Destiny ALoveStory

© 2014 ErinBlaskie.com Destiny: A Love Story About A Video Game, Marketing & Storytelling 1


Destiny: A Love Story About A Video Game,

Marketing & Storytelling

Erin Blaskie

www.ErinBlaskie.com


TABLE OF CONTENTS AN INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 4

CHAPTER ONE: THE EASTER EGG PRINCIPLE ................ 6

CHAPTER TWO: THE ADOPTION LIFECYCLE ................... 9

CHAPTER THREE: THE PARTY INVITATION & EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT .................................................. 15

CHAPTER FOUR: LEVERAGING AUTHORITY FOR SOCIAL PROOF .......................................................................... 20

CHAPTER FIVE: SPREADING THE WORD LIKE WILDFIRE ..................................................................................... 24

CHAPTER SIX: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CURIOSITY ....... 29

CHAPTER SEVEN: CLIMAX ................................................... 35

CONCLUSION ............................................................................. 38

GET INVOLVED .......................................................................... 41

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, ERIN BLASKIE ................................ 43


AN INTRODUCTION

ost great love stories usually start with, “Once upon a time.”

This story is no different.

Once upon a time a video game developer decided to create a

video game. To execute the hugely successful launch of their video game, they began

telling the story of the game for years before it actually hit the shelves.

When Destiny was launched on September 9th, 2014, it earned $500 million in sales and was awarded the

biggest new franchise launch in that industry’s history as well as the accolade of highest-selling day one

digital console release in history.

This was no accident.

Bungie and Activision, video game developers, began the process of seeding Destiny to its fan base well

before the game was brought to market. They were able to create an emotional connection with their

audience so when launch day rolled around, people were ready, waiting and anticipating the release of the

game.

What we, as marketers and business owners and creators, need to be doing is actively telling the stories

about our companies, products and services that will get people interested. We need to open up and give

people a sneak peek into the inner workings of our business to get them invested. We need to show them

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the reason that we understand who our customer base is and why we’re creating this very special thing

just for them.

Many companies fail at this piece.

Most companies choose a product or service, design and develop it in-house, gather little to no customer

feedback, keep the product or service secret until launch day and then they launch it with the expectation

that people will invest in whatever it is they just launched. The old “if you build it, they will come” adage,

which most of us know is not true. In a loud and crowded marketplace, you can no longer expect for

people to care if you haven’t given them a reason to do so.

Your customer base is not going to invest their hard-earned dollars in your product, service or company

unless they feel emotionally compelled to take action.

Creating the container and eliciting emotional response from your customer base is your company’s job.

That’s what this book explores. The way in which a video game company wooed their customer base for

years before asking them to make an investment and the success they saw because of it.

They were vulnerable.

They told their story.

And now, I’m telling their story. A story about love, marketing and storytelling.


CHAPTER ONE: THE EASTER EGG PRINCIPLE

n media, an “Easter egg” is an intentional joke, hidden message, or feature in a work such as a

computer program, video game, movie, book or crossword1. For gamers, knowing which Easter eggs

exist in their favourite games is not only fun, it’s a badge of honour.

In 2009, an Easter egg appeared in Halo 3: ODST, a game developed by Destiny creator Bungie. Inside of

the game there was a sign that read “Destiny Awaits” with a photo of Earth floating nearby2. This in-game

clue preceded the release date by five years and no other details accompanied it at the time.

It wasn’t until 2012 that the Easter egg was discovered by Twitter user, and graphic designer at Ubisoft,

Ryan Butler3. Once Butler found the Easter egg, he Tweeted it to digital artist Vic Deleon, who worked on

Halo, which then caught the attention of video game website Kotaku4 thus pushing the story mainstream.

1 Wikipedia.org – Easter egg (media) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media) 2 Ryan Butler, Twitter -‐ https://twitter.com/Rhyd1z3L_/status/274062850899709952/photo/1 3 Ryan Butler, Twitter -‐ https://twitter.com/Rhyd1z3L_ 4 Kotaku -‐ http://kotaku.com/5964560/bungie-‐might-‐have-‐teased-‐their-‐next-‐big-‐game-‐way-‐back-‐in-‐halo-‐3-‐odst

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This was a brilliant move by Bungie.

Bungie gave their most dedicated customer base a first look at what was to come.

An Easter egg is never placed into a game for the new or average video game user. It is placed there for

the hardcore gamer who plays video games religiously. The gamer who knows their favourite games inside

and out and who would spot the egg and share it with their gaming friends. These gamers are usually the

video game production company’s biggest group of supporters.

USING THE EASTER EGG PRINCIPLE IN YOUR BUSINESS

The Easter egg principle is simple: give your most loyal

customers a “first look” at what’s to come by seeding it in such

a way that they’ll only get the message if they are paying

attention.

