Why not give away a DVD of Das Boot with each copy of SHV?

[Jimbuna]

Then two sales options, one with and one without, perhaps

[Gezoes]

I like it!

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Then two sales options, one with and one without, perhaps

Even better! I'm sure a lot of people will go for it anyway

[TDK1044]

I guess I'm hoping Ubisoft thinks 'out of the box' (if you'll pardon the pun) for once. It's no big deal to Tri-Star/Columbia pictures. They already have multiple versions of the movie pressed. If Ubisoft offered them a half decent deal then there's no reason not to do it. All they'd have to do is ship the DVDs. The movie is more than 20 years old, so I can't imagine that actor residuals are a problem. They just need to push for it.

This all takes me back to 1977, when a friend of mine in London had a great idea for a TV show that everyone told him would never get off the ground because the Agents representing the actors would never allow it because it would make their clients look bad.

The show was called 'It'll Be Alright On The Night', and it was the first ever out take show. It went on to be one of the most successful British TV shows ever. Paul wisely protected his idea, and to this day, any TV company anywhere in the world (starting with the US show Bloopers back in 1982) that wants to make an out take show has to pay him a facility fee.

I've lost count of how many millions he's worth now because of an idea he wrote down on a napkin in the London Weekend TV cafeteria back in 1977.

So come on, Ubi, if you want to increase your sales for the Silent Hunter series, come up with a better idea than this one and make it happen.

[Rapt0r56]

Then two sales options, one with and one without, perhaps

Nice idea, so we bring people the same one quite realistic and believable film to watch closely, but I would personally like it better when a released a kind of an Collecter edition of Silent Hunter 5. With maybe a Captain's Hat, or Knight's Cross.

[DigitalAura]

I think that's a brilliant tied-product marketing campaign. Very plausible. (I'm a Marketing major).

[FIREWALL]

I want something that can really happen.

A cheap plastic AOB/Wiz wheel is something we really might get if we all ask for it.

Or waste their and our time with some dream stuff and get nothing.

[ETR3(SS)]

If you're trying to market to the casual gamers with a free dvd, then you've changed the entire marketing scheme. Which may possibly have an effect on the game.

[kptn_kaiserhof]

i agree with tdk1044's first post not just it will bolster sales the movie das boot would be a real life guideline to the game silent hunter 5 to the fact most events happend in real life

[Akula4745]

Originally Posted by FIREWALL

I want something that can really happen.

A cheap plastic AOB/Wiz wheel is something we really might get if we all ask for it.

Or waste their and our time with some dream stuff and get nothing.

I vote for the plastic AOB dial...

[java`s revenge]

I choose for the plastic AOB tool and i want to pay for it.

[JScones]

Originally Posted by TDK1044

It's no big deal to Tri-Star/Columbia pictures. They already have multiple versions of the movie pressed. If Ubisoft offered them a half decent deal then there's no reason not to do it. All they'd have to do is ship the DVDs. The movie is more than 20 years old, so I can't imagine that actor residuals are a problem. They just need to push for it.

No big deal to Sony Pictures (the entity that would make such decisions)? Essentially you are suggesting that they enter a deal with an unrelated and unestablished product. They have a lot to risk, not least reputation. Besides, what would they get out of the deal, remembering that they are a corporate organisation that exists solely for profit and appeasing their shareholders, and SH5 has no connection with any of their products.

Frankly, just because the subject of both is the same doesn't make it a good match. What such a coupling does is imply to the market that you are trying to capture that SH5 is a video game version of Das Boot, the movie, with the same level of "action and excitement" and characters...so imagine the potential outcry when said buyer finds himself sailing empty seas for hours on end (and with no Johann). I doubt Ubisoft would want to set themselves up for that kind of reaction. And I doubt Sony Pictures would be keen to promote such a very tenuous connection either; they get no return at all for taking on such risk.

This is besides the obvious licensing, production and logistical issues that would have to be addressed. Even a more logical approach of striking a deal with Sony to include a "$5 off Das Boot" voucher makes no business sense for either entity, when you consider market size and potential return on investment.

