fanboys living in ZZ9 Plural Zed Alpha would be a good target for Jonny’s book.  Perhaps he could even look into sponsoring next year’s “Towel Day.” 

But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.  Before Jonny considers additional advertising efforts, the Ad Man recommends he first budget for a small website refresh.  His current homepage does many things right:

1)      In addition to giving a “free taste” of Chapter 1, he makes it easy to order the book on Amazon.

2)     He has strong reader and reviewer quotes.

3)     He’s clearly made outreach efforts into the gaming community, with links to signings at game shops and events like “Dragonmeet.”

4)     There are links to Jonny’s social networking profiles (MySpace, Facebook), his mailing list, and even a message board

5)     His promotional videos – while low budget – showcase the author’s quirky sense of humor.

Which leads to my main complaint… the look of Jonny’s website doesn’t reflect the comedic sensibilities of the author, promo videos, or the novel itself.

Frankly, it’s a little drab.  Flat images, dull colors, more Canterbury Tales than a “fun, fresh, irreverent read.”  The one hint of the novel’s underlying humor is the headline kicker (“Six Gods Sit Down To Spend An Evening Roleplaying.  Really badly”).

What if Jonny were to keep his basic design theme of roleplaying cards, but add some dynamic graphic elements?  For example, he could incorporate random dice rolling across the screen, and every time they stop, something bad happens to the page.  The headline gets knocked off the top.  The Jester gets pelted by arrows.  The dog bites The Sleeper’s hand.  The Warrior loses his armor (and is wearing frilly undergarments). 

Basically, Jonny needs to channel Douglas Adams again and have his website reflect the absurdist tone of his book.  Instead of his “News” page, it could be renamed the “Kill The Messenger” page.   Within the body copy of his “Press Kit” page, he could add an option to receive media materials by carrier pigeon (followed by a personal e-mail apologizing that an angry God turned all the pigeons into kumquats). 

Once his homepage is the best online storefront it can be, then it’s time to start external advertising in earnest.  If he uses the “dice rolling” theme on his homepage, that could play out in an online banner ad campaign.  Imagine 20-sided dice falling around “The Jester” playing card… when the dice stop, a torrent of boiling oil lands on the jester, accompanied by a headline like:  “They roll.  He gets hosed.  It’s all part of GAME NIGHT.”

That campaign would be appropriate for any online gathering place of Dungeons & Dragons fans and Roll Playing Game (RPG) clubs.  And if Jonny had the budget, he could pair his ad with YouTube videos related to D&D or RPGs.  Here’s two (#1 and #2) that play into the similar theme of “gamers can’t talk to women”, but combine for over 100,000 views. See this link on how to take advantage of YouTube’s advertising capabilities. 

If Jonny has absolutely no budget, he could always engage in some guerrilla advertising.  What if he were to hire 6 friends, dress them as Gods, and set up an impromptu roleplaying game in front of tourist landmarks like Parliament and the British Museum?

Instead of quietly playing their game, the Gods could engage in street theater by arguing and heckling bystanders:  “I rolled a twelve – you just contracted the plague!  Bow to the will of the AllFather and accept your suffering!”  The whole scene – right up to being run off by security – could be captured by hidden video and used as a promo video.

So that leaves one final advertising makeover.   It’s not too late to enter… if you’re interested, leave a book description and homepage URL in the comments section.  I’ll draw the final “winner” from the pool of all entries, including all the authors who signed up the previous columns.

 

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past decade, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, and the San Diego Padres. He recently finished his first mystery, KATZ CRADLE and is currently on submission. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.

Comments

[Jonny Nexus]

Hi there,

Thanks hugely for that. It's packed full of good ideas, and I'm going to print it out so I re-read it in detail on the train home.

But right away, I'm really hit by your advice on the website (which like all good advice is obvious only in hindsight). The book is funny. My YouTube videos are hopefully funny. My banner ads are funny. But the site itself... isn't. At all.

One makeover coming up... :)

[Jeannie Ruesch]

I'm not a gamer, but GameNight sounds like a blast.

And now I want to play, too. :) So here's my upcoming historical romance:

Michael Ashton, the Duke of Ravensdale, is caught in two scandals, neither of which is his own doing. The first involves a woman (don’t they always), and the second…well, it also involves a woman and a large sum of stolen money. In order to save the reputation Michael has spent his life rebuilding, he must track down the widow of his presumed-dead cousin in order to charm...or seduce her missing husband's whereabouts from her.

After being abandoned a mere hour after her wedding, Blythe Willoughby Ashton wonders how she could have been fooled by such a cad and still feels humiliated and betrayed a year later. Her husband wooed her, married her, took her money and left. When she learns of his death, she decides unceremoniously to go on with her life—without a man. So when Thomas’s cousin—a Duke, no less—shows up uninvited on her doorstep, looking more handsome and irresistible than any man should, Blythe instinctively doesn’t trust him nor does she want to like him. But her traitorous heart doesn’t seem to care. At the same time, Michael’s clear agenda gets quite blurry when the woman he believes an accomplice to his cousin's schemes turns out to be the woman he can give his heart to…and the only one he can’t have.

My website:
http://www.jeannieruesch.com

These have been really interesting to read. I look forward to the last one (whomever it is.)

[Jeannie Ruesch]

Whoops, I forgot to give the title. That was brilliant.

It's called Something About Her.