Often, as marketers, we want to hit people over the head with

our message. We seem to want to make sure that our audience

is really, truly “getting it” by trying to convince them, over and

over again, that they need what it is we’re selling.


The Easter egg method allows us to take a more subtle approach and seed details to the people that will

be our biggest and loudest supporters when the time comes to kick marketing efforts into high gear.

The reason that a lot of companies do not take a subtle approach when it comes to their marketing is

because they aren’t leaving themselves enough time to properly market what it is they are selling. Poor

planning, rushing to launch and building your product, service or creation in a vacuum can all attribute to

short lead times when it comes to getting out into the marketplace.

Think about the ways in which you can involve your best customers early on in your product and service

creation process. Perhaps you can invite them to test drive your product or service or maybe you can send

out a short survey to only your existing customers. Or, maybe you take a more subtle approach, like

Bungie did, and simply drop a hint of what’s to come with no other accompanying details.

Once you’ve determined what you’ll be seeding, do it early on in the process. The earlier the better, really.

Don’t worry about whether or not the idea is perfectly polished or what you are sharing is in a perfect, little

box with a beautifully tied bow. Take a deep breath and release that information early on and see what

happens.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE SUMMARY

Be sure that the “first look” of your product, service or creation goes out to the most devoted people in

your audience base so you can start to build momentum early on.


CHAPTER TWO: THE ADOPTION LIFECYCLE

nce the creators of Destiny had invited its most loyal fans in for a sneak peek

by way of the Easter egg, they then began to make more overt references to the

game in other places.

On August 11th, 2011, Bungie released an anniversary documentary called, O Brave New World5. Inside of the

documentary appeared many Destiny-related hints that you would have only spotted if you were

following along closely and paying attention. Hints such as early environment renders, an environment

editor named “Grognok” and a shot of actors performing a scene with motion capture equipment.

In that same documentary, Bungie co-founder, Jason Jones, discussed the game’s development using

only its original code name Project Tiger. This fueled more media coverage, by many of the popular video

game blogs, as people tried to uncover the unknown details about what the production company was

creating.

Keeping the details under wraps proved harder and harder to do as time passed.

5 O Brave New World documentary, YouTube -‐ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtG6-‐-‐4r_qk

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In May of 2012, a contract between Bungie and Activision was published by the Los Angeles Times6, which

illustrated the developer’s plan to create four Destiny games.

On November 27, 2012, gaming website IGN released leaked story details and concept art to the public7,

which elicited over 1,200 comments. In response to this, Bungie released a tongue-in-cheek blog post8

that encouraged the media, and fans, to take a peek.

With this leaked information, anticipation began to build for the game and the reach began to broaden

beyond the hard core gamers and moved into the next level of Bungie’s customer base – the casual gamer.

To explain why this is incredibly important, let’s take a look at the adoption lifecycle.

USING THE ADOPTION LIFECYCLE TO PACE YOUR MARKETING AND

STORYTELLING

6 Los Angeles Times, Bungie-‐Activision contract -‐ http://documents.latimes.com/bungie-‐activision-‐contract/ 7 IGN.com – Destiny Story Details and Concept Art Leaked -‐ http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/11/28/destiny-‐story-‐details-‐concept-‐art-‐leaked 8 Well, That Just Happened… Again, Bungie.net -‐ http://halo.bungie.net/news/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=32235


The adoption lifecycle is the speed at which your customer groups adopt or accept your product, service

or creation. The process of adoption over time is typically illustrated as a classical normal distribution or

“bell curve.” The demographic and psychological profiles of each adoption group were originally specified

by the North Central Rural Sociology Committee,

Subcommittee for the Study of Diffusion of Farm

Practices9.

The report broke out the groups as follows:

• Innovators

• Early adopters

• Early majority

• Late majority

• Laggards

The adoption lifecycle, and the demographic groups

within each, is really important for understanding the marketing and storytelling that needs to happen for

your product, service or creation.

9 Technology Adoption Lifecycle, Wikipedia.org -‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_lifecycle


If you analyze the ways in which Bungie executed their marketing in the first two phases, you can see that

they focused solely on the innovators and early adopters and the amount of marketing they did matched

the height of the curve.

Let’s take a look at this modified

chart. On its own, it simply shows

the average number of people in

each of the adoption groups. This is

useful, as it will help you determine

who should be in each group, but it’s

not particularly helpful when looking

at a launch calendar or plotting out

your marketing activities.

Looking at the new chart above, you

can begin to see that the number of

people in each stage of the adoption

lifecycle has a direct correlation to

both time and effort. Let’s break this

down by group.


• Innovators and early adopters

o When to Market to this Group: First

o Amount of Time Spent Marketing to this Group: 30% of Total Effort

Marketing to this group first is important because this contains the group of individuals who are your most

loyal customers. These are the people who are the most interested in what you are creating and may even

want to be involved in the process early on (beta testers, for example.)

