Rapturian "street team"

[Jeff]

so it seems some people that there's not enough hype surrounding Bioshock, but hype is overrated in the traditional sense and a lot of the time it's hard to fit what aspect of a game you want to "hype" into a commercial, or it's hard to capture an audience on the internet since there's 9 billion other things for people to do with their e-time.

After reading some of the comments on this forum and a few others and seeing that people seem to be more fond of word of mouth advertising for a game such as this than anything else the idea of a street team immediately popped into my head. I shot myself down pretty quickly though as street teams are for hip-hop artists and anti-drug programs, but since I'm a persistent bastage who takes orders from no-one (especially myself) I kept on thinking about this and tweaked the idea slightly;

This is still very rough and it's basically a result of less than a day of actual though refinement, but what if we put together a bit of a program where-in people would hit the streets and advertise rapture itself. The city, not so much the game (Think; Gattica newspaper advertisements). The same could be done here, 2k could take out advertisements in papers displaying rapture in all it's glory and advertising the city itself, inviting people to come to rapture. A "street team" could talk to people about rapture and hand out literature specially designed for this purpose.

Anyway this should definitely be refined further. Normally I wouldn't even mention something like this, but I feel like it's a nice way to push word of mouth a bit further without delving into the realm of pretentious jackassery in advertisement. Hell I'd be willing to put on a tie, hit the streets and do it myself with the right material.

Anyway, rant and refine, but stay on topic, or I'll come to your house and kill your dog. If you don't have a dog, I'll buy you one for christmas, wait for you to get attached and then kill it.

[Bioshock_FTW!]

Haha, that's a cool idea Jeff. Only problem I can see is how awkward it would be to talk about an underwater city that doesn't exist. Then when they ask you what the hell you're talking about, you tell them "☺☺☺☺, well it's in this amazing new video game coming out called BioShock..." etc.

Personally what I would do is design some sort of flier to be handed out by a "street team" that's all glossy and on card-stock with some BioShock and/or Rapture advertisements on them and some of the great art work. Something simple and to the point, even professional looking as if 2K made them themselves, and just hand them out. If people have questions, they can ask and we would know any and everything. I would leave stacks of these at retail locations where I would think gamers would go (malls, cyber cafe's, their grandmother's basement). All right that last one isn't a retail location but is definitely where most of them are.

If anyone likes that idea, I can start putting together some designs...atleast it would be some material to hand out y'know?

[MacarenaRowBot]

I definately want to start pushing the Bioshock love up a notch and start putting up posters in the city of Ottawa. That would be rad.
If I wasnt afraid of going to jail, Bioshock graffiti would be pretty awesome too.

[Cthulhu]

Amazing idea.

A poster of the underwater city of Rapture would be extremely eye catching.


Put a logo of Bioshock in one of the bottom corners, to avoid having to explain what the poster is about.

[Hatesink]

You'd need to reach people who are already predisposed to playing it (and hopefully those who have disposable income) since they're more likely to be influenced by the sales message. Ads in gaming magazines would be good. Getting a good review at sites like Gamespot. Getting free air-time by appearing on Gamespot I would say would be a really good idea. Word of mouth will occur naturally when people start playing the game. The trick is to get it in to the hands of the people who are going to be buying, playing and talking about it— maybe with demos both downloadable and on the front of magazines. If it's a good enough product it'll sell itself through word of mouth and All 2K will really have to do, so to speak, is 'light the blue touch paper and stand back'.

[Jeff]

Haha, that's a cool idea Jeff. Only problem I can see is how awkward it would be to talk about an underwater city that doesn't exist. Then when they ask you what the hell you're talking about, you tell them "☺☺☺☺, well it's in this amazing new video game coming out called BioShock..." etc.

Personally what I would do is design some sort of flier to be handed out by a "street team" that's all glossy and on card-stock with some BioShock and/or Rapture advertisements on them and some of the great art work. Something simple and to the point, even professional looking as if 2K made them themselves, and just hand them out. If people have questions, they can ask and we would know any and everything. I would leave stacks of these at retail locations where I would think gamers would go (malls, cyber cafe's, their grandmother's basement). All right that last one isn't a retail location but is definitely where most of them are.

