C47

You finished testing and re-testing. All of the computer codes are right. You flipped the switch and everything actually works! You’re bleary-eyed but ready to do some somersaults because you finally created that perfect game or music application.

But after you say, “It’s alive, Igor!” you realize that you still have to get this thing out to people. Creation is only half the battle. Distribution awaits. Suddenly, the somersaults stop.

So is the plight of every new video game developer. The questions in your head start coming in droves. Questions like, “I think it’s great, but will the masses think so too?” “How will I actually get this out to them?” How can I sell this to a distributor when I’m not a salesman? I’m a creative person not a business person.” “Can this product really sell itself so that I won’t have to say too much?”

Relax. Let’s kill the latter three questions right off the bat. You don’t have to be a salesman to sell your product as long as you truly believe in it and it’s remarkable enough to make the marketer and distributor money. It can sell itself with help from you, even though you’re just a creative person. You’re passion for the product and knowledge of all the intricate details on how it works will be enough to sell it.

Now let’s turn our focus on the first two questions because if we can’t answer them, you either have no chance of getting a distribution deal or you’ll get one but no one will buy it. Either way you won’t make any money and people will be pissed-off at you.

First, we need to find out if the masses will like it. Since the only way to find out is to get people to play it, you should get it in people’s hands and get some detailed feedback as soon as possible. Asking do you like me yes or no is not going to cut it here. You need to find out what they specifically like AND dislike, and how they think the product could be improved and why. If some of the feedback isn’t too out there, take their suggestions into account and tweak some things. Make your Frankenstein better. He was too stiff anyway!

An economical and effective way to get this feedback is to sponsor an event where you know people who are most likely to “eat up” your product are going to be. The event must also give you the opportunity and space to setup stations for those people to play with the game. Ask the attendees detailed like/dislike questions as mentioned previously and record what they say. A lot of people don’t like filling out surveys and like to talk, so this method gives you better feedback.

Now that we found out that people really like you and Frankie, we turn to the last question, “How do we get this out to people?” Surprisingly, by sponsoring an event or events, you already set the groundwork for getting that distribution deal.

When you chose to sponsor a particular event based on who would be there, you already identified who your target market would be. By doing so, you already knocked out the first question that a distributor would ask you. Sponsorship also gives your product a story that you can tell the distributor, because you actually rolled it out (even though it was a test) and people played with it. Regardless of the feedback, the product was actually made available to the public. Remember that feedback you got from the event? Not only does it help you tweak some things, it can also give the distributor insight on how to market products that THEY are currently working on that are in the same category of your product.

There are some risks to using sponsorship to get your deal, however. If no one likes anything about your product you’re pretty much screwed because the distributor will find out eventually. Worse yet, if you really want the product to be successful and not get a deal for a subpar product, it’s back to the lab for you to make some drastic changes. The good thing about this is that it’s much better to know this before you go to the masses than after. You can still change things. The only change you can do after you’re already out there is in Version 2.0. If Version 1.0 flops, you’re probably not going to get a shot of doing Version 2.0 anyway.

So there you have it. Use sponsorship as a way to get distribution. It gives you immediate credibility with distributors by pre-identifying the target market, and it gives you and the distributor valuable marketing feedback that you both can use to be successful.

Brian Gillard is the Principal of Crowd Control, Inc., the sponsorship negotiation agency for the lifestyle market. Crowd Control helps innovative brands in the music, screen (TV and film), gaming, and hospitality industries to use sponsorship to interact with and get feedback from consumers before their products/services are launched so that they can save product development and marketing dollars. More details on the agency can be found at http://www.crowd-control.us