In terms of effort spent for this group, we want to spend less of our marketing efforts here because they

are already, in many cases, on board and need less convincing that what you are creating is for them.

However, it is still important to create high quality, high calibre marketing pieces for them as they will be

the most appreciative (and critical) of what it is you are producing.

• Early and late majority adopters

o When to Market to this Group: Second


Early and late majority adopters are what some people refer to as your “mainstream audience.” This is your

largest group and will represent the majority of your sales so it makes sense that you would focus more

effort and time on this group in particular.


This group may also need more convincing, more examples and more time to become emotionally

invested in what it is you are selling. So, it is important to implement a wide range of marketing activities

for this group so that you can hit the various demographic groups that exist here.

• Laggards

o When to Market to this Group: Last


Lastly, you’ll want to conserve your final marketing efforts to the laggards. This group represents the

potential customers that are on the fringe and will likely need a lot of convincing and emotional pull in

order to convert them from potential to actual customer.

Marketing to this group takes effort and does not represent a large number of potential sales so it is best

to keep them last in your launch plans and marketing efforts.

Now that we’ve uncovered the adoption lifecycle, and the groups that exist within it, let’s continue looking

at how Bungie launched Destiny and made it a huge success.

* * *

CHAPTER TWO SUMMARY

Know your adoption lifecycle early on and use it to pace your marketing calendar and efforts.


CHAPTER THREE: THE PARTY INVITATION & EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT

lthough Destiny had reached a point where many details about the game were leaked, those

details were not confirmed by Bungie themselves thus leaving some of their customer base with

a “wait and see” mindset.

The “wait and see” mindset means that people are intrigued but are not yet allowing themselves to get

emotionally attached to the possible outcome.

Think back to a time when you were in the throes of a new relationship. You may have been really

interested in the new person but unless they opened up to you and shared intimate details about

themselves and their life, there is a good chance that you kept your cards close to your chest. Regardless

of how much you may have liked them, you may not have allowed yourself to get emotionally invested

until you felt reciprocation on their end.

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This has a direct correlation to marketing as vulnerability, transparency and openness are crucial to

creating the emotional connections that are needed to convert people from prospect to customer.

As Bungie’s fan base waited for more concrete details to be released, they sat with baited breath. They

didn’t allow themselves to get invested in the game at an emotional level but rather shared the

speculation and news with interest and intrigue. Hopeful but not yet committed.

In Bungie’s case, the official release of the game’s name didn’t come until February of 2013; nearly two

years after the initial Easter egg placement and almost an entire year after the first mainstream hints were

dropped to gamers.

The official release of the name came by way of a blog post on Bungie’s blog10. It read:

“So, our game is called Destiny.

In a matter of days, we’re going to give you your first glimpse into the vision and ambition that’s

driving the creation of our brave new world. To make room for the resulting chatter, we’ve launched

some official social media channels. There’s a new Destiny page to like on Facebook, a new Destiny

feed to follow on Twitter, and a new Destiny page on Google+. And, of course, we’ve opened a new

Destiny forum here on Bungie.net where you can discuss upcoming news.”

Once the name was released to the public, people got on board, got excited and it didn’t take long for

gaming websites and media outlets to begin talking about the game from a different perspective. This

new perspective was: the game is definitely real, let’s get excited.

10 Follow Your Destiny, Bungie.net -‐ http://www.bungie.net/7_Follow-‐Your-‐Destiny/en/News/News?aid=10219


So, what did Bungie achieve by making the move from speculation to certainty? Emotional investment

and the opportunity to invite people to the party before it began.

INVITING YOUR CUSTOMER BASE TO THE PARTY BEFORE IT BEGINS

The reveal of the name, an invitation to get to know the

game a little better and a personal invitation to connect

with the company and the other fans on multiple

platforms was the perfect way to solidify an emotional

connection with fans. They opened their doors and said,

“We’re not quite ready but come on in, we’d love to have

you and we want you to be a part of this.”

A lot of companies will wait to build the community, and invite people to engage with their creation, until

the creation is finished. The belief is that you don’t want your customers to see the messy stages of

creation but rather the finished masterpiece. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

A perfect example of this, in our current Internet space, is the website Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is a platform on which creators can share their creations, most often in a mock-up, model or

idea phase, and receive investment dollars from regular people around the globe. These investment


dollars usually net the investor a reward for doing so (first access to the product, a sit down dinner with

the creator, etc.) and because the investor is coming in so early on in the process, they often become

emotionally attached to the creation even though it’s not a real, tangible thing yet.

Video game creators are fantastic at doing this as they invite people in to the various stages of game

development by doling out alpha and beta invitations to their games. For those of you who aren’t gamers,

this means that while the game is being developed, they invite a select group of people to play the game,

report any bugs that are found and report on their overall experience and opinion of the game. They invite

their testers into the mess so that they can help co-create the finished masterpiece.