If anyone likes that idea, I can start putting together some designs...atleast it would be some material to hand out y'know?

the idea of the pamphlet is a good one, if you or someone like tourist put together a design it might push the idea on a few more people. What I'd personally like to see in it is an advertisement for Rapture, pre-civil war, looking for the best and brightest showing off a deco paradise hidden beneath the sea's. Something that'll make the uninitiated look at it and go "A city underwater? Wow I think I'd like to go there"

One of the main reasons I mention something like this is because it wouldn't be all that difficult to get people doing something like this in wide array of locations, secondly it's not that hard to pick someone out of a crowd who's predisposed to playing video games, and even if you don't get the right person, when that person goes to work or school sits down and says "Do you know wtf this "rapture" place is?! look at this pamphlet someone gave me" the ball starts rolling.

It's a bit ""grass roots"" but like I said, sometimes the simplest methods of advertisement are the best.

[splicer]

Rapture street teams eh?......I shall purge thee of thou's ignorance..great!
Count me in! I'm happy to sound like a broken record on this-the best way to push this game is by letting people play it-waving pamplets around ect ect just isnt going to cut it-My local game and i live in a HUGE CITY)to this date does not have a single pre-order for bioshock or Biowhat as the staff call it,when i ask why,after the initial shock that I'm not pre-ordering Halo 3 has worn off ,they reply,customers want demos,something to play instore on the display consoles...simply approaching people or displaying posters,whatever,isnt going to do very much at all......

[Bioshock_FTW!]

Give me some content to add to the middle of this and tell me what your thoughts are!

[splicer]

Play the demo here!

[Bioshock_FTW!]

Play the demo here!

wtf are you talking about nub

[Hatesink]

someone comment on this fangled flier I whipped up on the Rapturian "Street team" thread already!
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=524

If you were going to hand them out at game stores or conventions you could make it a kind of parody of the types of folded leaflets you get advertising hotels; or that you get in hotels, advertising tourist attractions.

Maybe they could be left in holders at the point of purchase in game stores etc. for people to pick up.

[Bioshock_FTW!]

[sirlegendfire]

I'm bringing this topic back up to see if anything has changed. I contacted a few people on here about doing a street team. Only one of them "Rapture_Tourist " has got back to me. I even sent an email to Elizabeth, but no response yet. I know she is busy though.

I still think the posters/flyers and a brochure are great ideas, like the ones you see in a motel lobby. Highlighting the great things about "Rapture" and why they should visit. This will lead to "CultOfRapture" and "BioshockGame" I have a few designs I've worked on. Tourist brought up a good point about
2K... how would they react to fans making this stuff? If it's ok, then what are the guidelines? I can see some fans taking it very far...like Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I'm not going to do that, but I bet I get free advertising in the paper

I'm very excited for this game and willing to do whatever to help. What does everyone else think? Can Elizabeth or someone from 2K respond, so they can turn us loose or not

Rest of the thread here: http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=524

[fester]

i think something that would be great would to have a "LAUNCH PARTY" and post flyer and the shuch saying that the shuttles to the gates of Rapture start when this launch party starts

[FreshLaundryX]

I think we should get a high school to do a Rapture themed prom.

[Jeff]

I still very much like the idea but the logistics of it have fallen apart for me, I'm no longer unemployed and so, as resources in rapture have become so is my time.

[FreshLaundryX]

I think it was a great idea.
Just have www.cultofrapture.com at the bottom.

The rest of it should be a hard sell for Rapture. Done in art deco style.

[2K Elizabeth]

I think it was a great idea.
Just have www.cultofrapture.com at the bottom.

The rest of it should be a hard sell for Rapture. Done in art deco style.

I love this idea, but you might want to ramp it up a bit closer to launch. maybe in mid-july?

of course i think word-of-mouth online is also a great way to raise interest right now.

[Poison17]

Would you get arrested for handing out Flyers or Leaflets because I know you can get arrested for selling stuff without a permit? cause if you can't I will just draw flyers and get the first on copied multiple times even get one on a t-shirt I know if the image is 12 in. x 12 in. it will be cheap and it is even cheaper if it is Black and white.

