slides & audio (36 MB)
This session serves two purposes. First, it uses Blood Ties as a case study in how integrating a strong brand with a good casual game creates a tremendous success: Blood Ties sold nearly 100,000 copies the first three months it was out. Second, the session discusses real opportunities for casual game companies with advertisers and other brand owners. While people have been talking about the revenue potential for casual games from advertising for years, actual cash from in-game advertising and advergame has been negligible. Blood Ties, however, demonstrates that a strong casual game can have huge value to a brand, and other brands are starting to notice. Speakers include Lloyd Melnick, Chief Customer Officer at Merscom, Kris Soumas, VP of Interactive at Lifetime TV and Chris Campbell, Brand Manager at Big Fish Games.
Delivered at Casual Connect Seattle, July 2008
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Lloyd Melnick (email)
Lloyd has been involved with publishing and licensing computer and video games for over 15 years. As a co-founder of Merscom, Lloyd has marketed, produced and published over 150 games for both the casual and core gamer market. Lloyd played a key role in the development and launch of Merscom’s number one hit title, Blood Ties, building a relationship with Lifetime Networks, selecting the game’s developer and managing the launch. Lloyd was also responsible building Merscom’s relationship with Starz Media, which will result in the first casual game to coincide with a major motion picture release. Lloyd has also developed and implemented Merscom’s retail distribution network both in the U.S. and Europe. Lloyd secured relationships for Merscom with leading portals and aggregators including Big Fish Games, RealArcade and Oberon in the U.S., helping Merscom gain access to virtually all casual game customers. In Europe and Asia, Lloyd works with over 100 retail and online portals and distributors in over 30 countries to ensure Merscom’s titles reach customers in every market.
Lloyd has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Political Economy from John Hopkins University and a Master in Business Administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Lloyd also earned a Master of Arts in European Integration from the University of Limerick in Ireland.
Kris Soumas (email)
Kris Soumas is Vice President, Games, Lifetime Networks. Based in New York, Soumas has played the leading role in the network’s growing Games initiative. Soumas oversaw the redesign of Lifetime Games which resulted in tripling site traffic, and turning Lifetime Games into a top 25 gaming site for women. She recently launched DressUpChallenge.com, a social gaming site which is attracting new members at a record pace, becoming the top game on myLifetime in less than a month. In addition, Soumas is responsible for Lifetime’s casual games publishing unit which boasts over 30 award-winning, original web games that are played millions of times each month on myLifetime.com, and new downloadable games released each quarter. One of her key marketing contribution is the successful ~Lifetime Presents~ program which was launched in conjunction with RealGames. The partnership, which combines on-air and online promotions, has been instrumental in driving record games sales for titles like ~Sally’s Salon~.
Chris Campbell (email)
Chris Campbell brings more than 10 years of experience in the games industry to his role as the Mystery Case Files brand manager at Big Fish Games. His past roles include product development, marketing, sales, partner relations and corporate strategy.
Prior to joining Big Fish Games in 2007, Campbell served for three years in several strategic roles with Mobliss, an Index Group Company and a leading provider of mobile games, content and mobile marketing solutions. While at Mobliss, Campbell acted as the liaison between major North American network operators and the studio group. Campbell also managed the relationships for major production companies in both the U.S. and Japan, including Fremantle Media, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Tatsunoko Productions and Kodansha Publishing.
Campbell spent seven years with Nintendo of America in product development focused on providing public relations, marketing, product development support and acting as a product spokesperson. Campbell contributed to the creation of numerous games while at Nintendo and was involved in various capacities with the development of a majority of Nintendo’s most popular games, including Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, F-Zero GX, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2.