Inviting people to the party before it begins does not always mean exposing your product, service or

creation to them early, though. It could simply mean housing a Facebook group or a community forum

where you can open up topics of conversation that will help you gain insight into what it is that your

demographic wants.

Bungie did a mix of both. They created the communities, as shown in their blog post above, invited people

to connect with them in those ways and they also did alpha and beta test rounds (to the tune of 4.6 million

players11) with their demographic to pull in that much needed feedback.

For your particular company, think about the ways in which you might engage your audience before you

create your product or service. How can you begin having the conversations now that you’ll inevitably

need to be having later? How can you use the communities’ emotional investment to build momentum,

create a better product or service and ultimately, have a fantastic launch day? 11 Wikipedia.org, Destiny -‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny_(video_game)


* * *

CHAPTER THREE SUMMARY

Invite people to your party before it begins so that you can create emotional attachment to your creation,

build momentum as a community and gain valuable feedback to make a better product.


CHAPTER FOUR: LEVERAGING AUTHORITY FOR SOCIAL PROOF

he next thing that Bungie did in their launch process was create an opportunity to woo individuals

who had big voices and large communities. For Bungie and Activison, that meant members of the

press, gaming bloggers and the representatives of some of the larger tech-related news blogs. This

piece was crucial to the process as it is can be extremely difficult to create ground-breaking impact on

your own.

In February of 2013, Bungie and Activision invited the video game press to tour Bungie’s Bellevue,

Washington studio to learn the first solid facts about Destiny12. This provided the gaming press the

opportunity to get a look at the game as well as ask questions of the developers and to be able to present

something unique and interesting to their audiences.

When you invite people who have authority in and give them what they need to speak on your behalf, the

message is received by more people in such a way that it reduces the “know, like and trust” timeline and

generates social proof. 12 Gamasutra.com -‐ http://gamasutra.com/view/news/186801/Analysis_Bungie_and_Activisions_reveal_of_Destiny.php

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LEVERAGING SOCIAL PROOF & THE MULTIPLE SOURCE EFFECT

Part of the sales and marketing cycle is getting people to know who you are, like what you are creating

and trust you enough to spend their dollars on you. This timeline can be shortened when you have people

in an authoritative position speaking about your creation in their own words.

In Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion he talks about something called “social proof.”

Social proof being defined as the following:

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon where

people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.

This effect is prominent in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine the

appropriate mode of behavior, and is driven by the assumption that surrounding people possess

more knowledge about the situation.13

This is further substantiated by a mechanism of social proof called the “multiple source effect.”

The multiple source effect states that:

The multiple source effect occurs when people give more credence to ideas that are stated by

multiple sources. This effect can be clearly seen when social proof occurs. For instance, one study 13 Wikipedia.org, Robert Cialdini -‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini


observed that people who hear five positive reviews on a book as read by five different synthesized

voices perceive that book more favourably than if they hear the same five reviews as read by one

synthesized voice.14

When you invite members of the press, or people in a position of authority in your industry, to share about

your creation by arming them with what they need to spread the message, you create social proof from

multiple sources, which reduces the “know, like and trust” factor and creates confidence in your potential

customers.

A prime example of social proof and authority exists in Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club.

It has been said that a book that makes it onto Oprah’s Book Club list is guaranteed to be a success and,

it’s true. Out of 70 book club selections, 59 of those made the top 10 on USA Today’s Best-Selling books list

and 22 of those were number 1 on USA Today’s list15. Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth stayed at number 1

for 11 consecutive weeks after he appeared on Oprah’s Book Club list. Authority and social proof proved to

work quite well for the authors of the books that were chosen by Oprah herself.

Social proof is not only limited to people with the largest voices, Oprah being among them, as peer-

related social proof is equally as important and sometimes, more so.

Social media has allowed us to harness the power of social proof in powerful ways that did not exist

before. Now, a company can identify key “influencers” to help spread their message and see big returns for

doing so. Here’s a powerful example that TechCrunch highlighted in their article on social proof: 14 Wikipedia.org, Social Proof -‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof 15 USAToday.com, How the Oprah Effect Changed Publishing -‐ http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2011-‐05-‐22-‐Oprah-‐Winfrey-‐Book-‐Club_n.htm


Klout identifies people who are topical experts on the social web. Klout invited 217 influencers with

high Klout scores in design, luxury, tech and autos to test-drive the new Audi A8. These influencers

sparked 3,500 tweets, reaching over 3.1 million people in less than 30 days – a multiplier effect of

over 14,000x16.

As you can see, influence, social proof, credibility and authority are all very important things to pay

attention to and use in your marketing efforts.

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR SUMMARY

When you invite members of the press, or people in a position of authority in your industry, to share about

your creation by arming them with what they need to spread the message, you create social proof from

multiple sources, which reduces the “know, like and trust” factor and creates confidence in your potential

customers.