[Nias Wolf]

Ok, just so nobody miss-understands me, I'm all for this idea! There's just one thing that could prove a big problem, and I think I have the responsibility to act on it. Once again, don't get me wrong. I think that calling the city Rapture has a great, double irony. The fact that Ryan named his city after judgment day (that all the good people go to heaven, only in this case, all the smart people to to a new city), and the fact that, well, the city did eventually fall to pieces.

To get to the point, handing out flyers adverting "Rapture" doesn't sound like... the best idea. And once you start putting the words (don't get me wrong, I think it's brilliant) "The CULT of RAPTURE" on it, thats all that some people are going to see. I just dont want a good idea to be turned around and start hurting Bio Shock. Saying that this is a "cultist game, and not in the good way".

I hope somebody understands what I'm saying... or maybe its no problem at all. I just thought it needed to be said.

On the otherhand, having it be art deco could be a funy way to fix this problem. Or, maybe have a brand new "city for the best"... and not call it by its name? That way, hard core fans will be able to explain to everybody what it's all about?

Anyway, just a few things to think about.

[Jeff]

half the point of the idea itself is to have people think you're advertising something real, if it offends them a little bit at first, even better. That's how marketing works, you want to spark an emotional response from people, because the second they feel something on the subject they're going to look into it more, even talk about it to other people.

For example, you're ignorant joe, walking down the street and someone hands you a pamphlet about rapture, you read and think "What the hell? city under the sea? what is all this" then get to work and while passing the ol' water cooler you see your work-friend, ignorant Steve and lean over to him and say "Have you heard about this rapture thing? I got this pamphlet and aparently it's this underwater city made by this Andrew Ryan guy, craziness" Eventually both you and ignorant steve are going to turn to the internet to satisfy your curiousity and upon discovering the cult of rapture site, you'll be informed as to the reality of the situation.

There is no problem with this. Answering another question: No it's not illegal to pass out flyers, just don't harass people or try to force them to take your literature.

[Nias Wolf]

Ok I was just worried for a second, but it sounds like you have thought this through.

[Poison17]

Ok, just so nobody miss-understands me, I'm all for this idea! There's just one thing that could prove a big problem, and I think I have the responsibility to act on it. Once again, don't get me wrong. I think that calling the city Rapture has a great, double irony. The fact that Ryan named his city after judgment day (that all the good people go to heaven, only in this case, all the smart people to to a new city), and the fact that, well, the city did eventually fall to pieces.

To get to the point, handing out flyers adverting "Rapture" doesn't sound like... the best idea. And once you start putting the words (don't get me wrong, I think it's brilliant) "The CULT of RAPTURE" on it, thats all that some people are going to see. I just dont want a good idea to be turned around and start hurting Bio Shock. Saying that this is a "cultist game, and not in the good way".

I hope somebody understands what I'm saying... or maybe its no problem at all. I just thought it needed to be said.

On the otherhand, having it be art deco could be a funy way to fix this problem. Or, maybe have a brand new "city for the best"... and not call it by its name? That way, hard core fans will be able to explain to everybody what it's all about?

Anyway, just a few things to think about.

I understand what your saying we should just put the name of the Game on it, and the Website Bioshockgame.com instead of CultofRapture.com because they both have links to the same place.

[Jeff]

No, it should be cultofrapture.com and the information on the pamphlet itself should be as vague as possible as to the true nature of what's being advertised.

[Jeff]

sidenote: there's some kids doing charity work for Amnesty International downtown in my city lately, I wonder if I dangled a $100 donation in front of them if they'd hand out Rapture pamphlets for me....

[sirlegendfire]

What Jeff said is exactly what a few of us had in mind. To advertise for a city that does not exist. I think handing it out might be a problem for some of us. But he's exactly right about the curiousity and leading to the sites.

On the flip side...I know what Nias Wolf is saying and have thought about it very much. I love that they called it Rapture, I thought it was brilliant from the beginning. But when people hear "CULT" and "RAPTURE" or better yet... "Cult of Rapture", I can see how people might think. In general the population people tend to think like sheep, so it could end up being bad press for Bioshock... i can see it now... "There is this cult and they are killing children" as funny as it sounds, it could happen.... depending on where you live.

