In the past three days I’ve gotten four seperate appeals to hype their thinly-related-to-gaming product. I just now got one from an ad agency representing a national TV network, hyping a flash game.
Clearly, my role has shifted, from “ranter” to “analyst” to “game developer” to that oh-so-trendy term – blogger. And thanks to my doing this for, god, way too long now, I apparently am at the top of everyone’s marketing email spam lists.
Some of which are good. I like Paradox games. Paradox sends me press releases and the occasional beta (Hearts of Iron III, k? thx). I don’t mind hyping them, because they make niche products that in the main, I really like. This is a positive example of symbiotic viral marketing. I like insanely complex strategy games, you the blog reader probably know this about me, so when I talk about them, you might find them of interest and buy them yourself, and Paradox makes more money and makes… well, games I don’t like much. But anyway, USUALLY it works!
But a lot of the appeals I get now are from products that have only the vaguest connection to what I write about, and some of them are… well… from pretty skeevy characters. You see, I debated internally for a few minutes whether to even post that link – not because the core concept (paying street people with a few dollars worth of snack food to hold your signs while mocking them) is offensive, but because it’s also really clear which product is being advertising. And by linking you to them, even indirectly, the guerilla marketing worked. Which is precisely, you know, why it was mailed to me in the first place, with the full knowledge that I would work up a righteous fury over the concept of exploiting the homeless. So, if you follow that link, please assume they’re actually advertising jewel-encrusted Sarah Palin-branded iPods instead. Thanks.
And quit sending me unsolicited appeals to flog your product. Either it’s related to the gaming industry (in which case I’m at worst a direct competitor and at best aware enough of my surroundings to note it anyway) or it’s just some scheme to milk the Intertubes of money, and, well, again I’m a direct competitor, k?
Oh, and now since I’m an officially trendy blogger, I demand the political elite start listening to my wants and needs. You can start with toning down the Nuremburg rallies.