16 TechCrunch.com, Social Proof is the New Marketing -‐ http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/27/social-‐proof-‐why-‐people-‐like-‐to-‐follow-‐the-‐crowd/


CHAPTER FIVE: SPREADING THE WORD LIKE WILDFIRE

o continue to build anticipation, Bungie began seeding information about Destiny wherever and

whenever possible.

For many video game companies, one of the primary places to cast their message wide, and get in

front of highly targeted audiences, is at tech-related conferences such as E3. In June of 2013, Bungie

headed to E3 to release the Reveal Trailer for Destiny to gaming and tech enthusiasts.

After E3, the developers continued to drive their message out to as many people as possible.

Here are just a few of the many examples of marketing that Bungie employed when marketing Destiny:

• Partnership with PlayStation – Bungie and Activision partnered with Sony (PlayStation) and gave

them exclusive rights to use Destiny in promotions. They also began selling a special white

PlayStation 4 that was bundled with Destiny for $10 less than the two would cost separately.

Microsoft, creator of the Xbox, came out with a tongue-in-cheek advertisement to sell the Destiny

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fragrance after it was prohibited from running advertisements on the Xbox One17.

• Live Action TV Advertisement – the company created a beautiful live action trailer for Destiny and

promoted it during football and sitcoms, such as The Simpsons, for a cool $6.7 million. That

investment paid for two different ads to air more than 900 times across 21 networks. While most of

the impressions occurred during the FOX network’s 12-day-long marathon of The Simpsons,

Activision spent the most on football. $2 million went directly to placing ads during NFL games18.

• Strong Visuals in Major Cities – Destiny appeared in major cities around the world in the most

unassuming of places. They took over Oxford Circus in London19 and they took over buses20 and

subway stations21 and buildings22 in New York City. It felt like the Destiny brand was everywhere.

While it would be impossible to recount here every marketing activity that Bungie and Activision partook

in during the launch of Destiny, it is quite evident that the goal was to create brand awareness across

multiple demographics.

17 KitGuru.net, Microsoft Launches Unofficial Destiny Marketing Campaign -‐ http://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-‐wilson/microsoft-‐launches-‐unofficial-‐destiny-‐marketing-‐campaign/ 18 VentureBeat.com, Destiny’s Estimated $6.7M TV-‐ad Campaign -‐ http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/13/destinys-‐estimated-‐6-‐7m-‐tv-‐ad-‐campaign-‐focused-‐heavily-‐on-‐the-‐simpsons-‐marathon-‐and-‐the-‐nfl/ 19 ExterionMedia.com – Destiny Brings Eye-‐Catching Campaign to Oxford Circus -‐ http://www.exterionmedia.com/uk/be-‐inspired/word-‐around-‐town/destiny-‐brings-‐eye-‐catching-‐campaign-‐to-‐oxford-‐circus/ 20 Reddit.com – Spotted This Bus in NYC Today -‐ http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2f3ahq/spotted_this_bus_in_nyc_today/ 21 Imgur.com -‐ http://i.imgur.com/BdstvZq.jpg 22 Imgur.com -‐ http://i.imgur.com/23vdTl0.jpg


DEPLOYING MARKETING MAGIC

Although your company may not have a budget like Bungie’s

(reportedly $500 million to develop and market Destiny) you can

still utilize some of their tactics for your own company.

Partnerships

Partnerships are key to having a launch that does well. Partnerships

allow you access to different target markets that you may not have

had access to before. Depending on the type of partnership, the

other company may also be able to bring something to the table

that you cannot – a complimentary product or service perhaps or

expertise in an area where you fall short. Don’t discount the value in forging alliances – it can be the

difference between an okay launch and an incredible one.

Show and Tell

Through creative and highly visual videos and images, Bungie was able to show their customers what they

were going to experience before they experienced it. By implementing show and tell, they could also elicit

an emotional response from people before they ever put their hands on the game. Plus, visuals such as

screenshots and videos are easy to share and have a viral nature to them.


Cast Your Net Wide

While you may not have the budget to put up print ads in every major city or outfit entire buses, you can

still make it seem like your brand is showing up everywhere by casting a wide net and thinking outside of

the box. Think about the different ways in which you can make it seem like your brand is everywhere.

Perhaps that means submitting guest posts to multiple blogs or getting many different media outlets on

board early. Make a list, cast the net wide and you’ll naturally hit a much larger audience.

Effective Frequency

In 1885, Thomas Smith wrote a guide called Successful Advertising23 and this guide is still being used

today. It goes like this:

The first time people look at any given ad, they don't even see it.

The second time, they don't notice it.

The third time, they are aware that it is there.

The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they've seen it somewhere before.

The fifth time, they actually read the ad.

The sixth time they thumb their nose at it.

The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.

The eighth time, they start to think, "Here's that confounded ad again."

The ninth time, they start to wonder if they're missing out on something.

