So I'm watching the military channel and guess what?

[Traveler]

The problem is that Hitech said the commercial didn't generate enough interest to cover the investment made to make/air the commercial. Which is why I think he may be a bit gun shy to do it again.

What decade was that ?   Years ago when my squad had it’s largest number of players, an official survey of our membership conducted by our squad XO, showed that 70% of our members had been attracted to AH by the commercials they saw.

However there are many other options. Advertising in Model makers magazines, flying magazines and so on. The social media angle is a huge opportunity if used properly. In a few months the WWII air shows will start back up again. What if HTC built a booth and shipped it around the country to players that would volunteer to run it at each show. HTC pays for literature and fees, maybe a computer with an air card and a login to let people give it a try at the shows, volunteers sign a contract to setup and break down the booth. Heck give the "volunteers"  6 months or a year free to do it. All of these things are much cheaper than making and airing a TV commercial.

After 40 years in the business world, I learned that one thing is true: “you get what you pay for”.

[Gman]

IIRC the statements some have made here about HTs comments regarding the lacking response to advertising was about the most recent HTC adds.  Again, IIRC, the add was placed in a Canadian history channel special about WW2 air combat aces.  It was a decent program, but I'm not sure if it aired in Canada only - the wiki for it says it did air in the UK and the US, but I have no idea the metrics of the add campaign.  There aren't that many people, much less gamers up here.  So, before throwing advertising success under the bus, it'd be best to be sure specifically what HT was talking about.  I'm pretty sure the recent add campaign that HT spoke about not long ago, and how they didn't get many, if any customers from it, was from an add placed in a mostly Canadian market in terms of how the program aired, and the adds along with it.

I believe it was this program that HTC last ran an add on - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Aces

HT posted specifically in 2014 that they had ran an add on this program, and that it had little success.  IMO that's not due to the add, or HTC's product, but just the market, I wouldn't believe for one second the CPM numbers the channel gave HTC either, having some experience with how they did business in the past.  Very, very few eyes, and those eyes are NOT potential WW2 online gamer eyes.

As others have said, the former add that ran on the US military channel/etc back in the 2000s, I think every 2nd player I talked to back in those days came from that commercial.  Bizman makes a good point, it isn't the 2000s anymore and regular old TV adds aren't what they used to be.  There are other areas HTC could blitz, Youtube adds on gamer channels, YT gaming channel reviews, Twitch, etc.  Also, getting their website back up in the search rankings.  Every social media platform.  Etc.

.WoT, WT, WofWarships, and so forth, there are millions of people familiar with these games, and even if HTC only captures a fraction of 1 percent of these potential customers, we'll be back to the 1st world problem of having to have an Orange/Blue type deal.  Advertising anywhere these potential customers may look, anywhere, will work. 

I believe HTC knows this, and has a plan for advertising, if they plan on doing so.  HT has posted before many of the metric they look at to factor in where, and of course with the new version WHEN, they plan to do so.

How many new people come to our internet sight each day.
How many people visit our download page every day?
How many people downloaded the game every day?
How many people created an account but did not enter the game?
How many people created an account ?
How many days does the average person who creates an account play?
How many people created an account who subscribed before.
How many people who try our game become subscribers.
How much advertising have we done this month.
How many people deleted there accounts this month.
How many people's credit cards were declined this month?
How many people have an account but did not play this month.
How many hours did the average person play last month?
What is the average life span of a subscriber?
What % of subscribers delete in the first month?

These are some of the metrics we look at. And even the simple metric you are using shows growth right after the change.
So yes , you are really viewing things with almost zero data.

HiTech

[mechanic]

Quantity of players is useless, quality of players is all that matters. Adding 100 million iPhone generation players would not make AH fun. Conscious effort by 400 AH vets to improve gameplay would. *shrug*

[Tilt]

If you wish to expand your clientele...... then somehow you have to communicate to your target market that you actually exist and that you have a product they want.

[bj229r]

Do ANY trade publications, video game equipment makers, etc pull up Aces High in the results list when you google them?

[Traveler]

Remember how AOL got started, they gave the disk away, everywhere.

[StokesAk]

The problem is that Hitech said the commercial didn't generate enough interest to cover the investment made to make/air the commercial. Which is why I think he may be a bit gun shy to do it again.

However there are many other options. Advertising in Model makers magazines, flying magazines and so on. The social media angle is a huge opportunity if used properly. In a few months the WWII air shows will start back up again. What if HTC built a booth and shipped it around the country to players that would volunteer to run it at each show. HTC pays for literature and fees, maybe a computer with an air card and a login to let people give it a try at the shows, volunteers sign a contract to setup and break down the booth. Heck give the "volunteers"  6 months or a year free to do it. All of these things are much cheaper than making and airing a TV commercial.

yes yes yes! I couldnt think of any better place to find players interested in our game. Advertising at air shows and like is exactly the target audience we are trying to reach.

[awrabbit]

I would utilize the social media as it is free advertising.

perhaps even more exposure on the flight sim sites. 

and with the flight controller companies.

I wouldn't wanna see 100 million baby seals.... I mean people  but I would like to see an increase in numbers for sure.

damn you all are good!  I tell my son all the time that if he wants to fly with some excellent pilots then he needs to leave WT and come here and play.   

[scott66]

That free WoT game cost me about 400 bucks in the first 6 months...I stopped playing when AH3 came out

[Simon]

Mass media advertising for a niche genre is a waste of money. Social media is too broad to be effective with the audience being conditioned for $0.99 mobile games with short attention spans.

We need to reach the casual and mature gamers who don't have patience to endure the typical chaos most MMOGs present, but have a fascination with WW2 and aviation.

Alluding to the average age of the community being in their 40s would certainly cause me to take interest, and a 'no squeakers' banner would seal the deal.

I'm sure these have been brought up before but old school methods such as coupons with flight sticks and a booth with a big screen at air shows might pique the interest of those like minded folks who would never click on a facebook ad.

Either that or troll the other games' forums like Bruv used to do at Fighter Ace   

[Traveler]

HTC first has to do something about how well they fare in a web search.  Bring up your favorit browser and enter "WWII aviation games"  tell me on which page Aces High is listed?  Trick question, it's not.

[ccvi]

Ask TotalBiscuit, The Cynical Brit
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTFohR7GUZYcD8t4bbSKYpnsjMWf19Qgo
to do a review.

[Bruv119]

Either that or troll the other games' forums like Bruv used to do at Fighter Ace   

who are you pps?   they got modded before the day was out.

hehe

[hgtonyvi]

I was attracted by that commercial on the military channel that made me join AH. A good time to launch a commercial will be when a sports game is on, baseball, basketball, football etc. It's a good way to attract adults and veterans. I say this because I do not think most teenagers will be interested in a game like this. They are usually playing the Xbox/ps3 games. Also the communication/player personalities are way mature compared to other games.

[JimmyD3]

the commercial on the Military channel got me started in 2012.