I could care less what the general population thinks, on top of that, we would be advertising for an amazing game and as far as I know, putting up a flyer is just like a yard sell sign.

I was thinking there could be "cult of rapture" poster/flyer, Bioshock coming out soon posters/flyer and then the flyers about this great city of Rapture, leading to the various websites...and word will spread like that, even if they don't play games.

Elizabeth might have a point of waiting a little to closer to release date.

[Nihil]

let's do it make people think it's a real city and see if we can start a rel cult haha, but no the pamphlets would be cool.

[Jeff]

On the flip side...I know what Nias Wolf is saying and have thought about it very much. I love that they called it Rapture, I thought it was brilliant from the beginning. But when people hear "CULT" and "RAPTURE" or better yet... "Cult of Rapture", I can see how people might think. In general the population people tend to think like sheep, so it could end up being bad press for Bioshock... i can see it now... "There is this cult and they are killing children" as funny as it sounds, it could happen.... depending on where you live.

I started this thread and this idea, I better know what I'm talking about. Secondly, all press is good press. First and foremost because you're advertising for a video game you can do so under almost any pretense, if someone were to come across the pamphlet, believe that it's a real cult and advertise it in a newspaper or even on t.v. that would be fantastic, utterly fantastic because it end up generating tons of traffic to the site where they would discover it's a video game, not a cult.

It's a simple concept here folks, let's try to keep up.

[sirlegendfire]

I started this thread and this idea, I better know what I'm talking about. Secondly, all press is good press. First and foremost because you're advertising for a video game you can do so under almost any pretense, if someone were to come across the pamphlet, believe that it's a real cult and advertise it in a newspaper or even on t.v. that would be fantastic, utterly fantastic because it end up generating tons of traffic to the site where they would discover it's a video game, not a cult.

It's a simple concept here folks, let's try to keep up.

Jeff, I know you started this thread , I was just trying to bring it back from the dead. I'm right with you on everything. My main concern was hearing from 2K and whether they cared if fans did their own advertising and if it mattered what was on it. I've been putting together a few ideas.

[Nias Wolf]

Hey, all I was saying is that I had the "wait a second" impulse and thought it needed to be adressed. I think it would be so cool if there were flyers, posters, or anything that could be handed out like that! I think, I understand completely now, what you are trying to do, and it sounds great! I'm currious what the people at 2K will have to say.
P.S. sorry to have had to make a fuss.

[vrap]

No, it should be cultofrapture.com and the information on the pamphlet itself should be as vague as possible as to the true nature of what's being advertised.

These are interesting ideas, but I think some obvious issues are being missed. Let's say Rapture does exist. Why would we be handing out flyers to people? Are we inviting people down there? Why would random people on the street be remotely interested in dropping what they're doing and going to see some fantastical and quite improbable place? Doesn't it occur to you how strange it would seem for anyone to come across a guy handing out flyers about an underwater city? It doesn't matter that it's for a game or whatever, you're going to get odd looks and the flyer's going straight to the nearest bin. Despite the fact that the gaming population has significantly increased in the last few years, it's very unlikely that the random person on the street will be a gamer who will take this poster home, check out the URL on the internet, and be blown away that in fact this is an advertisement for a game. Very likely noone will think it's real and will immediately see that there's some offbeat promotion going on; I can imagine that even those who are curious enough to check the site out would probably be people who won't even be interested in the game, but thought there was something else to what the flyer was promoting.
Jeff you mentioned that part about the reaction from people - it's not about a emotional reaction, it's about a complete mismatch of expectations. It will be so weird for two seemingly unrelated things to be connected.

Ok, now let's assume you start handing out these flyers right outside EB or some gaming retailer. If you're advertising for a game, why hand out flyers for something that will make no mention of it? People will still be confused, what does an underwater city have to do with gaming, and why are these weird people targeting us gamers?