The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they've tried it. 23 Wikipedia.org, Effective Frequency -‐ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_frequency#cite_note-‐6


The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.

The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.

The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.

The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.

The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can't afford to buy it.

The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.

The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.

The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.

The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.

The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offering.

If you’re in the business of advertising and marketing a product, effective frequency can help generate

more sales as well as create more buying confidence in your target market.

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY

Spread your brand’s message like wild fire by implementing multiple marketing tactics all at once. The

goal is to create the feeling that your brand is everywhere by using effective frequency to lock in the

feelings of credibility, trust and eventually, desire for your product, service or creation.


CHAPTER SIX: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CURIOSITY

he final piece that we’ll look at, before we reach the much anticipated climax (also known as

launch day), is what Bungie did to give their fans a look behind the scenes and how this helped

them create an even deeper connection with their customers by eliciting the powerful emotion of

curiosity.

After Destiny was released at E3, Bungie created and released a video documentary to give fans a behind

the scenes look at the game and take them through the “Making of Destiny” story.

In their documentary, Bungie shared information on Destiny and some of the core ideas behind the game,

including the company's "seven pillars" philosophy, identifying the seven underlying elements of the early

development process that they adopted to make the game appeal to as wide an audience as possible,

with particular emphasis on making the game accessible to casual, novice gamers and dedicated fans of

the genre alike.

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In short: they let people in and created an opportunity for their fan base to appreciate what went into the

creation of the game thus creating a deeper emotional connection.

Drew Beson, an incredible artist from Minneapolis, is brilliant at sharing the process rather than just the

finished project. On his YouTube channel he regularly shares “behind the scenes” videos that show him

creating the art that he will eventually sell (or sometimes, destroy) and there’s a bit of magic in this.

When you watch Drew paint his paintings, you can’t help but get emotionally invested in the artwork.

Instead of just seeing a painting in its completed format, you see how much work goes into the piece. You

see the care that is taken to get every line right or brush stroke the right intensity. It provides an

appreciation for the work rather than taking the finished piece for granted.

On one of his YouTube videos, in the comments section, Drew says, “I want you to see the work honestly,

in real-time and as far from perfection.”

This beautiful example of realness, authenticity and transparency helps Drew sell more art. It’s brilliant.

In an article for The Guardian24, former global digital communications head for Ford Motor Company, Scott

Monty, wrote:

Many companies have committed to being more transparent in their operations and

communications. Doing so is clearly in their best interest. It is one thing for a brand to tell someone

what its position is; it is more convincing to use earned media tell the story on the brand's behalf.

24 TheGuardian.com – Why Transparency and Authenticity Wins in Business and in Marketing -‐ http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/17/why-‐transparency-‐and-‐authenticity-‐wins-‐in-‐business-‐and-‐in-‐marketing


But the most powerful impact is when a company is confident enough in its process or operations to

bring viewers in to see exactly how things are done. It is the ultimate in show and tell.

Let’s focus on the last two lines of his quote.

Letting people see the process is not just good for increasing appreciation, and therefore eliciting an

emotional connection, but it is also great for credibility and trust-building. If you show your demographic

the process by which you create the product, service or creation, it tells them that you are confident in the

how and not just the finished product.

The last line, “the ultimate show and tell”, is what you should be focusing on in your business’ marketing

efforts. Give people glimpses into your world the same way you would have shown your pre-school

classmates your latest “stuffy.” Allow yourself to be a bit vulnerable with this piece as the more authentic

you are, the more people will believe what you’re saying. Realness wins every time.

CURIOSITY MAY HAVE KILLED THE CAT BUT IT WON’T KILL SALES

Have you ever wondered what goes in to creating your favourite products? If so, you aren’t alone.


According to a study25 produced by George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at

Carnegie Mellon University, curiosity has been “consistently recognized as a critical motive that influences

human behaviour in both positive and negative ways at all stages of the life cycle.”

One of the theories presented by Loewenstein was something called, “tickling the information gap.” In this

theory, he believes that curiosity happens in two basic steps:

1. A situation reveals a painful gap in our knowledge and;

2. We feel an urge to fill this gap and ease that pain

When these two circumstances exist, we are naturally compelled to dig deeper into the material as we

have a psychological need to fill what is “missing.”

A great example of a company that uses the concept of tickling the “information gap” well is

Upworthy.com. Upworthy is rather infamous for its headlines that they use to title their blog posts and

their headlines execute this piece of Loewenstein’s theory perfectly. Love them or hate them, they work.

Here is a recent example of a headline from Upworthy:

“Try to See If You Recognize Your State on This Map. I Bet Ya Don’t.”

The headline becomes the reveal of the painful gap in our knowledge and the click to the article is us

fulfilling the urge to fill the gap and ease our pain. Curiosity results in higher page views.

