Oh man I am really squeezing here! we have almost talked about everything Empire could offer, but something just feels kind of feels out of place. What could that be? Well so far, I previously discussed that Empire's main source of revenue heavily relied on the "service" its players provided for other companies who are willing to pay. One thing I never discussed in regards to this is the players direct role of how it aids Empire.
Now briefly revisiting what I stated in previous blogs.
1. We know the player has a fan base and can attract a crowd
2. We know the player can be individually contracted by companies to fulfill any specific marketing task.
3. We know that Empire also lease their players out to other companies.
Just in case number 3 was not clear. If you look below you will notice CTRL / EMP.
Perfect example of another company utilizing the prestige of EMP and attaching their name so that it will be headlined in results. Needless to say the players make this possible, by winning. If I may humbly brag for a moment, the personalities and play style's of Empires players create experience quality to heavy degrees for the returning consumer. Crazy thing is as far as winning goes, Empire does not even have to win, it has enough franchise players in it's grasp that the reliability of the service is there. The service while not always accurate as far as to what other companies or consumers are looking for from the player, but one thing can always be said about Empire is that they are consistent. Any company pairing up with Empire has always seen an increase in traffic for their business and an increase in products sold.
The advantage of the Empire brand and the brand of the franchise players who work for it.
Although product concepts are the main theme of this chapter, we are going to focus more on the power of branding and how Empire utilizes it. Please remember, when it comes to Empire the product is technically the player! I say this because in my previous blogs we discussed this quite a number of times.
Empire utilizes it's brand to establish a legacy, this legacy creates "repeat customers" who either return to Empire whether or not the same players or products are still available. Allow me to further explain, Empire has been around for more then a decade and just like any other competitive genre every person has his or her "life span". Empire the brand has ways around this! Empire is a brand name and the players affiliated with it gain power by being under it's brand name. The easiest thing for a player to do is immortalize themselves, this means accomplish something under the Empire brand name that is unique and cannot be replicated. A method Empire uses to help establish their players in the books forever, is setting world records in games they excel at. Although these world records can be broken be anyone else the rule of thumb will always stand that if you are the first and (or) in the books then you shall never be forgotten.
To the right is Tri-force Game master at the premiere of his movie King of Kong at this time he was also inducted into the video game hall of fame, he is also the founder and CEO of Empire Arcadia. Companies and other brands usually seek to co-brand with Empire do to its high amount of prestigious accomplishments. This is how Empire truly builds it's mass network of "repeat costumers", as one might think this could be risky if Empire affiliated themselves with a brand that has or gains a bad rep. While this might effect Empire, it has minimal effects on their future reputation because it is just as I said before you immortalize yourself on paper and you shall never be forgotten. Co-branding has been the key to Empire's success, affiliating themselves with companies who place their brand names on Empire's products which are used by the players and Empire as a whole at live events, in media or online.
And just to remind you, the consumer for Empire is not only the individual consumer who seeks to buy their shirt or hardware, it also the companies that seek advertisement through use of Empire's strong brand name in order to increase traffic in their own companies.
Taking Risk 101: relationship selling & Generating leads
Every single inherent move Empire makes is devoted to selling its brand as a whole, this is always first priority: The image of the company. The brand and the players have a symbiotic relationship, even if a players value may not be high, being affiliated with the brand itself raises his or her worth. If this sounds weird, then again you have to look at this as a sport! Would you rather have the number one player on one team or the 2nd, 3rd, 4th best players all on one team? Empire trades the idea of having an all-star team rather then just having one dominant player. This works in their favor because anytime Empire is in the lime-light everyone gets their shine.
Enough rambling! So where am I going with this?
Empire Arcadia is not a sponsorship, although contrary to my statement they will sponsor players to events at times. This means Empire, must seek outside sponsors. The hardcore and casual gamers as I said before are not the only ones consider consumers to Empire, other businesses are consider consumers as well. This is where Empire utilizes its players to develop both interpersonal and business relationships with sponsors and players with "pull". I say "pull" as the definition of someone who has power in the world of gaming. Often if not the sponsor or consumer becomes very passionate about helping Empire even sharing in their views, which is the process where they empathize with Empire and become trusting of their work ethic, goals, image and marketing capabilities.
Networking is by far the biggest form of generating leads Empire uses to find potential buyers. As I said before, Empire heavily relies on social media sites and public relation tactics in order to put word out of upcoming events, company updates and even logs of championships they may have obtained recently. For example, I am a member of Empire ( yeah no surprise right) and I have been inactive as a player for the last 3 years, but I still maintain a mass following on social media websites due to the amount "shine" being passed around through Empire every single week. So lets say I have 4000 people added on Facebook and another player apart of Empire has 5000 added, anytime something is posted to our wall on average I would say about 6000 people are seeing this across their news feed give or take we have some of the same people added. It's like advertisement and generating leads all at once, its genius!