IMHO Ubisoft has this market sussed out well - offer a standard AU$89.95 priced package as well as a fancy AU$129.95 deluxe package for the more "hard core" players. Ubisoft realises that most of us will buy both, or at least the deluxe edition. By taking this approach they, in very simplistic terms (just to be clear to those marketing strategists that I am being simplistic) double, or at least increase, sales just through milking the same core market.

Hands up everyone that has two copies of SH4.

With this strategy in mind, why would they need all the other hassles?

The real question then becomes, how can they milk the core market more by enticing them to buy the fancier edition?

Someone mentioned including a U-boat Badge. Cost price $10. IMHO a nice incentive for the "should I/shouldn't I" crowd. A DVD including public domain footage and "making of" type documentary grabs a few more. Add a whiz wheel and you've got the hardcorers by the nuts. Charge $40 more for $20 more of product, and there's your obvious strategy.

[Rosencrantz]

Das Boot? I thought everyone have it already...


Greetings,
-RC-

[JU_88]

Originally Posted by JScones

No big deal to Sony Pictures (the entity that would make such decisions)? Essentially you are suggesting that they enter a deal with an unrelated and unestablished product. They have a lot to risk, not least reputation. Besides, what would they get out of the deal, remembering that they are a corporate organisation that exists solely for profit and appeasing their shareholders, and SH5 has no connection with any of their products.

Frankly, just because the subject of both is the same doesn't make it a good match. What such a coupling does is imply to the market that you are trying to capture that SH5 is a video game version of Das Boot, the movie, with the same level of "action and excitement" and characters...so imagine the potential outcry when said buyer finds himself sailing empty seas for hours on end (and with no Johann). I doubt Ubisoft would want to set themselves up for that kind of reaction. And I doubt Sony Pictures would be keen to promote such a very tenuous connection either; they get no return at all for taking on such risk.

This is besides the obvious licensing, production and logistical issues that would have to be addressed. Even a more logical approach of striking a deal with Sony to include a "$5 off Das Boot" voucher makes no business sense for either entity, when you consider market size and potential return on investment.

IMHO Ubisoft has this market sussed out well - offer a standard AU$89.95 priced package as well as a fancy AU$129.95 deluxe package for the more "hard core" players. Ubisoft realises that most of us will buy both, or at least the deluxe edition. By taking this approach they, in very simplistic terms (just to be clear to those marketing strategists that I am being simplistic) double, or at least increase, sales just through milking the same core market.

Hands up everyone that has two copies of SH4.

With this strategy in mind, why would they need all the other hassles?

The real question then becomes, how can they milk the core market more by enticing them to buy the fancier edition?

Someone mentioned including a U-boat Badge. Cost price $10. IMHO a nice incentive for the "should I/shouldn't I" crowd. A DVD including public domain footage and "making of" type documentary grabs a few more. Add a whiz wheel and you've got the hardcorers by the nuts. Charge $40 more for $20 more of product, and there's your obvious strategy.

I gotta say that I agree with 'Scones' sceptism here, if a game/movie combo deal made any kind financial sense, i reckon it would have done a million times over by now- especially with Movie Licence games, i.e. - like Batman vengence being bundled with batman Arkam asylum, its same subject matter but not the same thing.

Im certainly not against the idea, i just dont see it happening...

Another set back is that being 80s flick - Das Boot is a movie that just about everyone has already seen, its been of TV like a zillion times...
This is especially true of us hard core Uboat fanatics here; hands up if you dont own or haven seen Das Boot?
...yet we would be the target audiance for this combo package...
Speaking for myself, i already have the DVD and I'm not sure that I would want to pay for a second copy.

[TDK1044]

How about a WONKA GOLDEN TICKET idea? Ubisoft places sub shaped Golden Gift Certificates of the equivilent value of the game in each Country (for in store purchases only) in 100 copies of the game worldwide.

Of course, you could use the certificate as partial or full payment for anything other than Silent Hunter 5. It would certainly stir up some interest.

[AVGWarhawk]