25 Carnegie Mellon University, The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reinterpretation -‐ http://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/sds/docs/loewenstein/PsychofCuriosity.pdf


Now, if you aren’t writing articles you may not be as interested in writing headlines for page views but the

idea of curiosity is still a great one to explore and can be used in multiple ways to increase engagement

and thus, increase sales.

A 2004 study, produced by Todd B. Kashdan, Paul Rose and Frank D. Fincham for the Department of

Psychology at the State University of New York, focused on three factors correlated with curiosity:

autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The one of interest, in this particular context, is relatedness.

Relatedness. Feelings of relatedness—feeling connected to others, and believing your emotional

experiences are acknowledged—also appear to increase curiosity. In particular, relatedness has been

shown to improve both curiosity and performance in athletic, academic and work contexts. Feeling

comfortable and safe also encourages curiosity.26

So, what does this all have to do with Destiny, creating behind-the-scenes moments and your business?

Disrupting your target audience with curiosity, and inviting them to fill the gap in their knowledge, is a

perfect way to create an emotional response and get them invested.

Behind-the-scenes photos and videos, insight from upper level management, revealing details about your

company’s current outlook and humanizing the people and the process that exist in your company are

great ways to fill your customer’s knowledge gap.

26 LessWrong.com, Existential Risk for Non-‐Consequentialists -‐ http://lesswrong.com/user/vallinder/submitted/


Think about what your customer base may not know about your company, its products and services, the

way you make what you’re selling and then think of ways that you can bridge that gap, get them curious

and forge an emotional bond with them.

* * *

CHAPTER SIX SUMMARY

People are naturally curious. In fact, there are studies done that state that we, as human beings, are

curious at all stages of the life cycle. By understanding the ways in which you can pique curiosity in your

customer base, you can elicit more engagement, more emotional response and deeper commitment from

the people in your demographic.


CHAPTER SEVEN: CLIMAX

Climax. The best part of any story.

For Bungie and Activision, on September 10, 2014, this meant an incredibly successful

and fulfilling launch day to the tune of $500 million US27. This impressive sales figure awarded Bungie with

the title of “most successful launch for a new video game franchise” in history.

Here are some of the additional accolades and statements that Activision shared in an official press

release28:

• Destiny players logged more than 100 million hours of online play by the end of the first week

• Destiny grossed more than $325 million worldwide in the first five days

• Highest selling day one digital console release in history

• On track to become Activision’s next billion dollar franchise

Needless to say, this was one launch day that did not disappoint.

27 BusinessInsider.com, Destiny is Now the Most Successful Launch for a New Video Game Franchise Ever -‐ http://www.businessinsider.com/destiny-‐is-‐now-‐the-‐most-‐successful-‐launch-‐for-‐a-‐new-‐video-‐game-‐franchise-‐ever-‐2014-‐9 28 Activision, Destiny Grosses More than $325 Million Worldwide in First Five Days -‐ http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=871349


So, what was it about the Destiny launch formula that worked so well? Well, it was a combination of many

things that were well thought out, timed beautifully and delivered impeccably. And this, my dear friends,

is where the love story shines through.

THE DESTINY / MARKETING LOVE STORY

You may be wondering why I used the term “love story” in the title of the book. Speaking from personal

experience, having worked with some of the top brands in the world, the stages of marketing and

storytelling from conception to launch often mirror that of a traditional love story.

From the first look (the first time you meet someone) to the pacing (unsure about whether or not you’re

romantically interested in them) to the “wait and see” moments (when you really, really like them but

aren’t sure they do so you don’t get emotionally invested) and to the point of being wooed.

From there, we move into building anticipation, going behind the scenes (letting the person in more and

more) and finally, the launch / climax point.

Bungie and Activision executed their marketing campaign flawlessly and they came out the victor. They

loved their product, they believed in it and they were willing to invest in it so that more people could

experience it.


If you approach your marketing efforts like a love story and your customer base as the person you wish to

woo, you’ll bring forth more passion, energy and excitement to your efforts than you ever have before. Be

vulnerable, open, transparent, authentic and real and the rest will happen organically.

Kaboom.


CONCLUSION

he Destiny story is not an isolated one. There are hundreds and hundreds

of stories out there just like this one.

The best marketers in the world tell really good stories.

The best marketers in the world also incorporate anticipation into their efforts.

The best marketers in the world open up their doors and let their customer base in. They invite them to

the party, they engage with them in conversation and they see and appreciate who they are and the value

that they provide (not just monetary value).

The best marketers load up their tool belt with all sorts of “tricks of the trade” and some tricks that go

outside the trade. Ideas and theories deeply rooted in psychology and science.

Now that you’ve read this story, you may be feeling inspired to tell your own stories.

You may be ready to take a different approach to your marketing – one that feels more in alignment with

who you are. Before we wrap up this love story, let’s recap the various stages in the marketing and

storytelling process so that you can begin to replicate it for your company / product / service or creation.