So again, kids may pick up that there's something interesting going on, promotion of a game that needs some researching to find out more about it. This would make a lot more sense if there was some kind of ARG going on to promote the game (and I wish there were because this would have been the perfect opportunity for one), and random and less-obvious clues like this would fit right into the bigger picture. But it would have to be something on the scale of what 42 Entertainment does which permeates mass media and reaches a much wider audience, for anyone to really start making any connections between the promotion and the game.

I suppose I sound like I'm trying to insult your intelligence or rain on everyone's parade, I assure you I just want to encourage a bit of thinking - by all means be creative but let's be sensible too.

[sirlegendfire]

Well everyone has different views on this. What is clear is a bunch of us are really excited for this game. So we should all put our heads together and come up with something cool. If you guys are up for it.

I tell everyone I know about this game, online and offline. Even people that aren't into gaming seem very interested in the concept and how it will play. I was talking to my mother a few days ago and I had mentioned the background and little tidbits from the game and she was like "Wow, we've come a long way from PONG" lol

[Rapture_Survivalist]

The idea is cool, but really, is it feasable? I mean, how much buzz would this really cause, and how many people would actually look into this underwater city called "Rapture".

I think we should leave the media buzz to 2K/Irrational's PR department.

(Yay, 100 posts! )

[Jeff]

You're not insulting my intelligence and it's all good, I'm not an easily insulted person Also I understand how you feel, you're just applying simple logic, maybe applying it a bit heavy.

Either way I'll try to explain, this is a fantastic idea and I'm happy to spend some time convincing people of it's relevance.

No, Bioshock will not be for everyone and videogames are still a fairly niche market, I fully acknowledge this. There's a few reasons I so calmly acknowledge these facts while still defending the logistics of said idea, I'll cover them in a moment.

These are interesting ideas, but I think some obvious issues are being missed. Let's say Rapture does exist. Why would we be handing out flyers to people? Are we inviting people down there? Why would random people on the street be remotely interested in dropping what they're doing and going to see some fantastical and quite improbable place? Doesn't it occur to you how strange it would seem for anyone to come across a guy handing out flyers about an underwater city? It doesn't matter that it's for a game or whatever, you're going to get odd looks and the flyer's going straight to the nearest bin.

The flyers themselves would be advertisements for the city itself (as I picture them) and while we wouldn't necessarily be inviting people to rapture, we would be detailing the city and it's intentions. Why would people be interested in dropping what they're doing to see it? Well in all likelyhood they wouldn't, but when introduce an improbable idea to someone it tends to stay in the forefront of their mind, sooner or later they're going to investigate. Who's to say they're going to be interested at all if they don't know it's a game? Simple logic says for the most part you're going to pique interest when you introduce an idea or concept that is almost unfathomable. Now who's to say they're going to stay interested when they find out what Rapture actually is? No-one, in fact for the majority of those people who investigate will probably be dissapointed at what they find. However they're not going to forget about Rapture nor the way they've been advertised to. The idea here is basically to generate word of mouth, the more people talking the better. Any conversation can be over heard, and any person marketed to has the potential to recruit someone to the fold of fans that wasn't already on board.

Yes, If you do this you're going to get strange looks, you're going to have flyers or information going into the nearest bin, you're going to have people think you're a crazy and you're going to experiance any number of negative reactions, that's the life of a marketing campaign. The idea is that for every one interested party you come across, they'll generate more interest themselves, it's basically grass roots viral marketing.

Why not just do this on the internet? The internet is dandy and all but it's not real, it doesn't carry the same impact, most forms of advertisements don't generate the same interest as general human interaction does.

Despite the fact that the gaming population has significantly increased in the last few years, it's very unlikely that the random person on the street will be a gamer who will take this poster home, check out the URL on the internet, and be blown away that in fact this is an advertisement for a game. Very likely noone will think it's real and will immediately see that there's some offbeat promotion going on; I can imagine that even those who are curious enough to check the site out would probably be people who won't even be interested in the game, but thought there was something else to what the flyer was promoting.

Again that's something that's foreseen in a campaign such as this. Yes, most people are going to know that the city itself isn't real, but when you wave a golden donut in front of someone's face they're going to lunge for it, it doesn't really matter what's on the other end as long as it isn't painful death. Yes, I know alot of people who end up figuring out what we're advertising won't be the target demographic, but you're forgetting that people are a social species and when something breaks a norm, people are apt to spread the idea, if an idea spreads on it's own it covers enough ground to reach the target demographic, you're also bound to generate interest that wasn't there before.

