My Pathetic Advertising Story
Miyorenji, Yokohama, 1983-1984
I thought I needed to advertise. I had a friend from college, Wes Adachi, a comic book artist. He used to draw our D&D Characters for us. I asked him to draw the cover art for my first game. It was a blond haired Conan style warrior swinging his sword while standing on a pile of dead monsters. It was probably based on some Frank Frazetta book cover art. I used this art and turned it into a full page ad.
I had my guys contact the magazines. None of the magazines would let me advertise. Keiko Erikawa had called the magazines and told them not to let me advertise “or else.” She tried to make good on her word that she would stop me from releasing my game. Seriously?
I had my guys contact the magazines. None of the magazines would let me advertise. Keiko Erikawa had called the magazines and told them not to let me advertise “or else.” She tried to make good on her word that she would stop me from releasing my game. Seriously?
In a couple of hours they got back to us. There would be no problem for us to advertise in their magazine and apologized for any inconvenience. Two other magazines also gave in. Only one still said no. It was run by relatives of Keiko Erikawa and she had control over them.
My advertising campaign was a disaster. No-one understood what my game was about. There had never been a Role Playing Game in Japan before. I’m thinking I’m an idiot. Of course, a full page faux Frank Frazetta image would not get people to understand my game. We added screen shots to our next ad. We got something like one phone call in the first month and three in the second month. I had blown my advertising budget. Strike one.
When it came time to actually make good on their promise to buy 3,000 copies of Black Onyx, they said they could only order 600. Apparently, they had done a little homework and found out that my advertising amounted to nothing. Maybe they had asked their sales guys to check with the shops they were distributing to. No- one knew what a Role Playing Game was. Strike two.
It was now January. I had enough money for a couple of months, then it’s over. I called my employees together and asked them “how do people in Japan find out about games?” “They read about them in the magazines” was the reply. I asked how games got into the magazines. A game became a hit, then the magazine would come to your company, interview the game designer and print a great story about the game letting the Japanese game consumers know all about this great new game. Obviously this wasn’t going to happen to us. Strike three?
Not so fast.
I said to my staff, “Make appointments with all of the magazines. I am going to visit them and show them my game.” So it was that I visited every computer game magazine in Japan and showed the writers of game review how to play my game. Every single one of them got completely addicted to Black Onyx and couldn’t stop playing till the end. It took about a month for them to play and a month for them to write their stories. We got rave reviews in all of the magazines. Not strike three.
Bases loaded, Home run!!
Come April, Softbank ordered 10,000 copies. In fact we sold 10,000 copies per month for most of the rest of the year. Black Onyx was rated the #1 game in Japan in 1984 by Login magazine.
I could have given up after my pathetic advertising campaign failed. But I didn’t.
I could have given up when Softbank reneged on their initial order of 3,000 units. But I didn’t.
I could have given up when the magazines refused my ads. But I didn’t.
If you learn anything from reading my story, it’s this. Do not give up. Every success story includes overcoming adversity.