T


THE 5 STAGES OF STORYTELLING AND MARKETING

To get your customer base excited about your product / service / creation before you get to launch day,

you should be integrating the following:

1. The Easter Egg Principle

o Seed a “first look” to your best and most loyal customers. Don’t hit them over the head with

the message though. Keep it subtle and let it be a message or hint that they stumble across.

This will keep the marketing approach organic and will build natural momentum.

2. Understand Your Adoption Lifecycle and Use it Early On

o Build out and analyze your adoption lifecycle early on and use it to pace your marketing

calendar and efforts. This will force you to give yourself a lot of lead time to market what you

have coming up and it will ensure that your efforts and duration match the various adoption

groups.

3. Invite Your Customer Base to the Party Before It Begins

o Invite people to your party before it begins so that you can create emotional attachment to

your creation, build momentum as a community and gain valuable feedback to make a better


product.

4. Leveraging Social Proof and the Multiple Source Effect

o When you invite members of the press, or people in a position of authority in your industry, to

share about your creation by arming them with what they need to spread the message, you

create social proof from multiple sources, which creates the “know, like and trust” factor more

quickly and creates confidence in your potential customers.

5. Spread the Word Like Wildfire

o Spread your brand’s message like wild fire by implementing multiple marketing tactics all at

once. The goal is to create the feeling that your brand is everywhere by using effective

frequency to lock in the feelings of credibility, trust and eventually, desire for your product,

service or creation.

6. Leveraging the Psychology of Curiosity

o People are naturally curious. In fact, there are studies done that state that we, as human

beings, are curious at all stages of the life cycle. By understanding the ways in which you can

pique curiosity in your customer base, you can elicit more engagement, more emotional

response and deeper commitment from the people in your demographic.


Create your own ultimate formula that will work for your company and your demographic. At the end of

the day, transparency, honesty, authenticity and openness win out every time. Be real, be yourself and

create splendid moments of curiosity, wonder and amazement for your audience.

GET INVOLVED

As you implement these tactics for your own company, please feel free to share your thoughts, insights

and accomplishments. You can do so in the following ways:

• Join Us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/blaskieerin

o While the page may have my name on the top of it, this is a space that I want to

wholeheartedly invite you into. Join us on Facebook, post your insights to the wall and

connect with other people who are in a similar space as you.

• Tweet at Me - https://twitter.com/ErinBlaskie

o If you have any questions, insights or quotes that you’d like to share, the best way to ensure I

see them is to tag me in them using my @ name - @ErinBlaskie. Also, I’ll be Tweeting material

on the hash tag #DestinyALoveStory so please feel free to add yours there as well.

• Tag Your Social Media Posts


o Regardless of where you post your material, be sure to use the hash tag #DestinyALoveStory

so that I can track the conversation and share your posts.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR, ERIN BLASKIE

HEN I WAS SIX YEARS OLD, MY DAD HANDED ME A

COMMODORE 64 + THUS BLEW MY ENTIRE WORLD WIDE

OPEN.

It wasn’t long after that I was running a company from our tiny bungalow, complete with a red-velvet-

lined-cassette-tape-case-turned-briefcase, doling out “work assignments” to anyone who would do them.

At sixteen I formulated my first serious business idea, in which I’d pass out flyers offering my computer

skills to local businesses, but it was thwarted by the invitation to work at my uncle’s ice cream factory. Ice

cream trumped word processing back then (actually, it still does.)

This pattern continued throughout my college years + the moment I broke free of the institutional walls, I

started my first company at the ripe age of twenty-one.

AS MOST ENTREPRENEURS DO, I SUFFER FROM SHINY OBJECT SYNDROME WITH A SIDE DOSE OF

CYCLICAL EVOLUTIONARY SYNDROME.

W


Translation: a condition whereby I reinvent myself every few years. I am not quite as glamorous as Cher

but I feel as though we’ve had as many farewell tours so I like to think that we’d be good friends given the

chance.

The one constant that remained through all of these makeovers was my innate desire to remain

passionate, vulnerable, open, honest + courageous. The ultimate cocktail for a life well-lived.

THE IDEA OF VULNERABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, HONESTY AND OPENNESS IS AT THE EPICENTER OF WHY

I DO WHAT I DO.

This is regardless of whether what I’m doing involves video games, supporting other entrepreneurs,

speaking, writing, chilling with friends, on my weekly father-daughter date with my dad, making videos or

hanging out with my daughter.

It’s everything, really.

I wrote Destiny: A Love Story About a Video Game, Marketing & Storytelling because when I learned of the

story behind the release of a video game that I truly love, I was inspired. And, I hope that it inspires you as

well. I hope it inspires you to think differently about the stories you’re telling and how you approach

marketing for your business.

If you’d like to connect, you can reach me at www.ErinBlaskie.com or by e-mail at erin.blaskie (at)

gmail.com. I also love to Tweet and can be reached there (and everywhere) @ErinBlaskie.

xo

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