MediaClash Customer Publishing

09.09.2007

PLAY.COM Case study

Overview

Play.com is a highly successful online retailer of DVDs, books, CDs and videogames. Founded in 1998, Play.com was one of the first online retailers of the UK. It is the third biggest online retailer in the UK, according to traffic monitor Hitwsie, and is in the Top 50 globally.

The 20 Games You Must Own promotion was conceived by Play.com to coincide with the release of a number of high-profile videogames for the Christmas market, including the mega-successful Halo 3. The best way to promote this web-based initiative was with a mini-magazine and the MediaClash creative team was chosen to come up with the print concept, and deliver it to the client.

Objectives

• To encourage Play.com customers to buy more videogames
• To develop awareness among gamers Play.com is a credible place to buy videogames
• To raise awareness the 20 Games You Must Own promotion
• To produce a magazine that could be distributed with videogame purchases from Play.com

Solution

Videogamers are an informed bunch of purchasers and the MediaClash creative team was eager to produce a mini-magazine for Play.com that had comparable values to a newsstand games magazine. To add credibility to the publication, the team used writers and designers with vast knowledge of the games market. The copy’s tone of voice was written to reflect the attitude of an authoritative games journalist, and the overall look and feel was devised by a designer with years of experience in the videogames sector.

The mini-magazine has only recently been published so it is too early for us to comment on any measurement of effectiveness.