With apologies to my hardcore gamer friends and co-workers, I must confess I am not a super hardcore gamer. I can tell you what the top-selling games are but I do not have a huge desire to care for virtual farms for 20 plus hours per day. But, I do know great content targeted at the right personas when I see it.
And that’s just what Demand Spring did in what I believe to be the best example of how you can use engaging storytelling to connect with the right personas on an emotional level.
The Most Awesome Game
The Most Awesome Game is a long-form video documentary about the online gaming industry. It features thought-leader Nelson Rodriguez, Global Director, Media Industry and Campaign Marketing, for Akamai, and his conversations with the rock stars of game development. It’s not a product video. It doesn’t promote Akamai’s technical prowess. Instead, it explores gaming culture, challenges, and passions. It’s inspiring.
Three things make this video exceptional. First, the storyteller is a trusted expert, known and respected throughout the industry. Nelson’s an Akamai evangelist and lifelong gamer. He plays them, he writes about them, and he’s traveled the world to talk to the people who make them. He’s a former games marketer himself. No one understands the pains, challenges and passions of this Akamai audience better than he does.
The customers interviewed in the video include luminaries from Epic Games, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Harebrained Schemes, and other industry giants. Game developers truly want to hear what they have to say. Some of the interviewees even tweeted about how cool it was to be a part of this project.
.@Akamai Got the chance to be an interviewee in a 15m documentary about gaming by Akamai, featuring @NelsonRodriguez – EA Researcher James Berg
Finally, let’s be real. The video is intended to encourage the industry to view Akamai more favorably, but it isn’t your average corporate talking head video. It’s a compelling story that speaks to game developers in their language — which wouldn’t be possible if Akamai didn’t have a deep understanding of the key individuals in their target market.
Everything in Marketing starts with knowing your audience — which is where personas come in. Personas are the essential constructs that help you understand your audience, because personas are real people, which makes it that much easier to construct content that speaks directly to them — as Akamai has done so brilliantly.
Marketing requires great content. Great content does not require marketing.
You can see the video here and read a little about the background of the project here.
The post Akamai’s Most Awesome Way of Connecting with Game Developer Personas appeared first on Demand Spring.