Jeff you mentioned that part about the reaction from people - it's not about a emotional reaction, it's about a complete mismatch of expectations. It will be so weird for two seemingly unrelated things to be connected.

wierd is the idea, breaking norms is the idea, making people wonder what the hell is going on.... is the idea.

Ok, now let's assume you start handing out these flyers right outside EB or some gaming retailer. If you're advertising for a game, why hand out flyers for something that will make no mention of it? People will still be confused, what does an underwater city have to do with gaming, and why are these weird people targeting us gamers?

that's the point, once again. We're covering the same point a bunch of times here vrap

The idea is to confuse people because confusion needs to be satisfied.

I don't know if you remember this but when the movie Gattaca first debut'd they ran advertisements in newspapers all over North America for genetic engineering, the advertisements where basically a checklist for creating your perfect child, which the (fake) company promised they could engineer in-utero for you.

This is the same thing, but at a much more grass-roots level.

[darthkiwi]

I think this is a weird (but good) idea. If some weird person in the street handed me a flyer about an underwater capitalist utopia, I'd certainly hang onto it! (I'm also weird, like the flyer, but normal sucks anyway.)

I think Jeff is maybe too optimistic about word of mouth spreading like ripples in a fish-pond. Imagine you're Average Joe who's not interested in video games. You *might* discuss that "lame guy in the street that gave me this stupid flyer," you'd all laugh at the flyer-distributor, and that would be that. No ripple, just a sort of *plunk*. This isn't going to be a nuclear-fission type chain reaction all the way.

On the other hand, if you *do* manage to snare someone who
a) Doesn't know about BioShock yet and
b) Likes this kind of game

then that person would look at the flyer, check out the website, be interested and intrigued, and would then tell all their friends (who would probably like BioShock too, since they would be like-minded.) This *would* create a ripple effect, although I think the way Jeff's put it so far assumes that *everyone* is going to spread the word, gamer or not, which I don't think will happen.

I think that, logically, your chances of catching one of the people who would like BioShock are obviously increased if you hand them out near a video games store. Also, I think it'd be good if you made it clear that this is from a game (just put BioShock on the front in big letters) but really crank up the "live with geniuses! Be the person you've wanted to be! Learn to swim before arrival for your own safety!" in order to make people intrigued and maybe amused.

Art Deco is good for this kind of thing, I assume.

[FreshLaundryX]

I know the guy that runs my local Gamestop.
I probably wouldn't hand them out, but I'm sure he'd let me put one on the window.

I just had another idea!

What if instead of a poster, we printed off business cards and stuck them on the bulletin boards in local establishments alongside all the other business cards?

The card stock for printing business cards isn't much at all - works in nearly any printer. I have a box of Matte White 2" x 3 1/2" 8875 right here. If someone could whip up an intriguing design I could create a Microsoft Word template...

(I once found a business card that said, "Michael White - Professional Professional". I thought it was so funny I took it home.)

[Bioshock_FTW!]

Again, re-posting this but here's a rough design that needs content that i came up with a while ago...I envision this on a cardstock sort of post-card sized thing. It needs content and I'm just playing with designs...
any sort of writing that should be in there, tell me what you think.

[TrekTek]

Looks pretty fantastic to me.

[Nihil]

add like a back to the card with like a list of things, like a whatever thousand square fot medical pavillion a mall full of shops and stuff like point bullets of info, like "beatiful scenic gardens, take a stroll through our marvelous biodomes" stuff like that maybe i dunno.... just brainstorming.

[Bioshock_FTW!]

add like a back to the card with like a list of things, like a whatever thousand square fot medical pavillion a mall full of shops and stuff like point bullets of info, like "beatiful scenic gardens, take a stroll through our marvelous biodomes" stuff like that maybe i dunno.... just brainstorming.

Yeh, exactly what I was thinking. Need an official list of things like this from a Dev...yess....hmmmm *rubs hands maniacally*